BOTTOM LINES

The Times Union (Albany, New York) – Feb 02, 2007 – Chicago Bears Hall of Fame defensive tackle Dan Hampton says his team is not getting the respect it deserves.

He doesn’t mean the 2006 Bears, or the 1985 Bears, but the 1984 Bears.

And he’s not referring to what those players did on the field, but what they did on the sideline.

With a large Gatorade bucket.

Hampton told a Chicago-area newspaper that he’s tired of the 1986 New York Giants getting credit for the first Gatorade shower — the team’s drenching of coach Bill Parcells to celebrate victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI.

Hampton claims the Bears invented the tradition when they doused coach Mike Ditka after a victory at Minnesota on Nov. 25, 1984 — a triumph that clinched the Bears’ first division championship in 21 years.

“Just because John Daly can use a sand wedge from 127 yards, it doesn’t mean he invented the club,” Hampton said. “Gene Sarazen did. It’s akin to saying Pearl Jam invented the term `heavy metal,’ when that was a phrase coined by Steppenwolf.

“It’s just not right, and you get sick of seeing it every year around Super Bowl time, because that’s when they show the Giants and Parcells.”

Especially if your team finally makes it back to the Super Bowl after 21 years and you have to watch the team on the other sideline partake in the tradition you invented in 1984.

Sports psychologist Dr. John F. Murray foresees a Gatorade bath for Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy this Sunday.

Using his “Mental Performance Index,” a method of estimating how close a team has come to performing to perfection on a scale of .000 to 1.000, Murray has forecast that “the Colts should soundly defeat the Bears in Super Bowl XLI.” According to a news release, “Indianapolis (.547) scored much better than Chicago (.520) on the total MPI score throughout the playoffs, and higher than the Bears in all six other categories.

“The Colts were superb on offense, where they posted a .548 to .510 advantage over the Bears. They also held the advantage on defense (.536 to .515), special teams (.560 to .558), pressure offense (.458 to .394), pressure defense (.673 to .621) and total pressure (.570 to .507).”

Murray concluded, “Taken together, it appears that Chicago is outmatched in this game. The Bears will have to play an almost perfect game, win the battle of turnovers, and make huge plays to win this one. Indianapolis has so decisively outperformed Chicago that a two- or three-touchdown victory looks imminent.”

Murray said his system has beaten the spread three times in the past four years and predicted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ easy victory over the Oakland Raiders in the 2003 Super Bowl.

For those still unclear on MPI, we offer this condensed version: Bet against the team that has Rex Grossman.

Dr. John F. Murray is a sports psychologist and clinical psychologist providing sports psychology and counseling services based in Palm Beach, Florida.