Lance Briggs celebrates a Bears Win

By TJ Dietsch

Wolverine’s the best he is at what he does and what he does isn’t nice. Enter Chicago Bear Pro Bowl linebacker and self-proclaimed comic book head, Lance Briggs.

“I relate to Wolverine in the fact that I don't do nice things [as a linebacker],” Briggs said. “I'm not supposed to do nice things. I have a dirty job and I do it and I do it well.”

When he’s not demolishing opposing players, you might catch Briggs devouring the latest Marvel comics. And like so many Marvel fans, he started immersing himself in the Marvel Universe at a very early age.

Linebackers do it with style

“I got into them around 6 or 7 years old,” the 28-year-old Briggs remembers. “Me and my mom were really into football and baseball trading cards. So we'd go into a card shop and while I'm waiting for my mom to pick out which card she wanted to buy, I roamed over and picked up comics and just got into it. I've been a comic book head ever since.”

A fan of so many Marvel characters, in addition to Wolvie, Briggs mentions Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Cable, Iron Man and a slew of others as favorites that he’s been following through the years.

“I can relate to all of them,” Briggs says of his favorite heroes. “Characters like Spider-Man because he deals with responsibility and trying to balance life. And Tony Stark because he lives a spoiled life, but at the same time he chooses to be more than just the person he's presented as. I take a little bit from everyone.”

Briggs has turned his love of comics into his own online venture called lancescomicworld.com, which aims to marry his passion with a desire to reach out to the fanbase and share ideas.

Lance Briggs

“It's really an avenue to share my world and share things that I love to do. There are a lot of things out there [in the comics world]. I can talk about upcoming issues, interests, movies...and it's a way for me to connect to a different area of fans. [Reading comics is] a way of taking yourself away from the reality of everything. I can go anywhere with comic books. It's about connecting to all different crowds.”

Briggs also plans on creating some super heroes of his own that he’ll feature on the site.

As he prepared for the Bears 2009 home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday, September 20—without fellow linebacker and six-time Pro Bowler Brian Urlacher who was injured in last week’s loss against the Green Bay Packers—Briggs sill found some time to present his very own Marvel-manned football dream team!

Here’s the breakdown:

Head Coach: Dr. Strange
Briggs says: “He’s got wisdom and I think he’d look better on the sidelines than Professor X.”

Defensive Coordinator: Nick Fury

Quarterback: Captain America

Center: The Blob

Wide Receivers: Quicksilver, Cannonball and Archangel

Running Back: Black Panther

Kicker: Mr. Fantastic

Linebackers: Wolverine and Sabretooth
Briggs says: “You’ve got to have someone aggressive and fearless.”

‘Nuff said!

Watch Lance Briggs and the Chicago Bears take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Chicago’s Soldier Field, this Sunday, Sept. 20 at 4:15 ET on CBS.

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