NEWSLETTER
You’d have been hard-pressed to find a tougher guy during his playing days than Steve “Mongo” McMichael.
As Dan Pompei points out in his column at The Athletic, McMichael’s famous nickname comes from the movie “Blazing Saddles” where the Mongo character cold-cocks a horse in the yapper. That’s pretty darn fearless, if I say so myself, but times change, sometimes not for the better.
McMichael instilled fear in opposing quarterbacks, piling up 95 sacks during his playing days, but it was something that he never saw coming, his ALS diagnosis, that put the fear into him, so much so that at one point, McMichael asked his wife to put him out of his misery.
“Just kill me,” McMichael said to his wife and caretaker, Misty McMichael. “Give me an overdose.”
Misty refused, citing her own selfishness and her desire to live out as much of her life with her companion as possible, and now the Bears legend lives for Misty and their 14-year-old daughter.
Pompei does a wonderful job outlining the battle biggest battle of McMichael’s life and the people that have been there fighting with him every step of the way. This is without a doubt an absolute must-read for every Bears fan (or otherwise) today.
When Steve McMichael finally grasped his diagnosis of ALS, he had a request for his wife. “Just kill me,” he said. “Give me an overdose. But as you would expect, he decided to keep fighting. My story for @theathleticnfl. https://t.co/Ha4cNYtBqI
— Dan Pompei (@danpompei) March 31, 2022
And here’s a reminder that our friends at Obvious Shirts sell TEAM MONGO shirts with 100% of the proceeds donated to the McMichael family.
https://twitter.com/obvious_shirts/status/1509541046325329927?s=20&t=QMu6M8ebn4nDUcqXoFfHAA
