Off-season Readin’: Steve McMichael’s Tales

To continue the tour of my library of Chicago Bears books, here is one that includes personal narration from an ’85 Bear: Steve McMichael with a little help from Daily Southtown sportswriter, Phil Arvia; the book is titled: Steve McMichael’s Tales from the Chicago Bears Sidelines. Right off the bat, keep in mind that with the narration, the book reads like a journal of random memories that are sort-of organized. Also, be forewarned, this book would have a rating of PG-13 due to the language used, as in McMichael does swear…a bit.

McMichael starts out talking about his past, as in his early years playing football in junior high, then high school, and then college for Texas Tech. Apparently, throughout his life, he felt that he had never been acknowledged, but then a tragic event occurred, which gave him focus…a focus to be, as he puts it, “immediate.” This event was during his freshman year of college, when his stepfather, Mac, whom was the only dad he knew, died tragically. McMichael refuses to disclose any details other than he was killed (7).

"He comments, “…in a street fight, you’ve got two choices looking at the person in front of you. One is to whip his ass. The other is to make allowances and walk away. After that happened, I wasn’t making any allowances” (8)."

After McMichael gets settled in pro-football with the NFL, and after he is cut from the New England Patriots, and after he was picked-up by the Chicago Bears, he does offer insight to his colleagues. One story describes an incident involving McMichael, Dan Hampton, a pitcher of watermelons, which is a drink most people drink in shot form, and a Highwood cop. Apparently, the guys wanted to bring this open container with them as Hampton takes McMichael for a ride in his Corvette, just to see how fast the car could go. Immediately, the officer notices the pitcher, and Hampton, whom McMichael refers to as the “bookworm” for his intelligence and quick thinking, grabs the pitcher tossing the contents out. Thankfully, the guys were not intoxicated, so they managed to get off with no penalty (30).

McMichael does include other anecdotes from Doug Plank, Mike Singletary, Otis Wilson, Wilber Marshall, Richard Dent, Gary Fencik, Leslie Frazier, Mike Hartenstine, Al Harris, Todd Bell, William Perry, Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, Matt Suhey, Willie Gault, Dennis McKinnon, Emery Moorehead, and the entire offensive line. Of course, there’s an entire chapter dedicated to Da Coach, followed several dedicated to the 1985-1986 season.

"During the pre-season of this fateful year, McMichael learned that he had “to stop being immediate, because there’s haters out there” and he started to fear the idea that people may think of him as being better than anyone else, even though he is better than the rest. This idea of being a humble professional athlete was one that McMichael learned quickly, in particular, with how he treats his fans."

There is a revised edition of this book, published in 2011, but keep in mind, the core content remains the same. This book is a good read, and I would suggest after reading it to go to The Mongo McMichael’s for dinner. I know that during the season, McMichael is present during away games to visit and chat. As for the menu’s option, you can’t go wrong with the pizza or a burger. I hope that this book will satisfy your hunger for Chicago Bears’ during the off-season.