LAKE FOREST, IL. -- Jonathan Owens stepped up to the podium with his Team USA credential and lanyard, covered in Olympic pins of every color, shape, and size, around his neck. He proudly picked out one from the bunch to show reporters, a gold heart-shaped pin with a swirly autograph in the center.
"My favorite pin would be the one I went there with," Owens said. "And that's the Simone Biles pin."
"That's my wife," he added, smiling, as if the reporters in the room needed a reminder.
The Chicago Bears allowed Owens, a safety in his sixth NFL season and first in Chicago, to miss practices and the first exhibition game last week to travel to Paris and watch Biles win gold in the team final and in the all-around final, and become America's most-decorated gymnast.