Rooting for the Bears hasn’t been easy lately, but Markham resident and Bears Fan of the Year Shameka Leach has remained optimistic about the team’s potential on and off the field.
Leach is headed to Vegas to catch the Super Bowl and to compete for NFL Fan of the Year. She caught up with Hey Chicago before the big weekend.
How did you become a Bears fan?
“My dad used to make us all watch football. It wasn't a choice back then, it was a Sunday ritual. We would go to church, the Bears played, we tailgated from home. … [My late aunt] used to do community service with the NFL — unfortunately, she was a Packers fan — but when it came to the love of the game and community service, that's who taught me that it's more than just a game.”
What do you see as your role as a fan?
“I always try to look at the good of the game, whether it's the actual game or outside of the game. So I always try to put light on the community side because those same guys we're paying to play, we don't see [them] going into the hospital to that dying child and all they wanted to see was our quarterback before they passed away. So that's the light I'm trying to shine: that these guys are not just playing football and we just don't have fans that physically sit in the stands, but it's the love for football everywhere.”
Who is your biggest competition for NFL Fan of the Year?
“People don't know that all of us are Facebook friends. It's now all 32 of us. And just watching [Tony Da Tiger from Cincinnati] give back to his community — he don't even know this makes me excited because he's doing the same thing I'm doing. He's giving back to the kids. He's got a program in Cincinnati that gives the kids the opportunity to go to the football games. I don't only look at it as competition, I look at who is the next person that's like me, and it's him.”
