View from the Bridge: The Three Bears

Are the Bears who we thought they were?

Arizona Cardinal’s head coach, Denny Green, was ridiculed after he said they were during his post match tirade against the then unbeaten and much vaunted Bears. This after his under achieving Cardinal’s had exposed the Emperor’s Clothes Syndrome before going into meltdown and blowing a 21 point lead in the final quarter.

Yet, now after their stumble against Miami, it seems ‘dem Bears really are who Denny thought they were; an overachieving defence covering an inexperienced and flaky quarterback in a cloak of invincibility and riding a tide of media hype.

Thing about media hype is it feeds on “what have you done for me lately” nuggets and truth is – demolition of woeful 49ers apart – the Bears have done nothing but wobble. Rex Grossman may be a four year veteran but in terms of a games played he’s a first year freshman. His QB Rating fluctuates by the week from 10 vs. the Cardinals to 148 against 49ers to 30 something against Miami.

So, with Grossman finally succumbing to Rookie nerves and Urlacher to injury, the Bears face a severe test as they swing into Giants Stadium on Sunday.

Which of the 3 Bears will roll into the Big Apple?

Will it be Little Bear, totally overwhelmed on offence and spanked on defence by a not-so-great Miami team?

Or Mummy Bear? With a flustered Grossman misfiring in the face of a mighty (?) Arizona defence only to be rescued by the maternal instincts of a protective defence that was just able to snatch victory from the very tonsils of defeat as the Cardinals showed they had no idea how to win.

Or will it be Daddy Bear? With the fangs-and-all defence tearing into Eli Manning and Tiki Barber, whilst Grossman picks apart a solid not great Giant defence?

It’ll be a season defining game as players still coming down from the heady trip dreaming of besting the boys of ‘85 finally realise that a loss puts them behind the Giants as top dogs in the NFC.

dailyAside – Monday 6th Nov

How great it was Saturday (ok 1am Sunday) to snuggle down in bed with a radio and College Football’s Wake Forest versus Boston College Eagles clash. It’s a very long time since I did that and I just wanted to share the sense of nostalgia a comfort and homeliness it imbued.

Thank God for WEEI and the streaming internet plus that nifty little wireless gadget that beams it to the bedside radio. Cool.

On the downside I was miffed that NASN pulled the plug on the Louisiana Tennessee game with just a couple of minutes remaining and Louisiana striving to overturn a couple of points deficit. I’m seriously thinking of ditching the Setanta/NASN package.

I can get most if not all of the US sports stuff I want from the internet anyway these days; often better than their offerings too.

The GBU Report 7Nov2006

THE GOOD:
Sean Taylor’s heads-up return of Mark Vanderjagt’s blocked field goal. It was intelligent football and proved pivotal in keying Washington’s after-time win over Dallas.

Course it helped that the Cowboy’s were hit with a 15 yard penalty when Taylor had his face mask grabbed by a desperate Dallas defender. That penalty added to Taylor’s return gave the Redskins a shot at victory as the referee announced ‘one untimed play’ would be added to the game.

I’m really not sure it merited the personal foul call for such an instinctive and fleeting grab, but it made for great theatre.

Nick Novak redeemed his 49 yard miss with 30 seconds remaining as he teed-up a 47 yard field goal that started wide right and just faded left to sail between the uprights for 3 points and a massive home win.

It left the Cowboy’s stunned and Redskin’s coach, Joe Gibbs, with a magical “what the hell just happened” look.

THE BAD
Miami Heat’s blow-out loss to Chicago. The defending NBA champs were dazzled by their own Championship Rings – presented in a pregame ceremony – as they folded to the hungry Bulls.

THE UGLY
If you saw rugby league’s Tri Nation’s clash between Great Britain and Australia then you saw Aussie forward Willie ‘motor mouth’ Mason plant the best punch you’ve ever seen on the chops of GB prop, Stuart Fielden.

Brutal.

Mason stayed on the field; unbelievable.

Then he hit GB scrum half, Sean Long, late and with the elbow; still he stayed on the field.

But Ugly as those two acts were, uglier still has been the reaction of the Australian press and football manager, Ricky Stuart.

Stuart plays lip service to ‘not condoning violence in sport’ before going on to do exactly that in defending Mason for showing passion. Bizarre and hypocritical.

Ditto with most of the Aussie press, including Phil Gould, who’s seems to think this blatant biff is an integral part of the game. Stick it Gould – this was rank and the reaction from you and your compatriots stinks along with it.