Free Republic

Fans at Sunday's Chicago Bears game will be searched for prohibited items as the team complies with new NFL rules to guard against terrorism. The National Football League started the pat-down rule this year but a conflict between the team and the Chicago Park District, which owns Soldier Field, has delayed the searches. The Chicago Sun-Times said the Bears are the last team in the NFL to start searching fans. Among the items banned are weapons, alcohol, balloons, beach balls and umbrellas. Male and female security guards will conduct the frisk searches on same sex fans. Those who refuse the...

An anonymous wise man once said, "the only good preseason is a finished preseason...with, like, no major injuries." Perhaps our undercover wise man fails to quite stand alongside Longfellow for etymological elegance, but he was most assuredly on point in the case of the 2005 Washington Redskins. Roughly four days hence, what transpired over the past four weeks will be but a fleeting memory--the casually discarded satin prelude to an evening of intimate revelry. Ahem. Bottom line, the 2005 preseason was a good one. And that's all I have to say about that. When we last left the real Washington...

Notre Dame, IN - Dave Duerson, who played football for the Irish, was a well-known member of the Chicago Bears and a Notre Dame Board of Trustees member, has been charged with striking his wife while visiting South Bend last week. Late Monday afternoon, St. Joseph County prosecutor Mike Dvorak filed battery charges against Dave Duerson. According to a release from the prosecutor's office, Duerson and his wife got into an argument in their room and Duerson hit his wife in their room at the Morris Inn just last Thursday. The report goes on to say Duerson then pushed his...

Source: Bears intend to sign QB George 11/28/2004, 12:03 a.m. ET By RICK GANO The Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Struggling desperately at quarterback, the Chicago Bears intend to sign veteran Jeff George, a team source said Saturday night. The Bears will sign George on Monday, the source said on the condition of anonymity. The 36-year-old George is a 12-year veteran who has not played since he was released by the Washington Redskins in 2001. Chicago's quarterback woes began in the third week of the season when starter Rex Grossman sustained a season-ending knee injury. Backup Jonathan Quinn struggled and...

Could "da coach" pursue a new title as "da senator?" A group of grassroots GOP loyalists are trying to recruit former Bears coach Mike Ditka to run for U.S. Senate or Illinois Republican Party chairman in December. But are they serious? "Dead serious," said Tom Pence of Oswego, a Kendall County GOP committeeman who co-founded the Web site www.draftditka.com. The goal of his group is to gather 10,000 signatures to convince Ditka to lead the Republican Party after Chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka ends her term. "I think Judy has done a great job bringing new people to the party," Pence...

LAKE FOREST (AP) After turning around the St. Louis Rams' defense, Lovie Smith is taking on the Chicago Bears. Smith was hired Wednesday as the Bears new head coach, and he will be introduced at a news conference Thursday, team spokesman Scott Hagel said. Smith was given a four-year deal to replace Dick Jauron, who was fired Dec. 29. "There's a position right for everyone," Smith said Tuesday when he came to Chicago for his second interview. "And I'm hoping this position is what is right for me." The Bears focused on Smith and Pittsburgh offensive line coach Russ Grimm...

Dick Jauron, 35-46 with only one winning season in five years as the Bears head coach, has been fired with one year remaining on his contract. He got the news about 9 a.m. Monday morning in a meeting with general manager Jerry Angelo. "Simply put, expectations were not met," Angelo said in a Monday afternoon press conference. He also said that the team needs to win "on a more consistent basis."

CHICAGO (AP) -- Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka underwent hip surgery Saturday and was expected to make a quick recovery after a fall in his home, according to a business partner. ``He is out of surgery and doing fine,'' Ditka's Restaurant managing partner Todd Gunderson said. He was unsure whether the hip was broken or needed replacement. Ditka, a Hall of Fame tight end who played most of his career with the Bears and coached them to victory in the 1986 Super Bowl, already has had both hips replaced -- one of them twice. Gunderson said Ditka was expected...