BALAD, Iraq – It is one of America’s biggest bases in Iraq, and it was primed for the biggest football game of the year.

At Camp Anaconda, the sprawling supply base 40 miles north of Baghdad, Army soldiers and Air Force airmen ate meals at the base’s four chow halls under football-themed decorations. They watched days of pre-Super Bowl sports specials on widescreen televisions. And they planned for a 2 a.m. kickoff early today with an enthusiasm seldom shared for that hour of the morning.

“There is one thing that I have been looking forward to all year, and it’s finally tomorrow. And that’s the Bears game,” said 20-year-old Sgt. Joel Taboada of Cicero, a vehicle commander in the Illinois-based 1744th Transportation Company, based for the year here in Balad.

Technically, the unit hails from Streator. But it has drawn soldiers from other transportation units around the state – and with them, a fair share of Colts fans.

Talking about the game has energized the young soldiers – nursing students, police officers and truck drivers. Formal ceremonies degenerated Saturday into cliques to support their favorite team (though smaller cliques for the Colts fans), and smoke breaks on this rainy base featured bursts of sports dialogue these soldiers never thought they’d utter.

“Did you hear there’s a new Super Bowl Shuffle?” asked 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Joseph Gemayel of the North Side of Chicago, referring to an update of the music video featuring the 1985 Bears team. “Yeah, it’s got new lyrics and everything.”

“If it’s not real Bears players singing it, it’s not a real Super Bowl Shuffle,” observed Spc. Jerry Snyder, 19, of Verona, ending the matter.

Even in a war zone with distractions like bombings and complicated rules of engagement – two other topics discussed by the soldiers Saturday – they know a real Super Bowl Shuffle when they see one, and when to dismiss an imposter.

Song or no song, they were just pulling for Chicago.

Otherwise, it would mean another eight months on this deployment to bear the trash talking of Downstate Colts fans.