On A Scale From 1-10, How Insane Is This Guy Who Is Flying 19 Hours From Australia Just To Watch The Bears Take On The Rams In Single Digit Temps Then Get Back On A Plane And Fly Home?

Block Club Chicago - This Sunday, James Gardiner will jump the international date line, cross the Pacific Ocean and nearly spend a full day in the air.

And he’s doing it to spend just 39 hours in Chicago and catch a glimpse of Bears playoff football after the franchise’s first postseason win in 15 years.

The Bears superfan — not the Northwest Side alderman – was born in Sydney and now lives and works in Brisbane as a logistics consultant. After Saturday’s miraculous 31-27 victory over the Green Bay Packers, Gardiner booked a 15-hour Qantas flight to Los Angeles that will connect to a four-hour American Airlines flight to Chicago.

“My wife looked at me and said, ‘You have to go,'” Gardiner said. “For us to get the second seed, for us to win against the Packers last week, and to come back like that. … Win, lose or draw, I don’t care. I just want to show my support to the team that’s given me so much this year. We’ve put up with the dumb s— for so long, right?”

First off, cue the "gotta find myself an Australian wife" jokes from the comment section. Imagine a world where that happens? 

Good for this guy. 

But that's besides the point. This guy's a fucking lunatic. 

You couldn't pay me, literally, to go to Soldier Field on Sunday and freeze my dick off watching football. NEVERMIND, get on a plane and fly my ass 19 hours here to do it. With all due respect to Mr. Gardiner, that is serial killer behavior. 

Fuckkkkkkk that. 

Hand up, I went to the Bears Lions game last season at the tail of the season, and I was so fucking frozen to the bone that I had to leave at halftime. I had no dog in the fight and was there with college friends from Detroit, but between that wind coming off the lake blowing right in your face no matter where you stand in that stadium, and standing on the freezing cold concrete (which still chills your toes no matter how good your ski socks are), I couldn't do it anymore. So I left and went to Flo and Santos and waited for them to come after the game. 

And that was nothing compared to what Sunday's forecast looks like. 

This guy has no fucking clue what he's in for. 

But good for him. He's the biggest Bears fan in Australia, his wife is cool as fuck, and he's got the scratch for a flight and a ticket to the game (in this economy.) 

So how does an Australian guy randomly become a Bears fan? The Fridge, naturally. 

Gardiner has been a fan of the Bears ever since watching a rerun of William “the Refrigerator” Perry’s touchdown in Super Bowl XX. That score made Perry — a rookie — the heaviest player ever to score a touchdown in football history up to that point. He’s still the heaviest player to score a touchdown in a Super Bowl game, weighing in at 335 pounds at the time.

Gardiner’s fandom was further ignited in the ’90s and early 2000s, when the Sky channel began to regularly broadcast NFL games in Australia and as fantasy football saw international popularity.

Gardiner has rarely been this excited by a team, and he rattles off coach Ben Johnson’s “Good, Better, Best” mantra any time he can. He loves quarterback Caleb Williams’ attitude, saying Williams is channeling Aussie humility.

(Sidebar - You can never bring this episode up to anybody in Chicago without them telling you what a crime it was that Ditka put Perry in to score that touchdown and never got Walter Payton the ball to get into the endzone in that blowout.) 

So yah, when you think your flight itinerary sucks, remember this guy. 

Work and family travels have brought Gardiner to the United States often; and with nine children, he’s been on his fair share of Disney vacations. This time, he’s landing in Chicago at 9:43 p.m. Saturday and will depart at 1:15 p.m. Monday to make it back for work.

Giphy Images.