Aside from fireworks and whole bunch of parties, all was quiet for both teams Saturday in Miami.

The Bears flew in the chef who normally feeds the team before games to maintain a little consistency and bring a touch of normalcy to one wacky and crazy week. Although it is common for teams to change hotels before game day, Chicago is staying put. About 400 friends and relatives are in town to support the team, but they are staying at a separate hotel. Former Lobo Brian Urlacher said he planned to get to bed as early as possible Saturday night and skip the whole club scene on South Beach all of this week, adding he can come back any time. Good for him, because is the worst time to try to get out anyway.

Miami is overloaded with people. And the natives are getting restless, tiring of all the lost tourists getting in their way. I have to say, it's really funny to see a bunch of Midwesterners -- from Indianapolis and Chicago -- taking over sunny South Florida. There was some seriously ugly dancing going on at some Cuban restaurants. Ah well, it's good for them to branch out anyway.

The vendors I've talked to around the city have Bears merchandise heavily outselling Colts gear. And I'm seeing loads more Bears fans than Colts fans. It's not too surprising, but it looks the Chicago fans will take over Dolphin Stadium on game day.

Check out our bonanza of Super Bowl stories at abqtrib.com. And don't forget to check out all the links on the right side, complete with some really cool old Tribune stories about Urlacher's early years. I give Trib editor Phill Casaus for writing way back on April 3, 1997, the words Urlacher and Monster were an important combination we should all remember. This was three years before Urlacher was drafted and became the star Monster of the Midway. It's all in that archive. Good reading.

Posted by ilimon at 07:51 PM | Permalink