Sometimes relationships end. When they do the people involved can be left with tons of things: good and bad memories, favorite clothing, jewelry or a familiar song the list goes on and on. For me it's the Chicago Bears.
I was never a football fan. I grew up with a father and brother both who never played or watched football. Baseball was our family sport. Dad used to play, and then he coached my brother. My mom kept the scorebook. I went to batting practices to run the pitching machine. As a family we watched the Chicago Cubs.
Then I started dating an ex-football player who was a die-hard fan of the game. He watched the Chicago Bears religiously, but had no interest in baseball. He started watching the Cubs to have something to talk to my dad about and I started to watch the Bears and learn about football.
Through our relationship we attended a Cubs game, two Bears games and the Bears convention. The atmosphere at the Bears game was unbelievable; the hardcore fans, the way strangers hugged and high-fived on a great play, the entire stadium singing "Bear down Chicago Bears" when a touchdown was scored. The convention was equally amazing. We waited in line for hours just to briefly meet with some of the starting players. My autographed Rex Grossman and Mushin Muhammad footballs still rest in my closet safely wrapped up until I move to a house worthy of displaying them.
When our four-year relationship came to an end I wanted to hate the Bears. I wanted to either not be a football fan at all or be a Cincinnati Bengals or Green Bay Packers fan. Lucky for me we broke up a couple of weeks before the Bears played the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl. I refused to wear my Grossman jersey to the Super Bowl party I attended. I told myself and everyone else I wanted the Colts to win. I thought I believed that. Until seconds into the game Devin Hester scored a touchdown from the kick-off and I suddenly found myself off the couch, uncontrollably jumping up and down and making fun of all the Colts fans around me.
While playing a board game called "Battle of the Sexes" I found myself answering questions about the Bears and football that years earlier I would have never known. When I hear people talk about how horrible Grossman is or how bad the Bears are doing, I can't help but jump in and defend my team. I have almost as much Bears memorabilia in my bedroom as I do Cubs memorabilia and artificial flowers. I can't help it. Relationships are a life experience that shapes us. Mine happened to shape me into a Bears fan.
No matter how hard I try, I can't hate the Bears. The relationship is part of my past that seems distant and almost surreal. The Bears are now part of my life without being associated to him. They were the first and only football team I watched, read about and personally met. I am too deeply vested to break up with them.
When a relationship ends, it's done. There are innumerable reasons why people break up, but it's hard to erase those memories and shared experiences. If a sports team doesn't cheat on you or hurt you it's hard to hate them, especially when you are talking about the always close to the big championship but no cigar Chicago Cubs and Bears. They are my teams and even though baseball has been part of my life, football now holds its own spot too. No matter how hard you try you just can't break up with a team.
Write to Kelley at krellert@bsu.edu
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