A BEAR OF A DIFFERENT COLOR


I first met Jim McMahon at the Jim McMahon Celebrity Golf Tournament in El Paso Texas. Despite his bad boy image he was always ready to spend time with me for an interview or picture, and he was fun to be around. I always looked forward to seeing him each year at the tournament. McMahon led the Chicago Bears to a 46-10 win over New England in Super Bowl XX (1986). His ever present sunglasses and Coors Beer added to his Punk Quarterback reputation. That and the fact he played golf in his bare feet. According to ESPN Classic Sports Century series, "The one thing about Jim McMahon which was his curse and also maybe the one thing that made him tolerable was, as obnoxious as he was, he was unrepentant. He knows he is a jerk and he doesn't care that you know he's a jerk and he's not going to say, "Whoops, I made a mistake. "  
It's no secret that McMahon liked to stir people up. Take for instance his extra activity during games. He blew up at coaches, ignored play calls, and screamed in the huddle. He was brash and flamboyant, his headbands, exotic haircuts and dark sunglasses reinforced his rebel image. This all led  him to becoming one of the biggest personalities in the game. He and other members of the Bears recorded, The Super Bowl Shuffle, a rap song. To say he was a jerk is debatable. At one point he was heard to say, "Outrageousness is nothing more than a way to wake people up." In 1985 McMahon was fined $5000,00 for breaking the  League's dress code by wearing an Adidas head band. The next week McMahon took a marker and wrote the name Rozelle on his headband, in honor of NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle. "Why do they worry about this chicken stuff?" McMahon said. "They're trying to take all the fun out of the game, it's nit-picking. Iv'e been warned about it, but what the heck. I guess the networks don't like us giving publicity to these companies. So the league hits me with five grand, and I figure, like I'll give Pete some publicity. Maybe he needs it."
When it's all said and done, it's no getting around the fact, he was a winner! Not only that but he had a great sense of humor. I was with him when he hit a five wood about two feet from the pin. He looked over at me and said, I should have been on the PGA Tour!! Yes, bare feet and all!! 

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