# SNL - return of the Super Bears Fans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2007, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207 "2007-01-24T05:58:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/1 "2007-01-24T05:58:15Z")
This is definitely the time to revive them. Problem is, didn’t the creator of the sketch say they would never return? Anyone got any Dope on this? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/2 "2007-01-24T06:31:16Z")
[QUOTE=Oslo Ostragoth] This is definitely the time to revive them. Problem is, didn’t the creator of the sketch say they would never return? Anyone got any Dope on this? [/QUOTE] It would be difficult to recapture with Chris Farley dead. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/3 "2007-01-24T06:44:38Z")
There’s always John Goodman. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/4 "2007-01-24T08:06:54Z")
Oh yeah, I remember those. Even saw a few. Mostly corny, always hit and miss, but some really funny moments. Not unlike SNL on the whole at the time. Two problems: 1. As far as I could tell, the whole premise was that of a diehard group of fans remaining staunchly loyal despite all the hardships the team was going through. Da Bears won Super Bowl 20; pretty much everything since has been forgettable at best. And they dealt with it…cheerfully, fanatically, and tirelessly. Now all of a sudden, their team is in the Super Bowl. How do the SBFs deal with success? Where to even begin? 2. Mike Ditka was fired. A _huge_ element of the skits and undoubtedly the single most important person to the SBFs. Nobody, _least_ of all Lovie Smith, could come close to replacing him. Pretty sure the most we’ll see is a small tribute or retrospective. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/5 "2007-01-24T08:39:35Z")
There’s a football guy named “Lovie?” I always knew there was something odd about that sport. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/6 "2007-01-24T12:34:06Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] There’s a football guy named “Lovie?” QUOTE] And his wife’s name is “Thurston.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/7 "2007-01-24T13:57:30Z")
[QUOTE=lawoot] [QUOTE=friedo] There’s a football guy named “Lovie?” QUOTE] And his wife’s name is “Thurston.” 😃 [/QUOTE] Oh, that’s funny, too, because there used to be a football player named “Fuzzy Thurston”. “Fuzzy, Lovie.” “Lovie, Fuzzy.” I was watching SNL the first time they had the Superfans. The Bears were playing the Giants the next day (or next week), and I took the sketch as a total rip-job on Chicago fans. . .fat, stupid, deluded, drunk. Who knew that the city would actually embrace the image! If you asked me to guess, I would have said the originals were Farley, Mantegna, Wendt and someone else. Turns out it was Farley, Mantegna, Robert Smigel (!), and Mike Myers. from WIki. . . > [@](#): > > The sketch first appeared on January 1, 1991 starring Joe Mantegna as Bill Swerski along with Chris Farley as Todd O’Connor, Mike Myers as Pat Arnold and Robert Smigel as Carl Wollarski. Subsequent sketches starred George Wendt as Bob Swerski with occasional appearances by Beth Cahill as his daughter, Denise Swerski. (Mantegna’s absence was invariably explained away by Wendt, saying his “brudder Bill” had just “had anudder 'eart attack.”) > **[Bill Swerski's Superfans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfans)** > > "Bill Swerski's Superfans" is a recurring sketch about Chicago sports fans on the American sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live. It was a prominent feature from 1991 to 1992, and its characters have made various other appearances since its inception. The sketch is notable as a media portrayal of the Inland North dialect of American English that predominates in Chicago, most famously through the distinctive pronunciation of the phrase "Da Bears" (\[ˈd̪ʌː beɻs\]). Shortly after Robert Smigel mo... ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/8 "2007-01-24T16:07:43Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] I was watching SNL the first time they had the Superfans. The Bears were playing the Giants the next day (or next week), and I took the sketch as a total rip-job on Chicago fans. . .fat, stupid, deluded, drunk. Who knew that the city would actually embrace the image! [/QUOTE] Oh, geez…you must not know too many Chicagoans. There’s nothing we seem to like better than to dumb up our image! How many cities’ fans are proud of the fact that their baseball stadiums (well, one of them anyway), sells out pretty much every single game, whether the team is in first or last place? We are pathetic, and oddly proud of it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/9 "2007-01-24T16:12:29Z")
[QUOTE=lawoot] [QUOTE=friedo] There’s a football guy named “Lovie?” [/QUOTE] And his wife’s name is “Thurston.” 😃 [/QUOTE] That’s so funny I Howelled with laughter. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/10 "2007-01-24T16:22:11Z")
Yeah. That’s rich. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/11 "2007-01-24T16:30:17Z")
My favourite of those skits was when Ditka became the coach of the New Orleans Saints. George Wendt’s character moves to Missouri or some such so he can be half way between Chicago and New Orleans. Just thought that was rather amusing. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-return-of-the-super-bears-fans/389207/12 "2007-01-24T17:30:11Z")
[QUOTE=DKW] 1. Mike Ditka was fired. A _huge_ element of the skits and undoubtedly the single most important person to the SBFs. Nobody, _least_ of all Lovie Smith, could come close to replacing him. [/QUOTE] Superfans went on after Ditka was fired (see **Lochdale** ’s post). I have a feeling these guys love Ditka no matter where he is. Sort of like how Hank Hill loves everything about Cowboy football from 20 years ago. I was also pondering the return of the Superfans once I heard the Bears would be in the big game. I have a feeling they will be back, just for a one-off.