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Things
That Have Changed Since the Bears' Last Super Bowl |
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Brian Urlacher was
in 2nd grade. Rex Grossman was in kindergarten.
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Peyton Manning was
10 years old. Eli Manning was 5 years old. Their dad, Archie, had just
retired from the NFL two years earlier.
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Lovie Smith was in
his first college coaching job at University of Tulsa.
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Ronald Reagan was
the President, and Harold Washington was the Mayor. James R. Thompson
was the Governor running for re-election and his office was in the new
State of Illinois Center, which is now called the James R. Thompson
Center.
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George W. Bush was
39 years old. His father would run for President two years later.
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Rod Blagojevich was
just out of law school and was a low-level prosecutor working for the
Cook County State's Attorney, Richard M. Daley.
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Barack Obama had
just moved to Illinois, and Osama bin Laden was fighting the Soviets
in Afghanistan.
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Red Grange and Sid
Luckman were still alive.
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The Colts had just
moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore and were the doormat of the AFC
EAST. The Bears were the champions of the NFC CENTRAL.
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Property in Wicker
Park and Bucktown was cheap because they were really bad
neighborhoods.
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CD players,
cellular phones and fax machines were expensive, cutting edge
technology and only a few people used them.
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"Surfing the net"
meant a volleyball game at the beach, and virtually no one used the
"@" key on their TYPEWRITER.
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Sam Walton was
still alive and was wealthier than Bill Gates. Windows were panes of
glass...not a computer operating system.
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The Soviet Union
was our main enemy, and Saddam Hussein was our ally.
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There were no
lights at Wrigley Field, and the oldest park in baseball belonged to
the White Sox.
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Michael Jordan and
Ozzie Guillen had just finished their "Rookie of the Year" seasons.
Jordan's coach was Stan Albeck and Guillen's manager was Tony LaRussa.
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Soldier Field had
AstroTurf. The Houston Oilers played in the AstroDome.
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The Fox TV Network
didn't exist, and ESPN had yet to air a single live pro football,
baseball, or basketball game.
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"The Love Boat" and
"Diff'rent Strokes" were still on network TV every week.
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Martin Luther King
Day was about to be celebrated as a National Holiday for the first
time.
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I-88 was called
"Illinois Rt. 5" and I-355 hadn't been built yet.
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What the CTA now
calls "The Blue Line" had just been extended to O'Hare, and the Orange
Line to Midway hadn't been built yet.
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Tiger Woods hadn't
won an amateur golf tournament yet.
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Most people knew
Seattle just as a city in the Northwest U.S. - not the home of grunge
or Starbucks.
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The Chicago area
had no Wal-Marts, Targets or Home Depots, and Walgreen's was only in
the Midwest.
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Depending on your
bank, your ATM card was good at only "Cash Station" machines or only
at "Money Network" machines, but there were no fees.
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"The Phone Company"
was Illinois Bell.
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They still sold
leaded gasoline and you couldn't pay for your gas at the pump.
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Stereo TVs were the
rage that HDTVs are now. 8-track tapes were still being made.
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Betamax was still
competing with VHS.
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You paid cash for
your groceries and fast food, and you used a travel agent to book
airline flights.
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The Baltimore
Ravens were the Cleveland Browns. The Tennessee Titans were the
Houston Oilers. The Oakland Raiders were the Los Angeles Raiders that
had just left Oakland. The Arizona Cardinals (the former Phoenix
Cardinals) were the St. Louis Cardinals, and the St. Louis Rams were
the Los Angeles Rams. The Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers,
Houston Texans, and the Cleveland Browns (not to be confused with the
Cleveland Browns that are now the Baltimore Ravens) didn't exist. The
Seattle Seahawks (last year's NFC Champions) played in the AFC.
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There were no iPods
- just Sony Walkmen - so if you said something about a "shuffle" on
your Walkman, they assumed you were listening to "The Super Bowl
Shuffle"
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