Article posted Tuesday, February 1, 2011 3:56pm

Dear Miss Manners,

I hope you can settle a debate. I’m a Bears fan (I know, I know, please keep your booing to a minimum), but will be cheering for the Packers this weekend.
Some of my fellow Bears fans back home think it’s bad form to root for the Pack. Am I being disloyal as a Bears fan or are some of my friends in Chicagoland still a little bitter about the outcome of the playoff game?

Signed,
Bear Down
Egg Harbor, WI

Dear Bear Down,

I think you are absolutely right. You should be cheering for the Packers. The Packers won the division and even though you still favor your original team, you live in Packerland central. For one thing, when you’re surrounded by Packer fans, it can be somewhat contagious. For another, would you really want to the Steelers to win? I mean seriously, their uniforms are so unattractive and from what I hear, so are the actions of some of their players.
I too am a Bears fan living in Packer country. However, I think Bears fans and Packer fans have more in common than one would first suspect. For example, I’m sure that we are all united in celebration that the smug Patriots got knocked out of the running for the big game. Also, Bears fans and Packers fans equally dislike the Vikings and that was way before the Vikings inherited the whiny and battered #4. Why there isn’t a “The Vikings Still Suck” song, I’ll never know.
Since the game, I’ve received lots of good-natured ribbing from my Packer fan friends. Not an hour after the Bears lost, two of my friends called me and said that the Super Bowl party should be at my house. Nice. I’ve also received lots of anti-Bears emails. There was one with Cutler in a hot pink mini skirt and another one of him crying like a little baby. I can take a joke. And since I don’t want rain on any parades, I’ll save the Packer jokes that I have until next fall when we start a new season and my alliances are back in place.

Go Pack!

Good luck,
Mary Pat