If Dan Hampton has his way, his farewell to friends, fans and teammates will be short and sweet.
”My wife keeps saying everyone wants to give me a retirement party,”
said Hampton, in his 12th and final season. ”That is the furthest thing from my mind. I remember (Walter) Payton and all that. I would dread the thought of that. When it`s over and done, sort of like Shane, he just leaves town. That`s the way I want to do it. When it`s over and done, yeah, what was that guy`s name? I mean, I`m out of here.”
Bears spokesman Bryan Harlan said he has approached Hampton about a ceremony, but that ”he wasn`t very receptive to the idea.”
”I`m sure we`d want to do something,” said Harlan, recounting the elaborate farewells to Payton and Gary Fencik in 1987 and the simple one for Matt Suhey last year.
Retirement plans: Hampton said CBS-TV and other networks have talked to him about moving into the broadcasting booth after this year.
More Top Picks Lubricants
”Like John Madden says, it`s like stealing. You get paid to do something that you feel is a privilege. I kinda liken it to a backup quarterback`s life.”
Thanks, Dallas: Hampton on the Cowboys upsetting Tampa Bay for the second time Sunday: ”Dallas beating Tampa twice in the same year to help us, I mean, that`s the best thing Dallas has done since they disowned LBJ back in the
`60s.”
For kids` sake: Every time a Bears quarterback tosses a touchdown pass at Soldier Field this season, the youngsters at Children`s Memorial Hospital have extra reason to cheer. That`s because Glenn`s Steakhouse Restaurants will donate $100 to the hospital for each TD pass. Jim Harbaugh has thrown two so far and Mike Tomczak one.
”That`s sweet, I didn`t know that,” said Harbaugh, a friend of restaurant president Glenn Sugiyama, who is also on the Bulls` board of directors. ”From now on, I`m going to quit running them in. I`ll stop at the 1-yard line and toss it to someone to make Glenn pay up.”
Harbaugh hosted a party Monday night at Traffic Jam to raise money for the Uhlich Children`s Home orphanage.
Inspiration: When Bears beat writer Fred Mitchell of The Tribune was asked to deliver a pregame pep talk to his alma mater, Wittenberg (Ohio) College, last Saturday, he read the team a letter from Mr. Motivation himself, Mike Ditka, that urged Wittenberg to, like the Bears, ”recapture the success we enjoyed in the 1980s”. Wittenberg whipped Earlham 30-0. Mitchell still holds school records as a placekicker from 1965-68.