By Steve Rhodes
Forget the Bears meaningless, mediocre win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. This tweetstream perhaps best sums up the local fanboy media
Wish I could grab a photo, but Matt Slauson is just chilling on the sideline with no shirt on. Classic.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) December 27, 2015
What’s so “classic” about this? It was 80 degrees. But Bears media was captivated.
@AdamHoge best I could do pic.twitter.com/n9GjHCfW6o
— EvanFitzgeraldFox32 (@EvanWFitzgerald) December 27, 2015
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Peggy has a photo too. https://t.co/DIP9JLVczW
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) December 27, 2015
It’s typical for OLine to wear sleeveless in December & show how tough they are. But, as @AdamHoge just pointed out,…
Posted by Peggy Kusinski NBC Chicago on Sunday, December 27, 2015
Um, it was December in Tampa Bay. High was 85.
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This is how #Bears LG Matt Slauson warms up in 80 degree temperature in Tampa pic.twitter.com/bC5oKr2m8u
— Zach Zaidman (@ZachZaidman) December 27, 2015
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Suns out, Guns out. A shirtless Matt Slauson playing catch in the Florida heat. pic.twitter.com/huQDNMO7Nh
— Jeff Dickerson (@DickersonESPN) December 27, 2015
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#Bears guard Matt Slauson arrived ready for the Florida sunshine in Tampa. Live blog: https://t.co/Ta1CO8rpxD pic.twitter.com/sATVkvDFH5
— Brian Cassella (@briancassella) December 27, 2015
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It’s a classic formulation: Athlete does normal thing, media makes it exceptional. Like when a jock will tell the lamest joke ever and the media finds it so hilarious they publish it. Or an athlete makes the most mundane gesture of humanity and reporters rush to tweet it out with the appellation “Classy.” Or a jock is exceptionally heroic for overcoming circumstances that millions of people overcome each day. Throw in fetishizing uniforms, cleats, jock straps, blades of grass, and someone coming over to the bench saying “Good job” becoming the subject of a sideline report, and you realize just how thick the hero worship remains in sports journalism coverage. Life lessons through football that you can’t learn anywhere else – not through art, literature, your friends and parents, or any other occupation! And that’s how a shirtless football player throwing a ball around in 80-degree weather becomes a pinup.
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Comments welcome.
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1. From Tom Chambers:
Why the hubbub?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the Slauson Cutoff doesn’t look particularly ripped, cut, slabbed, pumped, blood, buff, chiseled Hulked or Herculean to me.
He looks like a superstar in the 7 a.m. Sunday Morning Lincoln Park League.
Don’t look like no Victor Mature to me. Just sayin’
Posted on December 28, 2015