LOL Me too. Guys right down the street, more or less, at ND.

My only memory of Avellini was getting his autograph at a Seno's Menswear back around 1980 or so. Vince was a stud athlete, but not sure teams knew how to use him. Finks did a lot of great things, but Joe Montana for crying out loud.

I remember as a kid seeing my dad, an grizzled CPD Detective, jumping up and down, almost squealing with delight watching the Bears hammer the Giants and Rams. I'd never seen him act that way. It was great.

Granted, when the Hawks one their first Cup in my lifetime, I got choked up, and had to hold back tears and kick my kids out of the room when they ran in and asked what was up.
- howiehandles

That's a long way for a blue chip left tackle to fall.
- kwolf68

Wasn't Gault pick # 8 or 10?

I remember reading that the old timers for the Raiders said it was the most physical game they'd ever played in, and showed a lot of respect for them. That game was brutal. Grew up liking the Raiders, even though I was a Bear's fan. That's when I knew they could hang with anyone.
- howiehandles

The 1984 Bears were mean and nasty. They were throwbacks. They were as mean as the 70s Steelers or some of those 50s and 60s teams.

In 1985 they became rock stars, almost a glamour team. Still good, but 84 was magical, because you felt it before it actually hit you, sorta like an earthquake.

85 Bears was about giving William Perry touchdowns, Super Bowl shuffles, dancing...1984 was about total devastation. Loved that 84 team. I think Payton broke the record in 84 too....good good times. And poor Mike Hartenstein retired in 1984 I think.

Wasn't Gault pick # 8 or 10?
- vabeachbear

I thought he was lower

Edit: He was 18th

Safe to say the Hawks are not so good at drafting D

- Sundevil

They did draft Keith, Seabrook, Hammer

I remember watching that Raiders game and literally laughing. They had their PUNTER getting ready to go in to play QB because the Bears had knocked everyone out the game. LMAO....the greatness of the Raiduhs is not here today sir!!!!

Agree...like the direction of our current team. Defense can't help BUT be much improved. It was dumpster fire level proportions last year. However, they lost a TON OF GAMES by just a couple points so they don't have far to go to turn that around.
- kwolf68

I also believe that was the game the Raiders lacerated McMahon's kidney and knocked him out for the year. You might be able to find that game on YouTube. A classic. The other classic game from that era, for me anyway, was the Bears beating the 49ers in game 6 of the 1985 Super Bowl winning season. I think Bears were up like 19-10 with about 8 minutes left, and got the ball back. And Payton and the O-Line just rammed it down the 49ers defense throat. Payton scored a TD and they went up 26-10. That was my real first inkling they were special that year.

And John Fox always has really good second seasons with his teams. See the Panthers and Broncos.

The 1984 Bears were mean and nasty. They were throwbacks. They were as mean as the 70s Steelers or some of those 50s and 60s teams.

In 1985 they became rock stars, almost a glamour team. Still good, but 84 was magical, because you felt it before it actually hit you, sorta like an earthquake.

85 Bears was about giving William Perry touchdowns, Super Bowl shuffles, dancing...1984 was about total devastation. Loved that 84 team. I think Payton broke the record in 84 too....good good times.
- kwolf68

It was funny hearing my dad talk about the Bear's of the 60s. He loved the Ditka hire, and fondly spoke of Adkins, Butkus, etc. Said Gale Sayers was the best back he saw, not named Jim Brown. The 85 team he said would have fit right in with those guys.

Even if the Hawks get another LW to play in the top 6 and another defenseman for cheap, what I still don't understand is what can they do about the 3rd line? Is the plan to just put a bunch of kids together like Motte, Schmaltz, and Hartman and hope they have instant impact?
- SimpleJack

I vote Tlustly for #2 LW. Sign carrick and schlemko. Sign Latta for 4th line/3rd line LW. Give McNeill a shot at 3rd line RW, or plug panik in there: latta-schmaltz-panik/mcneill

Ditka is loved because

-he did bring back Bear pride
-he was Papa Bear's last big decision
-he did win a championship
-he was a warrior as a player
-he was funny and took no poop

But is also very over-rated because
-stubborn/huge ego
-lost focus on team chemistry
-said things that were destructive (calling the Scabs the "real Bears")
-became a commercial icon, lost drive to be great coach
-became legend in his own mind
-poor manager of players (handling of the QB situation was a debacle)
- kwolf68

It was funny hearing my dad talk about the Bear's of the 60s. He loved the Ditka hire, and fondly spoke of Adkins, Butkus, etc. Said Gale Sayers was the best back he saw, not named Jim Brown. The 85 team he said would have fit right in with those guys.
- howiehandles

Sayers just a few years before my time...but seeing video of him running...just a thing of beauty pre-knee injury. Was super fast and as quick as Barry Sanders...or almost as quick as Sanders. But Sayers was much faster than Sanders.

Loved Buddy. Love the Bears. But...

Blackhawks blog, please.

It was funny hearing my dad talk about the Bear's of the 60s. He loved the Ditka hire, and fondly spoke of Adkins, Butkus, etc. Said Gale Sayers was the best back he saw, not named Jim Brown. The 85 team he said would have fit right in with those guys.
- howiehandles

No doubt. Trouble with Sayers and Butkus, they literally had NO ONE else on that team that was very good (with few exceptions like Buffone in the late 60s), especially toward the late 60s. It's amazing how a team can have the greatest linebacker in history, one of the five greatest running backs in history and completely suck.

Bears really had 1 really good year in the entire 1960s and then for most of the 70s they were a laughing stock. They did get raped on a disastrous call in the 1979 playoffs against Philadelphia and I think could have beaten either LA or Tampa Bay to make the Super Bowl, even with a pedestrian passing attack. The NFC just wasn't very good overall in the late 1970s unless Dallas made it.

Loved Buddy. Love the Bears. But...

Blackhawks blog, please.
- Cmonalready

If you have something new and exciting to add about the Hawks.. by all means....please

If you have something new and exciting to add about the Hawks.. by all means....please
- furso27

LOL I know it.

Folks were talking about the Canadian dollar a day or two ago...I ignored it because I wasn't interested. But if folks wanna chat about it, by all means.

And right now Hawks news is scarce.

Trust me when some news hits, us Bear ballers will be ready to roll on it.

Until then...BEAR DOWN!!!

Loved Buddy. Love the Bears. But...

Blackhawks blog, please.
- Cmonalready

Its never really bothered me if people want to talk about other subjects.

Anyone care to discuss that GOT season finale?

I vote Tlustly for #2 LW. Sign carrick and schlemko. Sign Latta for 4th line/3rd line LW.
- ikeane

Hey jacksonville, you just sepnbt a lot of $.

Do you want be to go five blocks up the street and ask my neighbor, Dante Fowler's father to loan the hawks the money to sign them under the table, because I am not sure the have cap space

Its never really bothered me if people want to talk about other subjects.

Anyone care to discuss that GOT season finale?
- SimpleJack

I have never watched GOT...but here it is awesome. Maybe over the winter I will catch up on it. I watch Veep. Very funny show.

Thoughts on Eric Staal for 1LW? (assuming he signs for cheap). Obviously he's not the player he once was but he's big and could probably play the possession game with 19-81.

Loved Buddy. Love the Bears. But...

Blackhawks blog, please.
- Cmonalready

Seriously.

Anyone know how Gustav Forsling's development is coming along? I know he's still young and playing in Sweden, haven't heard anything about him for awhile. Will he be at training camp this year?

Seriously.

Anyone know how Gustav Forsling's development is coming along? I know he's still young and playing in Sweden, haven't heard anything about him for awhile. Will he be at training camp this year?
- Ballam

I believe he signed his ELC so he should be at camp and, at worst, in Rockford to begin season.

Thoughts on Eric Staal for 1LW? (assuming he signs for cheap). Obviously he's not the player he once was but he's big and could probably play the possession game with 19-81.
- EbonyRaptor

He's not coming cheap

Its never really bothered me if people want to talk about other subjects.

Anyone care to discuss that GOT season finale?
- SimpleJack

All I will say is

I already watched it a second time and the music composition for the episode was some of the best of all time.

Seriously.

Anyone know how Gustav Forsling's development is coming along? I know he's still young and playing in Sweden, haven't heard anything about him for awhile. Will he be at training camp this year?
- Ballam

No chance to make the team this year...soft in his own zone. Has some nice skill, but I'll wait until having a sweater stitched up for him.

Hey jacksonville, you just sepnbt a lot of $.

Do you want be to go five blocks up the street and ask my neighbor, Dante Fowler's father to loan the hawks the money to sign them under the table, because I am not sure the have cap space
- wiz1901

Was thinking these are low salary players. I think those four could be had for 5-6 mil

Thoughts on Eric Staal for 1LW? (assuming he signs for cheap). Obviously he's not the player he once was but he's big and could probably play the possession game with 19-81.
- EbonyRaptor

I'd take him, assuming the AAV worked out well


Thoughts on this proposition?
Anyway you work the math, after this year one of the "core" (including Panarin) is going to have to go due to not enough slices of pie to go around.
So I kind of don't blame Stan for going all in at the TDL, and I definitely won't blame Stan for going all in this year while we can. Sign some cheap vets but give them huge performance bonuses for winning the Stanley cup. (So the bonuses can be carried over to next year)
Win the cup.
Blow up the team a bit (and let all the cheap vets on 1 year deals go)
Draft high for a year or two, and then go on another few cup runs while Kane/Toews are still on there prime.
What do you guys think?