More than just a football team, the Chicago Bears are a vital part of Chicago culture. After close to a century of play, the Bears have won more regular season games than any other NFL franchise. With twenty-seven players in the Hall of Fame and fourteen retired jerseys, it’s no wonder the Bears are a beloved, storied franchise. But the Bears, like Chicago, are not just people: they are true personalities. In Amazing Tales From the Chicago Bears Sideline, Bears fans can read about the men who have made the Bears one of the greatest teams in pro football—George Halas, Dick Butkus, Mike Ditka, Jay Culter, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, and many others. Former Bears star Steve McMichael takes a front row seat in this collection of stories. Readers get an opportunity to relive the glory years of a charter NFL franchise—as seen through the eyes of a legendary player. McMichael covers it all, from training camp misadventures in Lake Forest, Illinois, and Platteville, Wisconsin, and Ditka’s locker room tirades to nights on the town with teammates, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of historic moments. From first kick-off to overtime play, Amazing Tales from the Chicago Bears Sideline covers some of the franchise’s greatest moments, and is a must-have for any true Bears fan.

After his first Cubs game when Rich Cohen was eight, his father asked him to make a promise. "Promise me you will never be a Cubs fan. The Cubs do not win," he explained, "and because of that, a Cubs fan will have a diminished life determined by low expectations. That team will screw up your life." Here he captures the story of the team, its players and crazy days-- not just what happened, but what it felt like and what it meant. He searches for the cause of the famous curse, and came to see the curse as a burden but also as a blessing.

This book is the story of one of the greatest football teams in the history of the NFL: the '85 Bears. They were, for a brief, magical moment, a band of eccentrics who went from nobodies to rock stars and cult figures--they took America on a wild ride in the middle of one of the wildest times in history. The Rise and Self-Destruction of the Greatest Football Team in History reveals all the stories from that year, like how Walter Payton ended up hiding in a storage closet and why the team collapsed under the weight of its own greatness.

"Millions of Americans see Mike Ditka as the most competitive man on earth. The National Football League's most controversial, intimidating, and charismatic coach, Ditka is an intense monster of a man who embodies not only Chicago and its Bears, but the American Dream." "With the Bears' bizarre 1991 season as a backdrop, award-winning sports journalist Armen Keteyian unearths the Mike Ditka that fans never see - drawing on over two hundred interviews with Ditka's current players (among them Jim Harbaugh, Mike Singletary and Kevin Butler), friends, classmates, former teammates, business associates and family members, including a rare interview with his father. For the first time, Ditka's image is stripped away to reveal the successes - and failures - resulting from his life-long obsession with winning." "Ditka the coach: He's the winningest NFL coach of the 1980s - one hundred and one regular season triumphs in ten years. His crowning achievement was capturing Super Bowl XX with a team led by Jim McMahon, Walter Payton, and William "The Refrigerator" Perry, a team poised to become a dynasty." "Ditka the father: He's a philanthropist and fund-raiser who's raised millions of dollars for disabled children, yet has rarely connected with his own kids." "Ditka the businessman: He's made millions of dollars, yet still suffered staggering losses, leaving a trail of failed enterprises." "Ditka the man: He owns antique cars and collects fine wines. His estimated income is more than five million dollars a year. Despite his wealth, he boasts of being a "common man," but when common men question or criticize his decisions, he dismisses them as "losers in life...$100-a-week guys."" "Keteyian shows how Ditka's personality was forged in a Pennsylvania steel mill town by a doting mother and a distant father who considered praise a poison. Dreading a life in the mills, Ditka used football as his ticket out. He won the Rookie of the Year award with the Bears in 1961, and until this year was the only tight end ever inducted into the Hall of Fame. During his playing career, injuries, drinking, and carousing caught up with him - but nothing could stop Mike Ditka from becoming one of the greatest coaches in football today." "Perhaps the most compelling insight in Ditka: Monster of the Midway is this: Despite his 1988 heart attack and a dramatic moment of self-realization a year later after hearing the born-again testimony of an ex-NFL player - an event that has gone unreported until now - Ditka remains a man tied to one constant in life. It has left him suffering innumerable personal losses." "In Ditka: Monster of the Midway, Armen Keteyian reveals the many sides of the walking, talking contradiction that is "Iron Mike" Ditka. An astute analysis of how a future football dynasty fell apart, Ditka: Monster of the Midway is also the story of the 1991 football season - one of Ditka's finest as a coach, and one that will prove crucial to his future. Ditka: Monster of the Midway is sports reporting at its best, the most comprehensive and hardest-hitting account of the life and times of Mike Ditka and his Chicago Bears."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A New York Times bestselling author takes a rollicking deep dive into the ultra-competitive world of youth hockey Rich Cohen, the New York Times–bestselling author of The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse and Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football, turns his attention to matters closer to home: his son’s elite Pee Wee hockey team and himself, a former player and a devoted hockey parent. In Pee Wees: Confessions of a Hockey Parent, Cohen takes us through a season of hard-fought competition in Fairfield County, Connecticut, an affluent suburb of New York City. Part memoir and part exploration of youth sports and the exploding popularity of American hockey, Pee Wees follows the ups and downs of the Ridgefield Bears, the twelve-year-old boys and girls on the team, and the parents watching, cheering, conniving, and cursing in the stands. It is a book about the love of the game, the love of parents for their children, and the triumphs and struggles of both.

Led by stars like Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, Mike Singletary, William "Refrigerator" Perry, head coach Mike Ditka, and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, the Chicago Bears in the 1980s were an NFL powerhouse. As anyone who's seen "The Super Bowl Shuffle" surely knows, they were also an unforgettable group of characters. Otis Wilson, the Bears starting outside linebacker, was right in the center of the action, and in this book, Wilson provides a closer look at the great moments and personalities that made this era legendary. Readers will meet the players, coaches, and management and share in their moments of triumph and defeat. Be a fly on the wall as Wilson recounts stories from those days in Chicago, including the 1985 Super Bowl-winning season. If These Walls Could Talk: Chicago Bears will make fans a part of the team's storied history.

The first truly comprehensive biography on George Halas, the father of professional football The founder of the National Football League and father of the Chicago Bears, George Halas single-handedly changed the way Americans spend their Sundays. Papa Bear tells the incredible story of how one man grabbed an outlaw game by the throat, shook it up, and made it into the richest and most popular spectator sport on the planet. Nearly 20 years after his death, Halas remains one of the towering figures of professional sports--rivaling the legendary Vince Lombardi--yet there has never been an authoritative biography published about this great American success story. At last, Papa Bear fills that gap. Written with unprecedented access to Halas's family, his closest friends, and associates, this thoroughly researched account includes exclusive interviews and a treasure trove of never-published archival materials on the Hall of Famer and his enduring legacy.