Bears superfan hopes superstition will get team to Super Bowl
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"Momma T" in front of Atlas Stationers. Photo: Carrie Shepherd/Axios
If the Bears win the Super Bowl, Therese Schmidt is going to have to invest in some pants.
The big picture: Schmidt has worn shorts every day since 2010 and she won't break the habit until her beloved Bears win the Super Bowl.
Flashback: "Momma T" as she's known at Atlas Stationers, the family business now run by Schmidt's sons, started the shorts bit as part of a bet. She was doing deliveries for the store in the winter and bet another driver that she could wear shorts longer than he did.
- He lasted about a week, she says.
- Schmidt then made the shorts about the Bears' quest for the championship.
- She completed her uniform with orange leg "furries" and Bears earrings.
Between the lines: There could be something to the superstition. Schmidt says she made similar pacts when the Blackhawks were on strike in 2013 (shorts until they returned to the ice) and the 'Hawks won the Stanley Cup that year.
- She also wore a White Sox jersey every day in 2005, the year they won the World Series.
Zoom in: Although she's a die-hard Chicago sports fan (Sox over Cubs), Schmidt says the "shorts until a Super Bowl" bit is less about winning and more about the joy it brings other people. It's almost always a conversation starter when someone sees her bare knees in 0-degree weather.
- Schmidt says when people saw her again in her shorts as business resumed post-pandemic, they told her things started to feel a little normal again.
What's next: The Bears play the Rams Sunday, and Schmidt will be watching, in shorts.