Berwyn resident and Bears fan Marge Paul had a super idea: temporarily rename the city “Bearwyn.”
City officials ran with it, dreaming up Bearwyn signs, mugs and T-shirts.
It was the Chicago Bears who sacked the plan. The team wouldn’t respond to a reporter’s queries, but Jeanmarie Hajer, Berwyn’s director of community outreach, relayed the reason:
“The Bears said they don’t have anything against Berwyn but that the team doesn’t associate themselves with municipalities. … They said from a legality issue, to call something `Bearwyn’ would mean that they would be part of the town and have to look at and be involved with everything we do.”
Plus the team reportedly said a city using its name would have to pay royalties.
Note to Chicago: Does that work in reverse?
REASON TO CELEBRATE
Army veteran Bryan Anderson had a parade in his honor and recently made the cover of Esquire Magazine. Now he’s got a pair of Super Bowl tickets.
Anderson, who lost three limbs in Iraq, confirmed Monday he received the tickets from a Libertyville businessman.
Brad Buell, president of Buell Insurance in Libertyville, said he’s still working out the details for Anderson’s trip.
Anderson was injured in an explosion in October 2005. He returned to Rolling Meadows to a hero’s welcome in November.
OPTION PLAY
Without a way to the big game, Sarah Spain planned to auction herself as a date to the Super Bowl. But Spain, 26, lucked out Friday when body spray company AXE offered her four precious tickets.
So, keeping one and giving two to girlfriends, the Lake Forest native now plans to give the fourth ticket to another needy Bears fan. Preferably male.
Spain, now in California, has rules: The guy must be 21, a Bears die-hard with his own lodging and travel, and no other chance at a ticket. And this:
“I want someone who wants to chug a beer after a touchdown,” she said. E-mail hotsuperbowldate@hotmail.com.
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AUDIBLES
“Rex Grossman versus Peyton Manning doesn’t sound like a fair fight.”
–A recent line from a Toledo Blade newspaper story, just one of the myriad pieces of bulletin board material for the beleaguered Bears QB, as cataloged by RedEye.
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Tribune staff reporters Jeff Long, Glenn Jeffers and freelance reporter Joseph Ruzich contributed to this report.
