"The voice is distinctive, piercing and loud.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I can't get to the phone right now. But if you leave me your name and number, I'll call you back as soon as I can.

"Thank you."

That is the custom greeting on the cell phone of Lavoyda Lenard, who died Sept. 12 in her suburban Dallas home at the age of 51.

Two months later, Brian Urlacher still pays the $80 phone bill, so he and his family can hear Lavoyda's voice. He talked to her at least twice a week, and he text-messaged her constantly, since he wasn't a Facebook fixture like her. And while he's speed-dialed her number a few times to hear her voice, his 10-year-old daughter Pamela has called far more often.

"Pamela talked to her every day," Urlacher says. "They were best friends.

"We leave it on, so we can hear her voice when we want to."

He doesn't know how often Pamela calls, perhaps because he doesn't really want to know.

"I have no idea; I don't ask her," he says. "But I guarantee she does.

"It's tough."

At 33, Urlacher is having one of his finest seasons, with a team-high five tackles for loss, three interceptions (tied for team lead), a fumble recovery for a touchdown and 66 tackles. But there are mixed emotions, because his greatest fan unexpectedly died the day after the season opener, a game in which he was later named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week."