The Chicago Bears in 2006-07

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Published August 23, 2006 by:

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Chicago is a Divided Town for Part of the Year. Football Season is when it All Comes Together

The city of Chicago is deeply divided when it comes to sports, especially when it comes to its baseball teams. It wasn’t all this way. Back in 1906 both baseball teams played in the

World Series and the city did not burn down and there were not riots. The White Sox beat the Cubs for their first World Series title and everyone seemed to show good sportsmanship and the city celebrated the fact that both teams were the best at the sport and that this hugely popular sporting event had taken place in their city. I highly doubt that this would happen were the two teams to make it into the series these days.

I don’t know when this started to happen in Chicago. Every season, for a long time, the two teams would play an exhibition game somewhere in the middle of the season. It has become known as “The Crosstown Classic.” It didn’t count and since both teams were bad and not likely to get very far it was mostly for bragging rights. Maybe the real hatred started to come out when the games actually began to count.

I stay away from the crosstown games. I have no desire to go. They are mob scenes. Looking at the barely-controlled chaos on television I am generally glad I am not crammed into either sports park trying to watch those games in person. Who knew I would long for the days when the Sox were not so good and the stadium was less crowded. Of course, even then the crosstown series was always full.

At some point, usually in the fall, the city does manage to come together. This is when both baseball teams are usually out of contention and their seasons are over. This is the time when football season starts.

When you talk about Chicago you are talking about a football town. Yes, we have great baseball traditions and basketball traditions and even a few hockey traditions but it is football that has always been the big sport in this town. I don’t know if there is just something that seems blue collar about football, despite the million dollar salaries, that appeals to the supposedly blue collar city or what.