Random Thoughts - Offseason 2024

[Sugashane]

46 minutes ago, Ty21 said:

You put a lot of effort into this 

Nah. Sometimes you just let the ADHD run free and see what happens.

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

3 hours ago, dll2000 said:

I had a friend who had a lot of monetary success early in adult life, but grew up poor.

He was out at a bar in burbs, this is many years ago when he was much younger.  I wasn't there, but heard the story after. From him, if I recall.  

He got kicked out of bar by a bouncer and threatened to buy the bar just to fire that guy.  He was serious at time.  Never happened of course.

I am sure he regretted saying it later.  He was in his cups at time.    

I am not certain how true this is as it was fourth or fifth hand, but I know of a guy who definitely sold his company out right before covid, and really hated the transaction, so when covid hit in the company was all of a sudden in trouble he bought it back with the condition that the new principles would stay on. The Story Goes that he made their lives absolute hell for the two years they were required to be there to get their full price for the company. Again not sure how true it is, but having worked for that person I could absolutely see it.

[dll2000]

19 hours ago, BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW said:

I am not certain how true this is as it was fourth or fifth hand, but I know of a guy who definitely sold his company out right before covid, and really hated the transaction, so when covid hit in the company was all of a sudden in trouble he bought it back with the condition that the new principles would stay on. The Story Goes that he made their lives absolute hell for the two years they were required to be there to get their full price for the company. Again not sure how true it is, but having worked for that person I could absolutely see it.

The guy I was talking about is a decent guy.  His employees have worked with him for 25-30 years now and some are retiring wealthy this year in their 50s because he paid and treated them well.  I wouldn’t be friends with an a-hole.  It was a just a bad moment I recalled based off Sugars fantasies about McCaskey.  

[dll2000]

Waldron and Kerry Joseph are two most important coaches on team in 2024 and probably 2025.  

 I don’t care if defensive is best in league in 2024.  If we screw up at QB again it is a huge L for org.  

[AZBearsFan]

On 5/31/2024 at 10:21 AM, dll2000 said:

I had a friend who had a lot of monetary success early in adult life, but grew up poor.

He was out at a bar in burbs, this is many years ago when he was much younger.  I wasn't there, but heard the story after. From him, if I recall.  

He got kicked out of bar by a bouncer and threatened to buy the bar just to fire that guy.  He was serious at time.  Never happened of course.

I am sure he regretted saying it later.  He was in his cups at time.    

Isn’t this basically what Tepper did at that place in NC that had their sign say to let the GM make the picks this time before the draft? 

[AZBearsFan]

On 5/31/2024 at 8:37 AM, dll2000 said:

He seems a genuinely nice guy so I hate being critical of him.  

But it just seems to me that he is chairman of a multi-billion dollar football company.  

(As far as I know) He grew up in it and presumably was afforded every opportunity to learn whatever he wanted about football from best available minds. 

He can’t coach, he can’t scout, and he can’t run any aspect of the business side.   He has to rely on other people for all of it.   

Now maybe he never wanted to do any of that and was thrust into it at a later age,  did he have an older brother that died, is that right?  If that is case I am being unfair.  

But what did he want to do?  What can he do?  It has to be more than hobbies like umping little league. 

From what I know of him publicly his life, with all its benefits and luxury, seems under-lived.  

Whenever my kids do the thing where they ask what I’d do if I ever won the Powerball, my answer is always the same: “Whatever the F I want.”

George grew up having already won the Powerball - maybe this is his whatever the F he wants. I suspect if I grew up never having a “normal” life that living one on occasion would have some fantasy value to me. It’s the same thing where celebrities try to do normal stuff like go to incognito to Starbucks or the grocery store, and maybe especially for George since unlike celebrities he didn’t choose his life in the spotlight and under the microscope.

[dll2000]

32 minutes ago, AZBearsFan said:

Whenever my kids do the thing where they ask what I’d do if I ever won the Powerball, my answer is always the same: “Whatever the F I want.”

George grew up having already won the Powerball - maybe this is his whatever the F he wants. I suspect if I grew up never having a “normal” life that living one on occasion would have some fantasy value to me. It’s the same thing where celebrities try to do normal stuff like go to incognito to Starbucks or the grocery store, and maybe especially for George since unlike celebrities he didn’t choose his life in the spotlight and under the microscope.

Its interesting.

 I recently saw a long video montage of many celebrities and very wealthy talking about how depressed and suicidal they often are and feel.   

I remember Robin Williams and some other actors talking about it too in another video. 

Many people think certain things or goals achieved will fulfill them and make them happy and find out that they don’t.  Then they often feel even worse than before.   

[AZBearsFan]

10 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Its interesting.

 I recently saw a long video montage of many celebrities and very wealthy talking about how depressed and suicidal they often are and feel.   

I remember Robin Williams and some other actors talking about it too in another video. 

Many people think certain things or goals achieved will fulfill them and make them happy and find out that they don’t.  Then they often feel even worse than before.   

No doubt. I think not being able to do normal stuff without constant eyes on me scrutinizing my every move, no matter how insignificant those moves, sounds terrible. I wouldn’t want to leave my house. Everyone wants the financial freedom to do whatever they’d like, but if the cost of getting that financial flexibility were losing the ability to do whatever I’d like comfortably then it’s not worth it to me. 

[Sugashane]

3 hours ago, dll2000 said:

Its interesting.

 I recently saw a long video montage of many celebrities and very wealthy talking about how depressed and suicidal they often are and feel.   

I remember Robin Williams and some other actors talking about it too in another video. 

Many people think certain things or goals achieved will fulfill them and make them happy and find out that they don’t.  Then they often feel even worse than before.   

Absolutely a point worth talking about.

Robin also attributed his depression to drugs. He said cocaine must have been what made the chemical change in his brain. There's a host of evidence that the changes in structure in the brain are actually in the same locations that cause depression, schizophrenia, and other mental disorders.

Then psychologically people almost always find where they "should" have done better or compare themselves to others who are more successful. I'm really bad about doing this unwittingly, and I have to consciously think about how much improvement I have made or how good a situation my kids are in compared to what my wife and I were in. Celebrities are often around other celebrities and hyper-successful people and do the same. Basically, if your self-worth is derived from external outliers and measures, you're always going to struggle. Sucks but its damn hard to work out of and even harder to get through to teens.

[soulman]

On 5/31/2024 at 7:37 AM, dll2000 said:

He seems a genuinely nice guy so I hate being critical of him.  

But it just seems to me that he is chairman of a multi-billion dollar football company.  

(As far as I know) He grew up in it and presumably was afforded every opportunity to learn whatever he wanted about football from best available minds. 

He can’t coach, he can’t scout, and he can’t run any aspect of the business side.   He has to rely on other people for all of it.   

Now maybe he never wanted to do any of that and was thrust into it at a later age,  did he have an older brother that died, is that right?  If that is case I am being unfair.  

But what did he want to do?  What can he do?  It has to be more than hobbies like umping little league. 

From what I know of him publicly his life, with all its benefits and luxury, seems under-lived.  

Interesting story on GMcC and one that doesn't surprise me.  He's always come across as a genuinely nice guy which is IMHO one of the reasons teams failed to click under him and Teddy Bears.  But at least he's never been an arrogant *** like Mikey was who actually believed he had the ability to run an NFL team.

As for the ability of any McCaskey to do it I'll just refer back to what GSH said about their old  man which when he left the office one morning to do what ever errand he was sent on was "There goes the dumbest sonuvabitch I know".  Not a sparkling testament to the McCaskeys gene pool is it?  They fell into ownership without ever earning it or knowing WTF to do with it once they had it.

Ginny may be a very nice old gal and the NFL Grand Dame but her sons seem to have a whole lot of McCaskey genes and not many Halas genes.

[soulman]

On 5/31/2024 at 8:53 AM, dll2000 said:

The funny thing is by all accounts he is humble, doesn't show off wealth and just does what he wants to do. 

Which is just be a regular guy in his community and go to Bears board meetings when he has to.

 

 

The McCaskey's have never been like that.  Ginny still lives in the old family homestead she raised all of them in.  What I have to wonder is what will happen once the grandkids become the owners?

[soulman]

On 5/31/2024 at 9:09 AM, dll2000 said:

Actually I was wrong.  His brother retired in 2011 and George took over.  9 years before his brother died.  Maybe he was sick or in bad health though?  I don't know.

From Wiki it seems George went to law school and was an Assistant States attorney in Lee and Dekalb for a bit.

(Those jobs generally suck IMO).  I don't blame him for wanting out of that life.

If my family owned the Bears that is certainly where I would work.  Not the States Attorney office of whatever IL county.

And that is what he did.  I don't blame him.

My larger point is I am just baffled by his apparent lack of competency in regards to football play and/or operations when he was born into this family.

But its a big family.  Maybe he thought he would never have a significant role.

The heir apparent was always to be GSH Jr "Mugs" but he died of a heart attack in his 50s before GSH did leaving Ginny as the only remaining heir and Ed as the first President and Mikey as the defacto GM.  We all saw how that worked out.  By the beginning of the '90s they'd virtually destroyed what should've been a dynasty.

Mikey along with Wanny did nothing but continue to mess up things throughout the '90s with deals like trading a 1st round pick for Rick Mirer and other personnel disasters.  It took Mikey messing up the hire of Dave McGinnis to replace Wanny as HC before Ginny finally fired him.  McGinnis was a former Bears asst coach who was coaching in AZ.  The family wanted him as the new HC but Mikey lowballed him then announced him as the new HC before McGinnis ever accepted.  When he got back to AZ he called and told Mikey to go F himself and we ended up with **** Jamoron.

Mikey remained Chairman of the Board but Teddy Bears took over as the Team President/CEO in 1999.  GMcC took over as COB in 2011 but Phillips remained President and CEO until he was replaced this year by Kevin Warren.  IMHO it shoulda been done long ago but there was always a McCaskey hesitancy to admit they didn't know WTF they were doing and hire a CEO who did. Forty years of anguish all because they refused to give up control.  I guess we can finally give GMcC credit for that.

Edited June 2 by soulman

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

If there was a defining characteristic with George and the hires and decisions made I think it would be a fearfulness to make a big mistake, which has led him to a lot of slower, smaller failures.  I think Ted was easy to work with and not scary, which is why he was here so long.  I think the Trestman hire and it being especially embarrassing really stuck with him.  Have to wonder if Nagy and Pace being nice guys and not explosive is what led to them being kept when it was so obviously the wrong decision.   I'm rooting for Eberflus but if you look at the relatively strong situation the Bears have right now he's the one detail that is still "Same ol' Bears"

Edited June 3 by BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW

[dll2000]

16 hours ago, soulman said:

The heir apparent was always to be GSH Jr "Mugs" but he died of a heart attack in his 50s before GSH did leaving Ginny as the only remaining heir and Ed as the first President and Mikey as the defacto GM.  We all saw how that worked out.  By the beginning of the '90s they'd virtually destroyed what should've been a dynasty.

Mikey along with Wanny did nothing but continue to mess up things throughout the '90s with deals like trading a 1st round pick for Rick Mirer and other personnel disasters.  It took Mikey messing up the hire of Dave McGinnis to replace Wanny as HC before Ginny finally fired him.  McGinnis was a former Bears asst coach who was coaching in AZ.  The family wanted him as the new HC but Mikey lowballed him then announced him as the new HC before McGinnis ever accepted.  When he got back to AZ he called and told Mikey to go F himself and we ended up with **** Jamoron.

Mikey remained Chairman of the Board but Teddy Bears took over as the Team President/CEO in 1999.  GMcC took over as COB in 2011 but Phillips remained President and CEO until he was replaced this year by Kevin Warren.  IMHO it shoulda been done long ago but there was always a McCaskey hesitancy to admit they didn't know WTF they were doing and hire a CEO who did. Forty years of anguish all because they refused to give up control.  I guess we can finally give GMcC credit for that.

Thanks.  I never paid much attention to ownership or Bears structure when I was younger. 

I just remember a lot of hatred toward Ted Phillips.  Then he became a big hero to McCaskeys when he got the Stadium renovation done which gave them a bunch of new corporate suites.   I guess that was a big jump in revenue for family at time.  

For City it was a pretty short sighted move giving Bears out in lease long before the end and City paying interest only all this time should be criminal.

 

[dll2000]

On 6/2/2024 at 9:50 AM, AZBearsFan said:

No doubt. I think not being able to do normal stuff without constant eyes on me scrutinizing my every move, no matter how insignificant those moves, sounds terrible. I wouldn’t want to leave my house. Everyone wants the financial freedom to do whatever they’d like, but if the cost of getting that financial flexibility were losing the ability to do whatever I’d like comfortably then it’s not worth it to me. 

I don't think it is public scrutiny so much.  I think it is more they have climbed the mountain and found it wasn't as fulfilling as they thought.

Many think if you could just sleep with many beautiful women easily or take an amazing vacation or achieve the highest rank in your profession you will feel full and satisfied.   

So they work really hard to that end or buy a lot of lottery tickets or whatever.  

Solomon did everything.  Experienced everything and found it just as unfulfilling as Tom Brady, Taylor Swift and Robin Williams have said in private moments. 

He wrote about in Ecclesiastes 1000s of years ago and said it is all just "chasing the wind."