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According to the complaint, Hurd, 26, whose base salary was $685,000 this year, met with a confidential informant and federal agent at Morton’s The Steakhouse in Rosemont, Illinois, on Wednesday. There, the complaint says, he told the pair that he and another person were running 4 kilograms of cocaine into the Chicago area each week, but his supplier couldn’t keep up. He then allegedly worked out a deal to receive 5 to 10 kilograms of coke (at $25,000 apiece) and half a ton of marijuana (at $450 a pound) per week. For the math-challenged, that’s a minimum of $575,000 worth...

Can ago explain this..

Former Chicago Bears defensive tackle Dan Hampton says he will not be joining his fellow teammates when they visit the White House next month. Hampton, a member of the Bears 1985 Super Bowl championship team, made the comments on Chicago's Mully and Hanley radio show Monday. "It's my personal choice," the four-time Pro Bowler said. "I don't choose to go." Hampton said he was bothered that the invitation did not include players' wives and children and added, "Secondly, I’m not a fan of the guy in the White House, and third, it was 25 years ago. Let it go.” Obama,...

The president is a Chicago Bears fan, and has already committed to attending the Super Bowl if the Bears get there be beating the Packers on Sunday. Friday, he busted out a prediction for the game, too. From the Chicago Tribune: Obama’s guessing the Bears win, 20-17, according to White House spokesman Matt Lehrich. Why? “The difference in the game: the crowd and venue of Soldier Field,” Lehrich quoted Obama as saying.

...With a record of 2-11, the silver-and-Honolulu blue are firmly entrenched at No. 32 on any power poll in this spiral arm of the galaxy. Entrenched, that is, until another loss drops them behind Ohio State, Florida and the Hamburg Sea Devils. Think it can't get worse? Hey, this is the Lions. NFL schedule makers saw fit to arrange the endgame Kitty Cats' so, so long season likewise: at the Green Bay Packers where the Lions haven't won since a guy named Brett Favre took over there (that's right, 1992); against the Chicago Bears in a game which figures to...

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) Jay Cutler can't lose. Tony Romo can't win. What a surprise for both the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys. Cutler threw three touchdown passes and Romo wasn't able to respond, lifting the Chicago Bears to a 27-20 victory Sunday. The Bears come away 2-0 for the first time since their Super Bowl season in 2006. Dallas fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2001, when Quincy Carter took over for the retired Troy Aikman at quarterback. Cowboys loyalists will remember the 1993 season starting 0-2 and ending with a Super Bowl championship, but that club got...

It's why he accepted a position switch when others might have transferred. It's why the quarterback-turned-receiver who led the nation with 155 receptions and 19 touchdowns last season wasn't bitter when 255 players had been drafted by the NFL and he wasn't among them. It's why he considers his against-the-odds opportunity to make the Bears' roster -- a journey that begins today at a three-day rookie minicamp at Halas Hall -- ''a dream come true.'' ''It has everything to do with my maturity level as a 23-year-old man,'' ex-Bowling Green receiver and Homewood-Flossmoor standout Freddie Barnes said. ''People looked down...

AIKEN, S.C. Former Chicago Bears defensive lineman William “The Refrigerator” Perry remains hospitalized in South Carolina. Aiken Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Melissa Summer said Wednesday that Perry is in serious condition. The 46-year-old Perry has been hospitalized to deal with complications from Guillain-Barre (gee-LAN’ bah-RAY’) Syndrome, a chronic inflammation disorder of the peripheral nerves.

Chicago—In an exclusive interview with the Chicago Tribune, Jay Cutler—now the quarterback of the Chicago Bears—cut loose, telling Denver Broncos fans exactly where they can stick their whining. Denver Broncos fans have been complaining for weeks that Jay Cutler was whining about the trade talks, and acting like a child. So, in the interview with the paper, he fired back at the thousands of fans that have been complaining. “I’m sick and tired of those whining little babies,” fired Cutler. “They all need to grow up. They can stick their whining right up their $#@! I’m back home in old...

With the blessing of DollyCali, I will be your host for this, the NFL Draft weekend! A certain percentage of you probably don't know me, and some of you do. So let me give you the crash course, impromptu introduction... GOP_Raider, a distinguished and wise poster at Free Republic, is a senior fellow at the National Institute of Hitting It. He is the author of such wisecracks as "Does Ted Kennedy cure hangovers by never sobering up?" and "Annoying liberals before annoying liberals was cool." GOP_Raider is single and lives in a well-armed compound somewhere in the western United States....

In most NFL observers' minds, the Eagles and Raiders vie for supremacy atop the list of knucklehead fans. So it is with irony that we note the behavior of Chicago Bears die-hards. Remember when Hurricane Katrina hit? The Saints played their next exhibition game in Oakland, and emotion -- and donations -- flowed. Yeah. Not so much in Chicago. The Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald talked with several Saints fans about their experiences at the NFC championship, which included: • Signs reading ``Bears Finish What Katrina Started'' and ``Ride your boat back to New Orleans, Katrina victims.'' (The newspaper has a...

The early Las Vegas consensus favors The Chicago Bears (9-1) in their match up against the New England Patriots (7-3) by 3 points -- a mere field goal. But I think the Nov. 26 game may be even closer than that. Last Sunday, the Bears demonstrated they are the premier team of the NFC with the 10-0 win at the Meadowlands, vs. the ridiculous New York Jets. Despite getting just 121 passing yards from Quarterback Rex Grossman, they prevailed. But they must play much better offensively this week in their third road game in a row. I don't know if...

Pittsburgh vs. Indianapolis 1:00 PM EST Carolina vs. Chicago 4:30 PM EST

Northwest Indiana football fans might live and die for the Chicago Bears. But don’t try telling that to the team’s ticket office. Though Hoosiers have streamed across the border for generations, apparently the love goes only one way. Single-ticket playoff seats are for Illinois residents only. Local season-ticket holders like Jim Spasoff will be spared. The Crown Point man’s dad had season tickets from 1946, and now he has them. As for his fellow Hoosiers who might have hoped to score a pair of tickets, he says they have a reason to be peeved. “Wow! That’s awful,” he said. “I...

Mayor: Second City would welcome second NFL team Associated Press click this CHICAGO -- Mayor Richard Daley believes getting a second NFL franchise could enhance the city's chances of a successful bid for the 2016 Olympics. Daley says bringing another football team to Chicago would make it more feasible to build a domed stadium with a capacity of at least 80,000. That would be a major component of the city's Olympics bid. The renovated Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, seats just 61,500. The mayor said Thursday that a new stadium would have to be used after the Olympics...

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...