Unholy football alliance: Bears fan marries Packers fan

Brian Wojtanowski is not allowed to watch Bears-Packers games at his fiancee's house.

Brian is a Bears fan, but his fiancee's family members are Green Bay fans. The past four times he watched a game with them, the Packers lost. So now he's Bearsona non grata.

It's just one of life's sacrifices Brian has to make as part of an unholy football alliance: a Bears fan marrying a Packers fan.

His fiancee, Katie Kozlowski, made her feelings clear to Brian.

"I'll never be a Bears fan," she said. "I'd rather die than go orange and blue."

Can two rival fans share a marriage without driving each other crazy?

Lifelong enemies

Brian grew up in Schaumburg in the years following the Bears 1986 Super Bowl victory and became a die-hard Bears fan.

Katie was raised in Hanover Park, but her father was a lifelong Packers fan, so her family followed his lead. They used to go to Bears-Packers games every year at Soldier Field and Lambeau Field.

The two met when she got a job as a server at a sports bar Brian was managing. Despite her enemy affiliation, Brian loved that she was a big sports fan.

The two hit it off and started dating. The couple, who now live in Carpentersville, now plan to marry in April.

When game time comes, he puts on his Olin Kreutz Bears jersey, she puts on one of her four Packers jerseys and paints her face with green and gold glitter - even if they're going out to watch the game at a bar. Bears fans give her a hard time - she says she's always the outsider in the Chicago area - but she's on her own when it comes to trading trash talk.

"She doesn't back down from an argument," Brian said. "She wants people to know she's a Packer and proud of it."

But after a Bears-Packers game, sometimes they might not speak to each other for an hour. It's a cooling-off period that keeps them from saying anything they might regret.

Katie says the rivalry adds spice to their relationship.

"If we were rooting for the same team, it would just be boring," she said.

No cheering at home

Larry Loomis and his wife, Anne, also know where to draw the line.

He loves the Pack; she roots for Da Bears.

So on game day, he watches the game in the basement of their home in Clarendon Hills, and she watches upstairs - no cheering allowed. If he gets too loud, he'll hear her pounding on the ceiling.

At family events, her whole family wears Bears paraphernalia, even if it's Thanksgiving or Christmas. But if he wears a Packers jersey, it's like he's getting in their face, so it's not worth it.

The couple do make friendly wagers on the games - Larry won't say what for.

"Let's just say they're marriage bets," he said, "and I've had the upper hand for the last 15 years or so."

Conversion

Lombard resident and Packers fan Steve Schumacher has achieved the unthinkable: conversion.

Though Steve grew up in Schaumburg, his father was from Wisconsin and took him to games at Milwaukee County stadium to inculcate him with love for the green and gold.

His wife, Jill, was a Bears fan, but he worked on her slowly, calling it "therapy."

At first, he just let her see his passion for his team. Then he bought her a jersey. The turning point came when he took her to a game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

They went out the night before with friendly Packers fans, then tailgated before and after the game. The atmosphere is like that of a crazed college town, where everyone dresses in hideous but vibrant green and gold.

"I've never met people who were so in love with a team," Jill said.

Steve knew the conversion was complete when Jill let him buy their 1-year-old daughter a cheesehead hat, complete with chin strap to keep it on.

For all the adrenaline the rivalry provides, Jill has one piece of advice for mixed marriages.

"My advice would be don't take it too seriously - have fun with it."

Surviving: 'Don't take it too seriously - have fun with it'

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