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CHICAGO IS A Bears TOWN ALL THE WAY

by Dan JIggetts

Mike, with more than 8 million people in the Lake Michigan corridor from Gary, Ind., to Milwaukee, there is no question Chicago and its nearby cities to the east and north could support another NFL franchise. After all, the area at one time did have the Bears and Cardinals playing within miles of one another.

However, the one surviving club, your Chicago Bears , a charter franchise in the NFL, has survived for a reason: The Bears are Chicago. The late George Halas brought the Decatur Staleys to our great city in 1921. The name of the team was changed to the Chicago Bears shortly after that. In their first season in Chicago, the Beloved went 9-1-1 and won the American Professional Football Association championship.

I tell you all of this because history in sports is important, and when it comes to the Bears , it's part of most Chicagoans' DNA. NFL fans in this area have grown up loving the Bears without regard to who was the general manager, the head coach or the players. To ignore these facts and attempt to bring another team into the Bears' backyard would be most unwise and financially very risky.

While the population numbers indicate there is room for one more team, the reality of the situation is something very different. The risk to the NFL of upsetting the geographic balance it now enjoys and the financial risk are too high. One has to remember, it's not like the league hasn't had its problems with all of the above in a major market, like Los Angeles.

Bottom line: Chicago is and always will be a Bears town. While the extended family of Papa Bear Halas may enjoy stewardship of the franchise, Chicago owns the Bears , and the Bears have and always will own Chicago.

I know I'm right.

ARROGANT Bears NEED THE COMPETITION

by Mike North

Dan, I know you're Bear Boy who will insist Chicago should be a one-NFL team town. You know I love the Bears , too, but there are at least 20 different reasons why Chicago should have two NFL franchises. Don't forget, we did have two at one time.

There were the Chicago Cardinals, and, yes, you can go home again. Ask Washington D.C., which has had three different franchises grace their city. New York has two teams, San Francisco and Oakland are only a few miles apart, and that makes their teams essentially in the same city. It all gives credence to Chicago being a two-team town.

We have two baseball teams and support them with no problem. Besides, wouldn't it be good to have one team in the NFC and one in the AFC? Season tickets would sell out in minutes. A brand new stadium would be on the boards. We all know Mayor Daley has made no secret he would like another team.

Besides that, the Bears need some competition. They are a monopoly. Papa Bear did help found the NFL, but does that mean another team should never be added? Now would the new team be the second team in town? There is no doubt. And by the way, that hasn't worked out bad for teams like the Mets, the Jets, the Clippers and, of course, the White Sox. Two baseball teams do very well in Chicago, and the ''second'' team draws 2.5 million fans or more.

The tradition of the Bears with guys like Halas, Ditka, Sayers, Butkus, Payton and Grange is as strong as it gets, but the arrogance of the Bears' front office and the aloofness of the organization would have a lot of people rooting for the new guys in town. But why not ROOT for both? Bears fans who can't get season tickets could get them for the new team. C'mon, Dan, double your pleasure, double your fun -- and I'm right.