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View Poll Results: Are the Bears linked more to Chicago, Illinois, niether, or both?
Chicago 29 70.73%
Illinois 3 7.32%
Niether 0 0%
Both 9 21.95%
Voters: 41. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 09-22-2010, 05:10 AM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,730,225 times
Reputation: 29967

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The Bears are the closest to an "Illinois" team you'll find in pro sports. Downstate is clearly Cardinals and Blues territory (to the extent that anyone outside the STL area cares about hockey). But Rams territory doesn't extend very far beyond the St. Louis metro area. I think if the Rams were in the same division as the Bears and they played each other twice every season, the rivalry boundaries might line up more closely with the Cubs/Cardinal rivalry boundary. But as it is, Bears territory extends quite a bit further south than Cubs territory does.
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Old 09-22-2010, 08:32 AM
 
Location: Lake View, Chicago
174 posts, read 521,857 times
Reputation: 98
The way I am coming to see it is that the Bears are different from other Chicago sports teams in that even though they are a big part of our culture here in Chicago, they have fans throughout the state. The Cubs are much more limited to Chicagoland (and Iowa, of course).
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Old 09-22-2010, 08:37 AM
 
Location: "Chicago"
1,866 posts, read 2,836,228 times
Reputation: 870
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drover View Post
The Bears are the closest to an "Illinois" team you'll find in pro sports. Downstate is clearly Cardinals and Blues territory (to the extent that anyone outside the STL area cares about hockey). But Rams territory doesn't extend very far beyond the St. Louis metro area. I think if the Rams were in the same division as the Bears and they played each other twice every season, the rivalry boundaries might line up more closely with the Cubs/Cardinal rivalry boundary. But as it is, Bears territory extends quite a bit further south than Cubs territory does.
Also the Rams are pretty recent (1996 I think?). I wonder how big the fanbase for the football Cardinals would be today had they remained in town? Probably much bigger than whatever the Rams have now.

Last edited by css9450; 09-22-2010 at 08:46 AM..
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Old 09-22-2010, 08:47 AM
 
Location: Uptown
1,520 posts, read 2,560,220 times
Reputation: 1236
What is the point of this thread? It's really simple. The Chicago Bears are a Chicago team.
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Old 09-22-2010, 11:59 AM
 
Location: Lake View, Chicago
174 posts, read 521,857 times
Reputation: 98
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aleking View Post
What is the point of this thread? It's really simple. The Chicago Bears are a Chicago team.
Obviously the Bears are a Chicago team. The point is to dicuss whether or not they are also considered to be an Illinois team, or if their fanbase is restricted to Chicagoland.
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Old 09-22-2010, 12:11 PM
 
Location: "Chicago"
1,866 posts, read 2,836,228 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoBurbs View Post
Obviously the Bears are a Chicago team. The point is to dicuss whether or not they are also considered to be an Illinois team, or if their fanbase is restricted to Chicagoland.
Sure. They can be whatever you like them to be.
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Old 09-22-2010, 12:37 PM
 
Location: Cook County
5,289 posts, read 7,445,333 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoBurbs View Post
or if their fanbase is restricted to Chicagoland.
Obviously its not restricted to Chicago, but thats not really what your OP was asking, at least I took it as "if we had to call it an IL team or a Chicago team, which would it be?" So I think its very safe to say the Bears have fans all over the state, but it is still a Chicago team in most peoples view.
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Old 09-22-2010, 01:32 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,730,225 times
Reputation: 29967
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoBurbs View Post
The way I am coming to see it is that the Bears are different from other Chicago sports teams in that even though they are a big part of our culture here in Chicago, they have fans throughout the state. The Cubs are much more limited to Chicagoland (and Iowa, of course).
Actually the Cubs have one of the most widespread fan bases in baseball, and you can thank WGN+cable for that. The reason Cardinal fandom makes such a large incursion into Illinois is that downstaters use the Cubs/Cardinals rivalry as a way of thumbing their noses at Chicagoland. But that doesn't work as well with the Rams because the Bears and Rams are not historic rivals, nor contemporary rivals for that matter since they rarely play each other.
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Old 09-22-2010, 02:09 PM
 
Location: Chicago
6,359 posts, read 8,759,541 times
Reputation: 5869
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoBurbs View Post
Well, the Vikings are the "Minnesota Vikings."

.
The Vikings are the Minnesota Vikings because they have no desire to be the Twin Cities Vikings or the Minneapolis-St. Paul Vikings.

If the Twin Cities were to merge, you would have the MinneaPaulis Vikings.
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Old 09-22-2010, 08:20 PM
 
Location: Lake View, Chicago
174 posts, read 521,857 times
Reputation: 98
Quote:
Originally Posted by Orangeish View Post
Obviously its not restricted to Chicago, but thats not really what your OP was asking, at least I took it as "if we had to call it an IL team or a Chicago team, which would it be?" So I think its very safe to say the Bears have fans all over the state, but it is still a Chicago team in most peoples view.
I like this answer, and I am sorry if I have made this thread a bit confusing. The real point was to ask if people saw the Bears as strictly a Chicago team, or if they were open to the whole state.

I originally asked the question because I read a post in the Bears website saying that people "throughout Illinois" would be wearing Bears gear the week leading to the Detroit game, and then saw someone waving a Chicago flag at the Cowboys game. This made me think, are the people waving the flag limiting the Bears to Chicago, or are they a statewide supported team?
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