Chicago Wants A Second Terrible Football Franchise

This is what happens when you have two weeks of down time to fill, but it's somehow still football season. Crazy mayors get crazy ideas and people (like me) pretend to take them seriously.

Chicago mayor Richard Daley is resurrecting his belief that his city has big enough shoulders to deserve a second NFL franchise, because the Cardinals used to belong to Chicago like 100 years ago and they are now playing in the Super Bowl so that proves that the city can support two winning teams.

The idea is ludicrous on its face—are there a lot of football-mad Chicago residents who just haven't quite warmed up to the Bears yet?—but I think it's this logic puzzle that baffles me most:

"We should have a second NFL team in Chicago. If San Francisco has two, New York has two, Florida has three teams … and when you take Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia, they have three teams there in that region, we could easily support a second pro football team," Daley recently reiterated.

Interesting theory. OR! Perhaps Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia can support three football teams because they are actually three distinct cities. Shocking, but true! At last I checked, the Chicagoland area is just slightly smaller than the state of Florida. Plus, East St. Louis is in your state, so it's practically like you own the Rams anyway.

Man, you put one Senator in the White House and suddenly you think geography doesn't apply to you.

Another football team in town? [Chicago Tribune] [ Image via Flickr]