Sports: A Super Bowl Story

Most unaffiliated football fans here in Gainesville are rooting for the Bears, I think. Rex Grossman, a former UF quarterback, is about to have the most important game of his career, and it'll be fascinating to see which Grossman the Bears get - "NFC Offensive Player of the Month"-Grossman or "Passer Rating Zero"-Grossman.

A better story might be the odyssey of Tank Johnson (pictured above), the Bears DT who has been convicted of multiple gun possession charges in Chicago. He had to apply to a judge to travel to Miami to play in Super Bowl XLI. Say what you want about him, his perhaps-preferential treatment, or his upbringing - he definitely values his self-defense to a degree that he's willing to face criminal charges for breaking the law.

Not that I agree with those laws, of course. Mention Cook County to a gun owner and you'll get vehement vituperation - Illinois in general, and the Chicago area in specific, have some of the most stupidly restrictive gun laws in the country. It's always been fascinating to me that right across the way, just a few miles through Lake Michigan, you come upon Indiana, a state with a Brady "D" rating and a concealed carry program that's only slightly more restrictive than Vermont-style carry. I wonder which city has the lower homicide rate, Chicago or Indianapolis? Well, I suppose you can guess the answer...