Do Chicks Love the Long Punt?

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jan 18, 2007 2:07PM

When we think of sexy athletes, typically blonde tennis players come to mind. So we're not sure what to make of the recent Sun-Times poll and its result, naming Bears punter Brad Maynard as the Hottest Bear. Girls, your thoughts?

Maynard won in a landslide by garnering 57% of the vote! Well behind Maynard, "Adewale Ogunleye was second with 8 percent of the vote. Hunter Hillenmeyer and Brian Urlacher got about 7 percent each, and 5 percent of voters picked Brian Griese." Sexy Rexy didn't even crack the top five.

Our first thought was pretty obvious, given that this is Chicago. Good ol' ballot stuffing. Either by Maynard and his buddies, or by some group of fans who thought it'd be funny to pick the punter.

Turns out that our hunch wasn't so off. Maynard's landslide was the result of Eric & Kathy. The duo, who host a morning show on 101.9 "the Mix" told their listeners to vote early and often for the Bear punter, who appears in a regular "Maynard Monday" segment each week. They even allowed his wife to come on-air and campaign for him, where she told the listeners about how he's "a big kid at home who does about 75 percent of the cooking, takes out the garbage and is never jealous." And that makes him sexier than some player who actually has some muscles? One who's got that swagger of being a star player? One who isn't clearly balding?

Even Brad himself was surprised by his selection, "I don't know what's sexy about being 32, married with three kids and balding," Maynard said Wednesday at Halas Hall. "It's not the status. We all have that. It's not the checkbook because mine's not the biggest. It must be personality."

Photo via ChicagoBears.com.