For Cubs, Wrigley is a cathedral; for Bears, it was a battleground

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The pristine beauty of Wrigley Field is part of the charm of Cubs baseball -- the lush outfield grass, the well-manicured infield, the ivy-covered walls, fans in the bleachers basking in the summer sun.

But for football it was almost the opposite. The charm of the Bears playing at Wrigley Field was rooted in asymmetrical ruggedness -- the north end zone a foot or two from the outfield wall, one corner of the south end zone at the foot of the visitors' dugout, a well-worn playing field (the Bears also practiced at Wrigley) that turned muddy or worse in the rain, occasionally a speed bump when the pitcher's mound hadn't been totally leveled, makeshift bleachers along the east sideline. In fact, almost right on the east sideline.

There was nothing like it.

''I felt like a gladiator; I felt like it was Rome,'' said former Bears linebacker Doug Buffone, who played the first five of his 14 seasons with the Bears at Wrigley Field. ''The people were right on top of you, yelling and screaming. It was exciting.

''The field wasn't perfect. I think the one end zone was short. And on the other side, you would deck guys into the dugout. It was rough-and-tumble, but that's what I enjoyed about it. I enjoyed that it wasn't perfect, maybe because I grew up that way. It was like playing sandlot. You knew when you got there, you were there to play football -- as hard and tough and physical as you can.

''To me, the most I've ever enjoyed football was at Wrigley Field. No doubt about it. If I could do it again, and you told me I could play in Dallas in that new stadium, I'd play in Wrigley Field any day of the year. That, to me, was football.''

Wrigley Field has a grand tradition as a football venue, from the first professional games in 1920 through the Bears' half-century run that ended on Dec. 13, 1970, with a 35-27 victory over the Green Bay Packers -- when Jack Concannon threw four touchdown passes, and Bart Starr not only was knocked out of the game by Willie Holman and Dick Butkus, but had his jersey, helmet and pads stolen from the Packers' locker room at Wrigley.

In between, it was host to some of the most memorable games in Bears and NFL history. Red Grange's professional debut on Thanksgiving Day in 1925 against the Chicago Cardinals -- five days after his final game at Illinois -- drew a professional-record standing-room-only crowd of 36,000 to Wrigley (George Halas said he could've sold 30,000 more). It ended in a 0-0 tie, but the excitement that game created is credited with giving pro football the legitimacy that provided the impetus for the exponential growth that helped make the NFL what it is today.

The Bears won the first official NFL championship game at Wrigley Field in 1933, beating the New York Giants 23-21. They also won the 1941, 1943 and 1963 championships at Wrigley. Gale Sayers scored a record-tying six touchdowns in a spectacular performance against the San Francisco 49ers in the muck at frosty Wrigley as a rookie on Dec. 12, 1965.

The Bears-Packers rivalry stood above all others, noted for the often-vicious atmosphere on the field and in the stands.

''It was like a feeding frenzy there when they got close to us. It was ugly,'' said former Packers guard Jerry Kramer, who played all 11 NFL seasons with Green Bay (1958-68). ''They put chicken wire up to keep the fans away from us ... so they couldn't throw big rocks at us.

They would throw beer at us and spit at us, and there was no shortage of [foul language]. So we just got out of there as quick as we could.''

Cramming 45,000-50,000 fans into Wrigley, along with the availability of alcoholic beverages, helped spice up the rivalry.

''While it was cozy, it could be a very vicious atmosphere,'' said Chicago media personality Chet Coppock, who attended games at Wrigley from 1951 to '70. ''The consumption of alcohol was just staggering. There were no searches, no checks. There were significantly more fights in the stands [than at Soldier Field]. If a guy showed up at Wrigley Field in the '60s with his face painted with the [colors of] the Green Bay Packers, he'd would have ended up at the Cook County morgue.''

Bears games were broadcast on radio by WGN beginning in 1930 with Bob Elson. Jack Brickhouse started doing play-by-play in 1948, teaming with Irv Kupcinet in 1953.

''It was an incredible place to watch football,'' said former WGN sports editor Jack Rosenberg, who worked with Brickhouse and Kupcinet in the broadcast booth at Wrigley. ''It seemed like you were in the wrong place when you went in there. But it was a fantastic place to be. I can't say enough about how much fun it was to be a part of that atmosphere. It looked like football the way it ought to be.'' former Bears linebacker, who played the first five of his 14 seasons with the Bears at Wrigley Field-->