Monsters: How Factual Errors and Self-Indulgent Writing Ruined the 85 Bears

[Brownie]

I am reading Rich Cohen's tome on the 1985 Bears, hoping it would be something different, maybe explaining why the 1985 Bears generate  feelings we cannot explain.  Cohen sets out to do that, attempting to nail down why this one team is a social phenomenon while Fork's 1986 and 1990 Giants barely register a shrug.

Cohen so far has failed, instead describing his teenage years, which I would imagine to be only marginally more exciting than my teenage years, and that's because Cohen went to Super Bowl XX.

But what gets me are the major factual errors I am beginning to tally. To wit:

1) Hampton played a lot of tackle, but was an end by trade. Steve McMichael was strictly a tackle.
2) Ditka came to the Bears as coach in Jan. 1982, not 1981.
3) The 1963 NFL Championship Game was played at Wrigley Field, not the Polo Grounds. The Polo Grounds has not been home to the football Giants for years at that point.
4) Steve Goodman did not record "Go Cubs Go" in 1972. Was there really a collapse in 1972, anyway?
5) Members of the 1969 Cubs recorded "Hey Hey, Holy Mackeral"


I will add more as I find them, but holy crap, it makes it hard to believe anything new in this book.

Jim McMahon's restaurant in Northbrook did not open until 2001 or so, so I wouldn't be as quick as Cohen to blame it for the failure of the Bears to win another Super Bowl.

Also, Doug Flutie was acquired from the L.A. Rams, who retained his rights after the demise of the USFL.

Oh, and that Charles Martin play did not come early in the game. It was McMahon's 32nd pass attempt of the game. Also, he did not suit up again in 1986... not even in the playoffs

[InternetApex]

I am reading Rich Cohen's tome on the 1985 Bears, hoping it would be something different, maybe explaining why the 1985 Bears generate  feelings we cannot explain.  Cohen sets out to do that, attempting to nail down why this one team is a social phenomenon while Fork's 1986 and 1990 Giants barely register a shrug.

Cohen so far has failed, instead describing his teenage years, which I would imagine to be only marginally more exciting than my teenage years, and that's because Cohen went to Super Bowl XX.

But what gets me are the major factual errors I am beginning to tally. To wit:

1) Hampton played a lot of tackle, but was an end by trade. Steve McMichael was strictly a tackle.
2) Ditka came to the Bears as coach in Jan. 1982, not 1981.
3) The 1963 NFL Championship Game was played at Wrigley Field, not the Polo Grounds. The Polo Grounds has not been home to the football Giants for years at that point.
4) Steve Goodman did not record "Go Cubs Go" in 1972. Was there really a collapse in 1972, anyway?
5) Members of the 1969 Cubs recorded "Hey Hey, Holy Mackeral"


I will add more as I find them, but holy crap, it makes it hard to believe anything new in this book.

Jim McMahon's restaurant in Northbrook did not open until 2001 or so, so I wouldn't be as quick as Cohen to blame it for the failure of the Bears to win another Super Bowl.

Also, Doug Flutie was acquired from the L.A. Rams, who retained his rights after the demise of the USFL.

Oh, and that Charles Martin play did not come early in the game. It was McMahon's 32nd pass attempt of the game. Also, he did not suit up again in 1986... not even in the playoffs

DadPex is reading this book and thoroughly enjoying it. I'm not going to tell him about all the factual errors but I will decline if he offers to let me borrow it.

[Brownie]

I am reading Rich Cohen's tome on the 1985 Bears, hoping it would be something different, maybe explaining why the 1985 Bears generate  feelings we cannot explain.  Cohen sets out to do that, attempting to nail down why this one team is a social phenomenon while Fork's 1986 and 1990 Giants barely register a shrug.

Cohen so far has failed, instead describing his teenage years, which I would imagine to be only marginally more exciting than my teenage years, and that's because Cohen went to Super Bowl XX.

But what gets me are the major factual errors I am beginning to tally. To wit:

1) Hampton played a lot of tackle, but was an end by trade. Steve McMichael was strictly a tackle.
2) Ditka came to the Bears as coach in Jan. 1982, not 1981.
3) The 1963 NFL Championship Game was played at Wrigley Field, not the Polo Grounds. The Polo Grounds has not been home to the football Giants for years at that point.
4) Steve Goodman did not record "Go Cubs Go" in 1972. Was there really a collapse in 1972, anyway?
5) Members of the 1969 Cubs recorded "Hey Hey, Holy Mackeral"


I will add more as I find them, but holy crap, it makes it hard to believe anything new in this book.

Jim McMahon's restaurant in Northbrook did not open until 2001 or so, so I wouldn't be as quick as Cohen to blame it for the failure of the Bears to win another Super Bowl.

Also, Doug Flutie was acquired from the L.A. Rams, who retained his rights after the demise of the USFL.

Oh, and that Charles Martin play did not come early in the game. It was McMahon's 32nd pass attempt of the game. Also, he did not suit up again in 1986... not even in the playoffs

DadPex is reading this book and thoroughly enjoying it. I'm not going to tell him about all the factual errors but I will decline if he offers to let me borrow it.

He probably is noting the factual errors such as the 1963 title game at the dilapidated Polo Grounds, but the book is about the '85 Bears, not about pre-Czarist Russia. It has its moments but the factual errors and the self-serving stuff ruined it for me.

[Slaky]

I am reading Rich Cohen's tome on the 1985 Bears, hoping it would be something different, maybe explaining why the 1985 Bears generate  feelings we cannot explain.  Cohen sets out to do that, attempting to nail down why this one team is a social phenomenon while Fork's 1986 and 1990 Giants barely register a shrug.

Cohen so far has failed, instead describing his teenage years, which I would imagine to be only marginally more exciting than my teenage years, and that's because Cohen went to Super Bowl XX.

But what gets me are the major factual errors I am beginning to tally. To wit:

1) Hampton played a lot of tackle, but was an end by trade. Steve McMichael was strictly a tackle.
2) Ditka came to the Bears as coach in Jan. 1982, not 1981.
3) The 1963 NFL Championship Game was played at Wrigley Field, not the Polo Grounds. The Polo Grounds has not been home to the football Giants for years at that point.
4) Steve Goodman did not record "Go Cubs Go" in 1972. Was there really a collapse in 1972, anyway?
5) Members of the 1969 Cubs recorded "Hey Hey, Holy Mackeral"


I will add more as I find them, but holy crap, it makes it hard to believe anything new in this book.

Jim McMahon's restaurant in Northbrook did not open until 2001 or so, so I wouldn't be as quick as Cohen to blame it for the failure of the Bears to win another Super Bowl.

Also, Doug Flutie was acquired from the L.A. Rams, who retained his rights after the demise of the USFL.

Oh, and that Charles Martin play did not come early in the game. It was McMahon's 32nd pass attempt of the game. Also, he did not suit up again in 1986... not even in the playoffs

DadPex is reading this book and thoroughly enjoying it. I'm not going to tell him about all the factual errors but I will decline if he offers to let me borrow it.

Kind of like when my dad tells me I should read his Brad Thor books