Trips Down Memory Lane, Motivational Olin, Logo Evolution, and Other Bears Bullets

I’ll be spending some time thinking about this tweet and the songs it mentions:

that one summer when Kanye had the College Dropout, Twista's "Overnight Celebrity," Slum Village "Selfish" and Dilated People's "This Way" all going crazy at the same time >>>

— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) June 8, 2021

It was the summer of 2004. And in addition to having College Dropout album, Twista’s “Overnight Celebrity,” Slum Village’s “Selfish,” and Dilated People’s “This Way” on the charts, Kanye West also had (1) a guest spot on Usher’s Confessions Remix, (2) production on John Legend’s “Used to Love U,” and (3) a cameo on Brandy’s “Talk About Our Love.”

Kanye had a dang year that summer.

•   This trip down memory lane is educational, informative, and entertaining (especially for the Bears history nerds among us):

What are the names behind the #Bears retired numbers?https://t.co/VJoaXJuw9M

— The Chicago Audible (@ChicagoAudible) June 9, 2021

•   As if you need more reason to support the NFL’s rule change relaxing number restrictions, a reminder that the Bears are pretty maxed out when it comes to jerseys that can’t/won’t be re-issued. In other words, not only will we see unique numbers worn by great players, we’ll also start seeing said numbers be worn by others moving forward. Growing up, I thought it was cool as heck when announcers would discuss a long line of players at a position wearing the same number. Like when all of Michigan’s No. 1 receivers wore #1. How long until we see something like that in the NFL?

•   While we’re visiting memory lane, which of these logos is your favorite?

The @ChicagoBears logo has evolved quite a bit over the last 100 years! pic.twitter.com/VtHp1qNTtE

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) June 8, 2021

•   I think you can put that 1945-73 logo on anything (t-shirts, polos, hats, golf balls, etc.) and it would sell like hotcakes.

•   But also … the Bears changing the logo six times in 100 years truly isn’t much. Then again, you shouldn’t mess with the classics.

•   Olin Kreutz is celebrating a birthday today. Let’s re-visit one of his finer moments as a motivational speaker:

•   Once in a while, we’ll ask the hypothetical in which if you could add one previous member of the Bears to the current roster, who would it be and why. Fair question, right? Fun, too. I think we can make a good case for Olin Kreutz being that guy who would be so, so, soooo right for this team. An offensive lineman with skill and strength who plays with an edge? Justin Fields could use someone like that in the trenches.

•   Now, this is a fun fact:

NFL Fact #3:

Steve "Mongo" McMichael recorded 95 sacks in his career. Only two DTs recorded more sacks in their careers.

1. John Randle (HOF)
2. Warren Sapp (HOF)

From 1982-1994 only 12 players at any position accumulated more sacks, 8 of them are in the HOF.@wiltfongjr

— Butkus Stats & Analytics (@ButkusStats) June 9, 2021

•   Wallets, watches, and then also a bunch of Prime Exclusive deals today at Amazon. #ad

•   The Packers are adding to their linebacker depth with the signing of De’Vondre Campbell, reports ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. Campbell, who turns 28 on July 1, has 75 games (70 starts) of experience under his belt. The 2016 fourth-round pick spent last year with Arizona after four seasons in Atlanta. Green Bay’s collection of linebackers aren’t fear inducing at this point, as Kamal Martin, Krys Barnes, Ty Summers, Oren Burks, and Campbell won’t remind anyone of Ray Nitschke any time soon.

•   Seeing this reminds me of a Homer Simpson bit where he goes “The Simpsons are going to…” and you can fill in the blank however you’d like:

The NFL is officially requesting proposals for future regular season games in Germany. The goal is to ID a host city. pic.twitter.com/1uK5JZMPxw

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 9, 2021

•   Mike Borgonzi, who was (is?) on our short-list of potential general manager candidates that we keep behind a glass case that reads Break In Case of Emergency, is getting a promotion to Chiefs Assistant General Manager. (Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter)

•   I’ll be curious to see where this goes and what the NFL learns:

NFL's Jeff Miller on a conference call says the NFL-NFLPA joint pain management committee is asking for proposals for grants of up to $1 million toward research toward alternatives to opioids.

NFL's Allen Sills says cannabis among the areas they'd like to better understand.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) June 8, 2021

•   John Rizzardini (FiveThirtyEight) explores something I’ve been wondering about, but was unsure how to approach it — why does changing a team’s name take so long? I mean, Washington’s football team and the Cleveland baseball franchise made name-change announcements in 2020, but neither will implement a new name until at least 2022. What’s up with that?

•   Some quality student journalism from Nicholas Moreano of Chicago Audible:

Here it is. My final project as a @DePaulJOUR graduate student. I honestly don't know if I will ever work on a story that means more to me than this one. It's about acceptance, moving forward and embracing the challenge. Here is #SivStrong. https://t.co/CVWM6IAtIr

— Nicholas Moreano (@NicholasMoreano) June 8, 2021