Bears Bring Holiday Cheer to Cancer Patients at Comer Children’s Hospital

Phil Zielke (left), Bears tight end Matt Spaeth (center) and defensive tackle Anthony Adams (right) visit with Jatorie Finleypowers at Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago.

November 27, 2011


Volunteers from Phil’s Friends and members of the Chicago Bears spread a little holiday cheer to cancer patients and their families at the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital on Monday.

Offensive tight end Matt Spaeth and defensive tackle Anthony Adams delivered care packages to the children in the hospital with the help of Phil Zielke, founder of the Phil's Friends charity.

“It’s such a joy to receive a care package during a time when you’re battling a disease that takes so much from you not only physically, but also emotionally,” said Zielke. “We are blessed to have the Chicago Bears take time to help us bring hope and happiness to the brave children battling cancer.”

Zielke was diagnosed with Stage 4B Hodgkin’s lymphoma and began aggressive chemotherapy at the University of Chicago Medical Center in 2004. He thought he had beat cancer five months later, and began teaching fourth grade. Zielke relapsed after six months and faced even harsher treatment, including a stem cell transplant. In November 2005, he was cancer-free and launched Phil’s Friends.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to work with Phil and the Phil’s Friends organization to put smiles on the faces of courageous patients and loved ones this holiday season,” said Ray McElroy, chaplain of the Chicago Bears.

Sharon O'Keefe, president of the University of Chicago Medical Center, helped escort Zielke and his large guests through the hospital. She is an avid Bears fan and discusses her NFL picks every weekend with the Medical Center staff.

Marshal Yanda named to Pro Football Focus Mid Season All Pro Team

November 9th, 2011

By Khaled Elsayed

You’ve seen the rest, now it’s time to see the best. Yes if there’s one thing we back ourselves on it’s our player performance evaluation – if we didn’t then why would any one of us be bothering to show up for work?

So we’ve given others a day or two to get out their mid season All Pro teams, and now they’ve whet your appetite it’s time for the main course. The Official Pro Football Focus Mid Season All Pro Team.

While others have their favorites, and some just follow conventional wisdom, we’re not following our gut, but rather working on what we’ve analyzed by watching every play of the 2011 season in excruciatingly joyful detail.

We endorse these guys, and you should to.

Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers (GB)
A controversial selection? Not so far this year. Rodgers has been head and shoulders above the competition with as close to flawless a display you’re likely to see from a quarterback. Put it this way, if you exclude spikes, throwaways and dropped passes Rodgers is completing 81.3% of his passes. Surreal.
Second Team: Tom Brady (NE)

Running Backs: Fred Jackson (Buf)
Jackson was a unanimous choice which is hardly surprising since he’s the most elusive back in the league. The second team choice was rather harder, with Adrian Peterson narrowly beating out both Matt Forte and Lesean McCoy. They can both feel hard done by given the levels of their performance.
Second Team: Adrian Peterson (Min)

Wide Receivers: Calvin Johnson (Det), Steve Smith (Car), and Wes Welker (NE)
How could you not pick Calvin Johnson? He’s so good nobody seems to have noticed how ‘meh’ Matthew Stafford has been. He truly is a quarterbacks best friend, although Wes Welker runs him close. Nobody knows how to get open like that man, and while he would narrowly beat out the resurgent Steve Smith in a two receiver set, we’ve gone all new age and decided to run a three receiver base look.
Second Team: Mike Wallace (Pit), Greg Jennings (GB) and Dwayne Bowe (KC)

Tight End: Rob Gronkowski (NE)
Gronkowski garnered three first team votes, with my arguments being that Jimmy Graham is so dominant as a receiver he has to be first team ignored. I can understand why given Gronkowski is a big time red zone threat and one heck of a blocker.
Second Team: Jimmy Graham (NO)

Offensive Tackles: Michael Roos (Ten) and Eric Winston (Hou)
Are the days of dominant tackle play behind us? Far too early to tell I’m told but with eight games gone it is consistency that is key with both Roos and Winston extremely reliable players. Winston however, better watch out for Bryan Bulaga. His sophomore year is balancing out his horrid rookie year with some superb run blocking.
Second Team: Joe Thomas (Cle) and Bryan Bulaga (GB)

Offensive Guards: Andy Levitre (Buf) and Marshal Yanda (Bal)
The biggest threat to Levitre’s status as 2011’s top guard may be Buffalo being forced to use him at left tackle. The less time he spends there, the more time the competition have to catch up on him. Yanda and Sitton are just that bit better than a strong group of right guards, led by Brian Waters and Jahri Evans.
Second Team: Evan Mathis (Phi) and Josh Sitton (GB)

Center: Chris Myers (Hou)
If you take one thing from this All Pro team it should be that Chris Myers is currently the best center in all of football. Maybe a healthy Mangold can catch him, but Myers has been so dominant this one may already be in the bag.
Second Team: Scott Wells (GB)

Colts tight end Dallas Clark accompanies IPS students to class

November 15, 2011

Indianapolis - It was anything but a normal day at a downtown elementary school Tuesday. A Super Bowl hero visited as the guest of 11-year-old Aiden McMichael.

Aiden knows a little something about football.

"I don't play it, but I watch it all the time."

"Things like that don't normally happen," said Matt McMichael, Aiden's father
Earlier this year, Matt entered the Verizon Wireless NFL show-and-tell contest on Facebook and won.

"I think I'm maybe more nervous than the kids. I'm looking forward to it."

"Well it might be a little uncomfortable because I'm not used to being in a limo," said Delaney McMichael, Aiden's sister.

Aiden and his 9-year-old sister were in front of their house wearing their Colts gear when the limo pulled up and Dallas Clark got out.

"I'm Dallas Clark, nice to meet you."

After a few pictures everyone piled into the limo, making room among the boxes filled with gifts for their classmates, for the short ride to the IPS Center for Inquiry.

The rest of the students were already in the gym, waiting for the guests of honor to arrive. Once Dallas walked in, cheers filled the school.

For a few minutes, the tight end talked to the students about eating healthy and being active. He even answered a few questions.

"How much milk did you drink as a kid?"

"I drank two cartons of milk every day," said Dallas.

He couldn't get around some questions, though.

"Why y'all losing so much?"

"That's to the point. We're just not scoring as many points as the other team. That's usually how they keep score," Dallas said.

Dallas then went to Aiden's science class where he passed out signed football helmets to each student.

"It's great to come out and see these kids reiterate the importance of living a healthy lifestyle, eating right, working hard, drinking milk and just seeing their smiling faces. This is a great environment, great school," Dallas said.

Aiden and his sister said it's an experience they'll always remember.