CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — When the Bears host the Arizona Cardinals on Christmas Eve, they'll be welcoming their longest rival — and former neighbor.
Joe Ziemba wrote the book “Bears Vs. Cardinals, the NFL's Oldest Rivalry.”
“The Cardinals started, actually, on the South Side of Chicago in 1899 when a couple of brothers named Chris and Pat O’Brien had a little sandlot team, which was called the Morgan Athletic Association,” he said. “We can trace the Cardinals all the way back there, so they were in Chicago 20 years before the Decatur Staleys moved here in 1921.”
The Decatur Staleys, of course, became the Chicago Bears.
The rivalry persisted until 1960, when the Cardinals left Chicago for St. Louis, and then, eventually, Arizona.
Ziemba said the Chicago Cardinals drew so few fans in the 1950s that they couldn’t even make the guarantee of the home team paying the visitors.
“So, a lot of the owners in the National Football League were not upset when the Cardinals left Chicago — just guys like myself, I guess,” he said.
Sixty-three years after the Cardinals left, Ziemba said “some people still remember.”
“When the Cardinals left Chicago, for example, my dad said he’s not going to be a Bears fan; he blames Halas for that,” Ziemba said. “He’ll cheer for the Packers, or they’ll cheer for wherever the Cardinals are. There are still some pretty deep loyalties there.”
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