[CBFF] Finally... a GREAT read on Urlacher

[Chuck Soukup]

very cool article.

chuck
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Behrens" <steve.behrens at gmail.com>
To: <post at chicagobearsfanforum.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 12:54 PM
Subject: [CBFF] Finally... a GREAT read on Urlacher


> http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=144534
>
> NFL Expert Dan Pompei
>
>
> The Urlacher phenomenon
> *Print this* 
> <http://www.sportingnews.com/exclusives/20061102/797575-p.html>
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> this<http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=144534#>
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> article<http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=144534#comments>:
> 1 [image: User comments]
>
> Posted: November 2, 2006
>
> The Pope is Catholic.
>
>  The sun is hot.
>
> Rain is wet.
>
> And Brian Urlacher is popular.
>
> Sure, Urlacher is popular. He's a damn good player. Defensive Player of 
> the
> Year last season. A five-time Pro Bowl selectee. In the Bears' Monday 
> night
> game against the Cardinals, he might have played the best game anyone has
> played at any position this season.
>
> But there is more to it.
>
> He's more than just a guy who makes a lot of plays. It's how he makes 
> plays
> with perhaps the most implausible size-speed ratio of any player ever: 
> 6-4,
> 258 with a 4.5 40-yard dash. In an aquarium full of incredible specimens, 
> he
> is the fish every kid points at. Even in Hawaii, the other Pro Bowl 
> players
> are in awe of him every year. When the Bears review tape of their previous
> game, teammates routinely ask to see the play Urlacher made one more time.
>
> He plays middle linebacker for the Bears, which is kind of like playing
> Queen for England. The scepter has been passed from Hall of Famer to Hall 
> of
> Famer, legend to legend. Bill George, considered to be the NFL's first 
> true
> middle linebacker, gave it to Dick Butkus, perhaps the NFL's greatest 
> player
> ever, who passed it to Mike Singletary, the heart of the NFL's best 
> defense
> ever, who passed it to Urlacher.
>
> Chicago icons all.
>
> The Chicago area is home to 9.4 million people, which makes it the
> third-largest metropolitan area in the United States, the second-largest
> metropolitan area that fields an NFL team and the largest metropolitan 
> area
> with only one NFL team. Taking into account these factors, as well as the
> tradition and history of the Bears, it's possible the Bears have more fans
> than any team in the league.
>
> Yes, he is the perfect player in the perfect place. But there is more to 
> it.
>
>
> Crew cut. Bare-armed in the Chicago winter. No dancing, no trash-talk, no
> jewelry except for a watch, no calling attention to himself. He's nothing 
> at
> all like the NFL's other transcendent middle linebacker, Ray Lewis.
>
> Urlacher's image is poetic.
>
> None of it is affected. Nothing Urlacher does is motivated by what you 
> think
> about him.
>
> He has been getting his hair cut like this since he was in eighth grade.
> Back then, a buddy used to cut it because the price was right. The reason
> for the frequent clips? His neck gets "furry" and that drives him nuts.
>
> He's Butkus all over again, right? Well, no, he's not. Butkus is who 
> Chicago
> wanted Urlacher to be initially. But he doesn't have Butkus' lack of
> compassion. Get this -- Urlacher never has been in a fistfight in his 
> life.
> He can't even remember having an enemy. He quietly buys 50 tickets for 
> every
> Bears home game and gives them to kids from the Special Olympics and Mercy
> Home for Boys and Girls.
>
> His teammates sometimes bring out the Butkus in him. "If you don't do your
> job, he'll be the first one in your face," defensive end Alex Brown says.
> "Players on most teams, when they mess up, they don't want to go back to 
> the
> sideline. Here, it's, 'Dang, I don't want to get back in the huddle 
> because
> I know he's going to rip me apart.' He knows where everybody is supposed 
> to
> be, and he's huge on being accountable."
>
> The Urlacher we see is the one with a big open-mouthed smile and his head
> flung back. He laughs on the field as much as any player in the league. 
> His
> joy for the game is childlike, and it reverberates in the hearts of fans.
>
> Yes, he makes us smile. But there is more to it.
>
> When Urlacher's popularity is discussed, there always is a pink elephant 
> in
> the room. Or rather, a white elephant. He is a white man in a largely
> nonwhite world playing to an audience that is largely white. The truth is
> he's the NFL's only white superstar who doesn't line up under center.
>
> A survey taken by the Sporting News showed 69 percent of NFL players are 
> not
> white, as defined by U.S. census standards. The average number of white
> players on a 53-man roster is 16.5. The Jaguars have a league-low nine, 
> and
> the Colts have a league-high 22.
>
> If Urlacher's ancestors were from Africa and not Germany, would he be as
> popular?
>
> Dr. Maureen Smith, a sports sociologist at Sacramento State, believes fans
> choose heroes who look like them. "He's popular for a lot of reasons, and
> partly because he's white," Smith says. "In a sport where people who look
> like him are increasingly losing that position, he kind of represents the
> last of the throwback players like Dick Butkus."
>
> It isn't uncommon for African Americans on other teams to question the
> amount of attention Urlacher gets. Browns linebacker Andra Davis has asked
> his friend Alex Brown if Urlacher is all people say he is. "Yeah," Brown
> answers. "He's everything people say. Plus."
>
> The interesting part of this is those who know Urlacher will tell you he
> crosses the boundaries as comfortably as Illinois Senator Barack Obama, a
> potential presidential candidate. Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye
> marvels at how Urlacher relates to every teammate, whether he's from 
> Hawaii
> or New York.
>
> Many of Urlacher's best friends are African Americans. His son is half
> African American. He and his brother, Casey, get their hair cut every 
> Friday
> at the Hair Gallery in North Chicago. They get stares, not only because of
> who Urlacher is but also because they are the only white guys in the 
> place.
> His iPod plays a country song, then a rap song.
>
> Yes, he is precisely what America wants. But there is more to it.
>
> This is a celebrity who has not figured out he's supposed to demand that 
> the
> browns be removed from his M&M bowl. A self-described "hick" who can
> envision himself living in his hometown of Lovington, N.M., when he 
> retires,
> Urlacher is oblivious to his fame, bewildered by his popularity.
>
> This is part of his appeal. He never puts up a wall, so fans aren't 
> nervous
> or apprehensive when they approach him. It's more "Hey, Brian, how ya
> doin'?" as opposed to, "Mi ... Mi ... Mr. Urlacher, co ... co ... could I
> please have your autograph?"
>
> He's even accessible. You might catch him at Dave and Buster's, a
> restaurant-bar-arcade where Urlacher and his buddies have accumulated 
> nearly
> enough points by playing games in the past year to purchase a lakefront
> condominium. You could bump into him at Bob Chinn's Crab House, where he
> always orders the Jonah stone crab, oysters and fried shrimp with green
> beans. Oh, and a side salad with Thousand Island and a bunch of sunflower
> seeds. You might see him mingling at Spoon, a popular nightclub. You could
> even find him waiting in a long line with his kids to ride The Many
> Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Disney World.
>
> Urlacher is clean off the field, though imperfect like the rest of us. He
> has a broken marriage. He fathered a child out of wedlock, which many 
> would
> deem irresponsible.
>
> But he took the mother to court to fight for custody of the child. How 
> many
> men in his position would have done that? Urlacher, who grew up without 
> his
> father around, wants to be his son's father. He wants to take 
> responsibility
> for the child he brought into the world. Now that's a man.
>
> Urlacher is grounded because of his roots. Humility is easy to come by 
> when
> you are the son of a single mother who worked three jobs to support the
> family. It becomes ingrained when you can afford to buy only one pair of
> shoes each year. It never leaves you after you've worked in the oil fields
> and lumberyards and had jobs delivering water and mowing grass.
>
> Yes, he is anything but self-important. But there is more to it.
>
> You don't know a lot about Brian Urlacher. He won't let you because he
> distrusts most of the media.
>
> But that doesn't stop you from liking him. Somehow, you feel like you know
> what kind of guy he is. And you know what? Somehow, you do.
>
> It doesn't bother him much when he's the target of media criticism. Two
> years ago when the Sporting News, citing an anonymous poll of talent
> evaluators, called him the NFL's most overrated player, he shrugged it off
> after the initial irritation dissipated. Nor is he sweating about a recent
> Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players that named him the second most
> overrated player in the game.
>
> But don't mess with his teammates, of whom he's very protective. Mother 
> hen
> protective. He was infuriated when the press was calling for quarterback 
> Rex
> Grossman to be benched in the preseason. Livid when cornerback Ricky 
> Manning
> was vilified after a recent brush with the law.
>
> His teammates and coaches are as protective of him as he is of them, and
> they defend Urlacher vociferously and passionately. "Calling him overrated
> is ridiculous, probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Bears center
> Olin Kreutz says, spitting each word. "The only thing you can say is 
> people
> are jealous. I'm not saying it because he's my friend. I'm saying it 
> because
> I watch film and I practice against him. People can't do what he does."
>
> Even though Brown says Urlacher is recognizable from his shadow alone,
> Urlacher does not like being singled out as the face of the Bears. When he
> recently was asked to pose for a magazine cover, he declined -- unless a
> teammate could be in the shot as well. He is nothing if not one of the 
> guys.
>
>
> Safety Tyler Everett is an obscure player in the Bears' locker room. After
> being passed over in the draft last April, he signed with the Broncos. Cut
> before the season, he joined the Bears' practice squad. Everett wasn't in
> Chicago five minutes before Urlacher was at his locker introducing 
> himself.
> "He took me in like one of the regular guys and was one of the first to do
> that," Everett says. When the Bears released Everett in October, Urlacher
> phoned him. "Here's the superstar of the team asking if I'm OK, worrying
> about me," says Everett, who subsequently was re-signed. "He tells me if I
> need anything to let him know. He always says to come by the house if I'm
> not doing anything."
>
> You'd like to be invited to Urlacher's home in suburban Chicago as most of
> his teammates frequently are. They dress in camouflage and have paintball
> wars in his wooded backyard. They shoot pool and play cards, pingpong and
> air hockey. They watch fights. And they always can count on a nice spread 
> if
> they're hungry.
>
> He is a team captain who earns the designation daily. Teammates say he's 
> the
> kind of guy they would call at 4 a.m. for a ride if they were stranded.
>
> Yes, he is the kind of guy you'd want to be your friend. But there is more
> to it.
>
> As big and tough as Urlacher is, children are not intimidated by him. In
> fact, they are drawn to the father of three.
>
> Recently, the young son of a teammate heard about the "Take a Bear to
> School" program. His mother asked the boy if he wanted his famous father 
> to
> come to school with him. "No, Mom," he said. "I want Lach to come."
>
> Kids know people. They just know.
>
> Urlacher, two friends, their spouses and their children recently went to a
> Red Robin restaurant. While the adults talked and ate burgers, the five 
> kids
> fought for position on Urlacher's lap. Most of his time was occupied 
> feeding
> the kids and getting balloons.
>
> When Urlacher has been the host of birthday parties for his kids at Chuck 
> E.
> Cheese's, nobody has had more fun than him. "We went berserk in there," he
> says. "I love the skee ball and the basketball. The best game is when you
> put the coins in and it flips and knocks the coins off. That's the best. I
> spent like a hundred bucks on that game."
>
> In his heart, he is stuck somewhere between 10 and 12. Part Peter Pan, 
> part
> Incredible Hulk, Urlacher is forever goofing with teammates, playing 
> pranks
> and keeping the locker room loose. He has set a lighthearted tone for what
> could be football's finest team. Wiffle Ball in the locker room, scaring
> people, knocking teammates' playbooks off their desks during meetings.
> Urlacher is behind all of it.
>
> Typical day at Halas Hall. Urlacher is in the linebackers room ostensibly
> watching tape. Ogunleye walks by. Urlacher: "Come in here, Wale, I want 
> you
> to see this play." Ogunleye enters and sits. Urlacher lets out a
> high-pitched "cukoooo," also known as the linebackers' "distress" call.
> Before Ogunleye can look up, he is surrounded by seven linebackers, who 
> are
> ready to administer a playful beating.
>
> Yes, he's a fun playmate. But there is more to it.
>
> You see, in the athlete you and I could never be, we can see ourselves. 
> Yes,
> we can actually see ourselves. Or at least the parts of ourselves we would
> like to see.
>
> And somewhere in that mystery lies the explanation for the popularity of
> Brian Urlacher.
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