We went to bed Saturday night with visions of cheese graters dancing in our heads, and woke up Sunday morning with a surprise gift from White Sox Santa.
Some things we learned from a wild weekend of watching sports in Chicago.
I’m not sure how DJ Moore got the cheese grater hat he wore during the Bears postgame celebration of their miraculous 22-16 overtime win over the Green Bay Packers, but it was a perfect trolling of Packers fans who made the cheesehead hat popular in the 1990s. Kudos to Moore, the victim of a dirty hit in the first quarter, for making the game-winning catch and telling Fox Sports’ Tom Rinaldi, “At the end of the day, it’s F the Packers always.” While it had nothing to do with the North Side baseball team, it was reminiscent of the Milwaukee Brewers players waving an “L” flag after their playoff win over the Cubs in October. Good luck finding a cheese grater hat for that last-minute Christmas gift. All the places I called Sunday had none in stock. If the Bears and Packers meet again in the playoffs, you can bet someone will find a way to sell them outside Soldier Field.
Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren is adamant that they want to build an enclosed stadium, whether it’s in Indiana, Arlington Heights or wherever. But Saturday’s game was another example of why Chicago doesn’t need an indoor stadium. The wind was a major factor in the game, from Cairo Santos’ field goals to the onside kick that changed the momentum. And if the game was played indoors, there would not have been the need for sideline heaters, depriving fans of the juicy conspiracy theories that circulated when the Packers’ heaters went out in the first half. Whatever the Bears decide on the stadium site, they really need to ask themselves whether Chicago wants an enclosed facility. Crazy weather is part of the Bears’ legacy, and it made Saturday’s win that much fun to watch.
The White Sox signing of Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami was the kind of risk general manager Chris Getz needed to take to get fans interested in 2026. The two-year, $34 million deal is chicken feed in baseball free agency, but for the Sox it seems a major expenditure. Murakami, a left-handed power hitter, can cash in if he lives up to his billing and hits 40-plus home runs. And if that happens, the Sox probably won’t be able to afford him after 2027. Yes, he will strike out a lot and perhaps draw comparisons to Adam Dunn in his Sox days. No, he’s not a good fielder and might be better off sticking as the designated hitter. None of this will matter if he can bring attention to the Sox and give fans something to look forward to at the ballpark other than the great food or that day’s souvenir giveaway.
Resounding first-round losses by Tulane and James Madison in the College Football Playoff suggests the playoff field should be reserved for the Power 4 teams and a ranked independent, i.e. Notre Dame. Letting these two poseurs in made two of the four first-round games unwatchable, as the ratings are likely to reflect. Everyone loves a Cinderella story like Saint Peter’s or Loyola in the NCAA basketball tournament. But college football is a completely different story. Please let the Cinderellas play in their own playoffs.
Nothing makes me reach for the TV remote more than the sight of Jeff Goldblum and his kid in their car on the way to watch a movie I’ll never see.
Connor Bedard needs to rest his ailing shoulder to return to the ice, but not just for the Blackhawks’ disappearing chances of making the Stanley Cup playoffs. He deserved a shot at making Team Canada before the shoulder injury, and hopefully will still be selected and make it to the Olympics, which begin in February in Italy.
I’m embarrassed to admit I watched the Jake Paul fight on Netflix, though only because I didn’t have to pay extra for it. After getting his face beat in and his jaw broken in two places by Anthony Joshua, hopefully Paul will go back to doing whatever it was he did that made him famous in the first place. His boxing “career” is a tired act.
If the Bears do move to Hammond, will they have to get a new fight song, or change the lyrics to “pride and joy of Indiana”?
After his much-maligned rookie season in the Fox Sports booth, Tom Brady is hands down the winner of the Comeback Announcer of the Year award. His analysis of the Bears-Packers game was astute, even down to the Packers’ heater malfunction. Who knew he had it in him?
No one gets more credit for the Bears’ success than Pope Leo XIV, whose ascension coincided with the miracle finishes in 2025. If they do get to the Super Bowl, the Bears have to find a way to get him to the game, or at least have him photographed wearing a cheese grater hat.