MEAT PARADE

NFL Draft is this weekend. It is immensely popular. Even non-draftniks follow the first couple of rounds. It is interesting. Still, it almost raises the issue whether man has a dark side that responds to the ownership of human beings. Is this just a polite, well-funded way to feel the same things the slave traders felt?

It's all good fun......isn't it?

IF YOU WOULD HAVE TOLD ME LAST JULY...

....The Bears would be playing in February, I'd have taken it!

No boo-hoo from here. Thanks for the fun five month ride, boys.

Now, five weeks till the NCAA Roundball tourney!

75% OF CHICAGO TV'S WERE TUNED TO THE BEARS YESTERDAY

What on Earth were the other 25% thinking?

A PATRIOT ACT YOU CAN RESPECT--A ROAD WIN

Contrary to popular belief, the Super Bowl will be populated by a team from New England, coached by a homeless guy lookalike and Quarterbacked by a guy who couldn't start in the big ten. Peyton Manning will continue to be the Greatest Quarterback Never to Have Played in the Super Bowl and Tony Dungy will not be the first african-american head coach to take his team to the Super Bowl.

The Patriots will run more than pass and Indy will not be able to stop them on the ground.

If you disagree, post it. Then, when I'm wrong you can say "I told you so!"

EASTERN MEDIA--I HAVE NEWS

The unwashed out here in flyover country are really not having as much trouble getting through the day as you in the presence of all the uncertainty about what Tiki Barber will be doing next year.

Oh, and you can quit saying "New York Football Giants". For those of you scoring at home, there haven't been any "New York Baseball Giants" for nearly 50 years. You got the Mutts instead. Get over it!

ABOUT LAST NIGHT.......

Da Bears really didn't play very well for most of the game and one can draw a lot of conclusions about it. Mostly, I think, it leads one to conclude that the athletes in the NFL are uniformly capable of amazing things.

But there's another football/life lesson: Sometimes just determination and frenetic effort can produce a win. You can lose all the style points and still succeed, if you care enough and act on that caring.

It's good to see it work out that way this time.

ABC