Local Sports Roundup: Jim McMahon Hates Super Bowl Week; NBA Fashion Police Crack Down On Joakim Noah

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 5, 2013 11:00PM

Since the Bears can't seem to make it to a Super Bowl these days local media outlets will have to do with trotting out our heroes from yesteryear. This time, it was CBS 2's Dave Savini, who spoke with former Bears QB Jim McMahon in advance of the big game last Sunday and said he has different memories of the Bears shuffle to a Super Bowl XX win in 1986.

Those of us old enough to remember the week leading up to the game remember the oyster McMahon made of New Orleans, complete with mooning a helicopter during practice, drinking and pissing in public, bitching that Bears management wouldn't allow his acupuncturist to fly on the team plane, grousing about the trappings of fame even as he wallowed in it and generally trying to give former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle an aneurysm. But it was the one story that wasn't true that still eats at McMahon's craw, as he told Savini:

A false news report saying McMahon made off-color comments about the women and men of New Orleans wreaked havoc as the team was getting ready for the big game.

Back then, in January 1986, McMahon said, “It’s very upsetting and that’s why I get (bleep) at the press sometimes.”

The New Orleans reporter responsible for the false story was suspended but the damage was done.

“You know, guys wouldn’t stand by me at practice. They thought for sure I was going to get shot at practice,” said McMahon. “I don’t remember much of the game. I just wanted to play, and get back in that locker room, so I couldn’t get shot.”

McMahon, who told Fox News Chicago's Lou Canellis he would play baseball if he had to do it over again, also told Savini what we know now about the connections between contact sports and long term brain damage has changed the game.

“Guys on defense are getting flagged for legal hits. That’s got to stop or it’s going to ruin the game.”

McMahon suffers from early onset dementia which he believes is a result of his playing career.

- Joakim Noah's fashion sense has clearly developed since he was first drafted by the Bulls, but it hasn't evolved far enough for the NBA. Yahoo! Sports reports an NBA employee asked Noah to change out of the sweater he wore while on the bench during Monday night's loss at Indiana into a sport coat. The league's dress code policy for inactive players makes jackets mandatory and jeans are allowed if they're "high-end jeans." (Do Carhartt jeans purchased at the Carhartt stores in Wicker Park and downtown qualify?)

The 6-11 Noah wound up switching to a blue striped shirt and borrowing a blazer from 6-2 Bulls assistant coach Randy Brown, which led to this wonderful photo.

Photo Courtesy SLAMonline.com and twitter.com/beyondthebuzzer

The NBA allowed Noah to continue wearing his skinny jeans, which was the worse of his fashion crimes for the night.