Michael McCaskey felt like a Super Bowl winner Sunday, even though his Bears were nowhere in sight.
Watching the NFC Central rival Green Bay Packers lose 31-24 to the Denver Broncos at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium was enough to elicit a smile from the Bears owner.
McCaskey was on the same United Airlines flight from San Diego to Chicago on Monday with Hall of Famers Ray Nitschke from the Packers and Gale Sayers from the Bears.
“Ray Nitschke and I were giving each other the business a little bit,” McCaskey said. “I said: `Ray, I rooted for you guys as hard as I could last year. But this year, I just kept looking at the 13 (straight AFC losses) and I said maybe it’s time for the AFC to win.’
“So I was pulling for the Broncos, and I was delighted with the strong game they played. But more than anything, I was thrilled by the fact it was such a good game. I think the fans could see NFL football at its best. It was a great way to finish off the season.”
Pay TV: McCaskey is a member of the NFL owners’ Stadium Committee, but the biggest off-the-field news is the $17.6 billion TV contract over the next eight years.
“The deal brings us some new challenges,” McCaskey said. “It’s an awful lot of money; maybe it’s too much money. Now those of us in the NFL–players, management, owners and league officials–have to figure out a constructive way to deal with this huge amount of money.
“It sounds like it would be all pluses. If any one of the parties starts to get real greedy about it, then it could lead to problems. I hope we use (the additional money) in a very positive way. We need to continue to focus on the fans. We need to think about ways to have great Super Bowls and great regular-season games.”
Singletary-minded: Last weekend’s selection of former Bears linebacker Mike Singletary for the Pro Football Hall of Fame brought special pride to McCaskey. Former Bears linebackers Dick Butkus and Bill George are previous enshrinees.
“I’m thrilled for Mike, first of all,” McCaskey said. “He was a great, great player for us, and a team leader. I think (the selection) is a tribute to Mike as a player individually, and to the teammates he played with. This reminds us of how much he inspired the guys around him to play to their best level.”
McCaskey said he foresees a special tribute to Singletary next season.
“Some sort of ceremony would be nice,” he said.
High school daze: Denver’s Terrell Davis, who earned the Super Bowl XXXII Most Valuable Player award, is a graduate of San Diego’s Lincoln High School. The last time the AFC won the Super Bowl, the MVP was Marcus Allen, also from Lincoln High.
Perhaps Bears running back Rashaan Salaam shouldn’t have transferred from Lincoln to La Jolla Country Day.
Ironmen: Los Angeles Lakers play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn has received deserved accolades this month for his long streak of NBA broadcasts. But WGN sports producer-director Arne Harris is entering his 35th year, never missing a game in more than 5,000 telecasts.
Hearn and Harris once worked together with an independent company that handled Notre Dame games. Harris chose to get paid after each game; Hearn decided to wait to get paid until after the season for tax reasons.
The only problem was that the company went bankrupt and Hearn never got paid.
———-
Send e-mail to Fred Mitchell at Kick3485@aol.com
