Bears' act for immature audiences only
October 13, 2006
BY RICK TELANDER Sun-Times Columnist
Tommie Harris never has played in a Monday night game. You could say the upcoming Bears-Arizona Cardinals tilt in the desert is the superhot defensive tackle's coming-out party for the national media.
The big swinging fobs will be there in Tempe -- including Tony ''I'm Soooo Tired'' Kornheiser and Joltin' Joe ''The Bears Will Go 19-0'' Theismann.
Perceived insult
Harris has a couple of things going on in his mind right now.
The first is the insult he thinks he and his 5-0 mates have received from the Cardinals' trash-talkers.
Mostly, he means fourth-year wide receiver Anquan Boldin.
Boldin's sin?
''Obviously, we see some things on film we can take advantage of,'' Boldin said of the Bears' defense. ''I like the way we moved the ball on them in the preseason. Anybody can have the ball moved on them. Nobody is just that dominant.''
Some people might see this as harmless patter from a fancy boy.
Not Harris, whose five sacks and relentless pursuit of the ball have made him perhaps the top defensive tackle in the NFC.
''Arizona has not given us respect; I don't understand it,'' Harris said in the locker room before Thursday's practice. ''In this NFL, we need to have more class when it comes to giving each other respect.''
Now, the other issue for third-year pro Harris is realizing that with the pursuit of excellence, and perhaps an undefeated season and a Super Bowl trophy, come intense and increasing scrutiny from the people who transmit the news and its analysis to the public -- the media, in all their multilayered forms.
It's just beginning.
Imagine 8-0, 10-0 or, God help us, 12-0, when the 2006 Bears would be trying to surpass the legendary 1985 Bears' 12-1 record.
Harris, who started the locker-room session by holding his hands in front of his face so TV cameras could not get a clear shot of him, chilled out later and took some time to chat about the demands that are to come.
''I'm learning to deal with the media,'' he said. ''It's one of those things that you have to do, that's what I'm learning.''
More than that, he added, he needs to learn how to communicate fairly and courteously with the writers and camera-and-microphone gang, and thus to use the indefatigable horde to his own advantage, or at least no disadvantage.
''My fans don't normally get to see me up close in uniform,'' he points out, ''but they like to hear me talk outside of it. I want to be a good football player and person to the average kid walking down the street.
''I've been told I've got to talk to the media more. It's hard because I just want football to be football and...''
Mood swing
He said more, but it was impossible to hear him because Bears center Olin Kreutz, the serial jaw-breaker, had started rapidly flipping the light switch up and down while making amazingly loud noises.
It wasn't even 1 o'clock and the NFL-mandated 45-minute media session wasn't over yet, but Kreutz was swiftly joined by many of his teammates, who screamed at the top of their lungs, made fire-alarm noises, siren noises, animal noises and bellowed for the media to get out right now, many with threatening gestures.
Some screamed Michael Jackson's ''Beat It.''
Others pointed and smirked and turned on the few remaining media members the way a gang of bullies would turn on handicapped kids with lunch money in their pockets.
It was an amazing, frightening transformation.
The air of physical harm loomed.
These aren't comparatively smallish baseball players in the White Sox' clubhouse with three Chicago cops ever-present.
No, there's no law enforcement here, and size rules.
Bears PR staffers Jim Christman and Scott Hagel chuckled at it all.
Bears family heir and special projects manager Pat McCaskey laughed like a hyena.
Tight end John Gilmore glared and angrily screamed, ''GET OUT OF HERE!''
I looked at him and marveled. I don't recall ever having spoken to him about anything.
No matter, Harris no longer could be heard, and only a fool would stay a second longer. You wonder about it all.
We humans equate winning with immortality, triumph with virtue.
Cornerback Nathan Vasher had been so thoughtful earlier.
''You represent the organization and your family, and that always must be in the back of your mind,'' he said about players' off-field image. ''Even in college, playing for the University of Texas, we knew that.''
''You have to handle yourself like a professional, whether you're winning or not,'' guard Roberto Garza added.
''It's the guys having fun,'' Christman said dismissively. ''It's their symbolic way of taking back the locker room. They just started the 'Beat It' song.''
Yuk, yuk.
Good luck, Tommie Harris.
Hope you and your buddies can learn how to be men.
Get a real job Rick and take the skirt off.:142smilie
October 13, 2006
BY RICK TELANDER Sun-Times Columnist
Tommie Harris never has played in a Monday night game. You could say the upcoming Bears-Arizona Cardinals tilt in the desert is the superhot defensive tackle's coming-out party for the national media.
The big swinging fobs will be there in Tempe -- including Tony ''I'm Soooo Tired'' Kornheiser and Joltin' Joe ''The Bears Will Go 19-0'' Theismann.
Perceived insult
Harris has a couple of things going on in his mind right now.
The first is the insult he thinks he and his 5-0 mates have received from the Cardinals' trash-talkers.
Mostly, he means fourth-year wide receiver Anquan Boldin.
Boldin's sin?
''Obviously, we see some things on film we can take advantage of,'' Boldin said of the Bears' defense. ''I like the way we moved the ball on them in the preseason. Anybody can have the ball moved on them. Nobody is just that dominant.''
Some people might see this as harmless patter from a fancy boy.
Not Harris, whose five sacks and relentless pursuit of the ball have made him perhaps the top defensive tackle in the NFC.
''Arizona has not given us respect; I don't understand it,'' Harris said in the locker room before Thursday's practice. ''In this NFL, we need to have more class when it comes to giving each other respect.''
Now, the other issue for third-year pro Harris is realizing that with the pursuit of excellence, and perhaps an undefeated season and a Super Bowl trophy, come intense and increasing scrutiny from the people who transmit the news and its analysis to the public -- the media, in all their multilayered forms.
It's just beginning.
Imagine 8-0, 10-0 or, God help us, 12-0, when the 2006 Bears would be trying to surpass the legendary 1985 Bears' 12-1 record.
Harris, who started the locker-room session by holding his hands in front of his face so TV cameras could not get a clear shot of him, chilled out later and took some time to chat about the demands that are to come.
''I'm learning to deal with the media,'' he said. ''It's one of those things that you have to do, that's what I'm learning.''
More than that, he added, he needs to learn how to communicate fairly and courteously with the writers and camera-and-microphone gang, and thus to use the indefatigable horde to his own advantage, or at least no disadvantage.
''My fans don't normally get to see me up close in uniform,'' he points out, ''but they like to hear me talk outside of it. I want to be a good football player and person to the average kid walking down the street.
''I've been told I've got to talk to the media more. It's hard because I just want football to be football and...''
Mood swing
He said more, but it was impossible to hear him because Bears center Olin Kreutz, the serial jaw-breaker, had started rapidly flipping the light switch up and down while making amazingly loud noises.
It wasn't even 1 o'clock and the NFL-mandated 45-minute media session wasn't over yet, but Kreutz was swiftly joined by many of his teammates, who screamed at the top of their lungs, made fire-alarm noises, siren noises, animal noises and bellowed for the media to get out right now, many with threatening gestures.
Some screamed Michael Jackson's ''Beat It.''
Others pointed and smirked and turned on the few remaining media members the way a gang of bullies would turn on handicapped kids with lunch money in their pockets.
It was an amazing, frightening transformation.
The air of physical harm loomed.
These aren't comparatively smallish baseball players in the White Sox' clubhouse with three Chicago cops ever-present.
No, there's no law enforcement here, and size rules.
Bears PR staffers Jim Christman and Scott Hagel chuckled at it all.
Bears family heir and special projects manager Pat McCaskey laughed like a hyena.
Tight end John Gilmore glared and angrily screamed, ''GET OUT OF HERE!''
I looked at him and marveled. I don't recall ever having spoken to him about anything.
No matter, Harris no longer could be heard, and only a fool would stay a second longer. You wonder about it all.
We humans equate winning with immortality, triumph with virtue.
Cornerback Nathan Vasher had been so thoughtful earlier.
''You represent the organization and your family, and that always must be in the back of your mind,'' he said about players' off-field image. ''Even in college, playing for the University of Texas, we knew that.''
''You have to handle yourself like a professional, whether you're winning or not,'' guard Roberto Garza added.
''It's the guys having fun,'' Christman said dismissively. ''It's their symbolic way of taking back the locker room. They just started the 'Beat It' song.''
Yuk, yuk.
Good luck, Tommie Harris.
Hope you and your buddies can learn how to be men.
Get a real job Rick and take the skirt off.:142smilie
