Tony Anaya is a huge fan of the Chicago Bears, Bulls and Cubs. There are many rivals of all three teams, but Anaya says he especially hates the Green Bay Packers. 

“They own us,” said Anaya, a DePaul graduate student who grew up in Chicago. 

That may have been the case then, but it certainly isn’t now. This year the Bears have won two out of their three matchups against the Packers. The latest win happened this past weekend, as the Bears came back from an 18-point deficit to win 31-27 — this is Chicago’s first playoff win since 2010.

Anaya’s friend, Marcellus Lee, sees that, for Chicagoans, there’s just something about the Packers.

 “I feel like the Bears-Packers rivalry is the biggest in Chicago sports,” he said. “In my family, a lot of people don’t even watch football, and we make it a big deal when the Bears play the Packers. 

“Even if the Bears have a down year or whatever, it’s still an important game for us.”

In a major sporting market like Chicago, rivalries play a major role in how people interact with sports.

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN college football reporter and DePaul adjunct faculty member, says there’s a “different energy” behind matchups between rivals compared to normal games. 

“There’s a lot more attention, a lot more weight that’s placed and sometimes the success or failure of a season is really dependent on that game,” he said.

The sentiment is especially true when talking about college sports, Rittenberg said. He sees a different level of “emotional attachment” to college sports and their rivalries compared to the professional leagues. .

Rivalries in college “extend beyond the time players and coaches are at those schools,” he said.

Still, there are plenty of professional rivalries that fans care about deeply. Anaya’s love for the Cubs, for instance, has even gotten between him and his family.

“My mom grew up on the South Side, so that entire half of the family are all (White) Sox fans,” he said. “So I always got beef with my cousins.” 

Compared to Anaya, Lee isn’t as much of a diehard Chicago sports fan. Despite being born and raised in Chicago, he loves the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He remembers watching Bulls games with his aunt and grandma when he was younger and “falling in love” with LeBron James.

“I was young, so I didn’t understand the concept of being the greatest at basketball,” he said. “I just knew there was this LeBron guy, and he’s good at basketball.”

This caused conflict within Lee’s family much like it did with Anaya’s.

“My grandma and auntie were always huge Bulls fans,” he said. “When D-Rose (Derrick Rose) came, they fell in love with him. But Lebron would always beat them — like he’s better than D-Rose.”

His grandma and aunt just responded, “We don’t talk about LeBron in this house.”

Despite causing familial conflict, sports rivals also play a major part in American culture — “part of the sporting fabric,” Rittenberg said.

A survey given to fans reported that “83% of respondents felt rivalries make sports more exciting; 70% believed they push teams and athletes to greater heights, and 59% appreciated the fact that they give fans an outlet to express frustrations.”

To many, rivalries aren’t just matchups between teams and fan bases that dislike each other, they are constant reminders of some of the most memorable moments and times in their lives.

As Anaya said, “Aaron Rodgers and the Packers ruined my childhood.” 

And he will never forget that.

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