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"sports towns" and how about them.

Pander Bear

Pander Bear

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what makes a city a sports town? what are they (boston, chicago, dallas, philly)? What makes a city a bad town for sports? (atlanta has been called a terrible sports town). Is a sports town about the fans, or is it about the teams managers and ownership?

what do yall think abt sprtz?
 
i don't know what technically counts as a sports town --- is it a town where everyone supports every sport their town has to offer? Because I don't think anyone has a sports town then.. the closest i can think to that definition is Colorado, because they support their Broncos, Avalanche, Nuggets, and Buffaloes (when the buffs are beating a super hobbled Georgia team) pretty even handily, but even then that's kind of meh. Atlanta isn't a good sports town because their sports teams aren't that good. that's changing of course, the Hawks beat the Bulls and that was cool, and The Braves did well, but then you lost an NHL team to somewhere in Canada and the Falcons are perennially knocking on the door of the playoffs. Atlanta gives more of a shit about college because Atlanta got lucky and gets to have all the SEC championships -- for basketball and football, and that it's driving distance away from other good exciting SEC games/rivalries. I really shudder to think Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and Philly are good at anything, much less good sports towns. I guess it depends on the sport. I bet it's a blast living in Chicago and being a basketball fan. Is Seattle more of a sports town than Portland, Oregon, because they have a shitty football team? Even though Portland is really excited about their (usually) very good basketball team and their good college team? Honestly, I guess the best place for a sports town is somewhere like Norman, Oklahoma. They've got the basketball, the college sports, driving distance away from two NFL franchises, and it's okay to go outside/do outdoorsy shit.

Oklahoma. Ultimate sports state.
 
Boston is all about its pro sports, but its local college teams are a bit neglected. I think different areas just have different priorities.
 
Columbus gets a lot of reps (from the local ESPN-affiliated sports radio broadcasts the most, most obvi) as being the sports town. as much as I drink that Scarlet + Grey kool-aid, I do think this is a bit of a delusion of grandeur for a city without a pro football or pro basketball team. goes to show you how strong the Buckeyes are represented. logistically speaking, it is simply from the sheer number of students aka brand loyalists in Buckeyes fans (who have been noted to perhaps be the most well-traveled NCAA program ever). anyways, the point I think there has to be more of an economic representation on the professional level for a city to be branded the "best" in a pool of sports markets

historically speaking, the cities of Cincinnati, Seattle, and Atlanta are branded as the worst

Cinci is experiencing it's third winning season in 20 years, yet still was on the verge of a black out last week against the Arizona Cardinals. to also humorously back up my statement, all the star Bengals players this year (Dalton, Green, Benson etc etc) were so desperate for a sell-out against the Ravens this Sunday, that they did some grass-roots lobbying to all the residents/fans of Cinci to attend said final game of the season

goes to show you how economics tie into Your Local Sports Team. no one would ever question a company's still lingering failure if the company has produced a product that has been sub-par for 20 years, then suddenly is good/great for a year (with apologies to the New Orleans Saints). also Paul Brown is a major factor to Cinci's football tendency to herp that derp. also, guess to what percentage Cinci's Paul Brown Stadium was built on the dime of the taxpaying, common South-Western Ohioan? 100 percent of it, actually

I feel like Atlanta gets an unfair rep for being the most popular worst sports market in the market. I actually had quite the engaging convo with Pander Bear about that this morning. I will expand on my reasons if anybody is brave enough to penetrate the banality that is the Atlanta Sports Market!

what I despise most about this topic is the Boston Sports Market and how it is blindly and ubiquitously heralded (mostly by them chowdah-heads, obvi) as the best market of all-time. we need to take this into perspective. Boston is only a superb market for Boston teams. if you were to go to Atlanta, you would see SEC, ACC, and even yes the Big Ten being blatantly repped on the collegiate level. and holy smokes, I couldn't even imagine how many different and to what extent sports fans are on the pro level

I am actually very interested in this topic, obvi. thanks for the inquest PB :)
 
The Boston people are kinda right though if they're talking about the pros... just look at the last few years in the MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA. When is the last time any of these Boston teams didn't go to the playoffs? The Patriots are the longest without a championship of the group (2004) and they're sitting at the top of the AFC right now.
 
Keni - Portland is much more into soccer than basketball but the blazers do have a very dedicated fan base. This is nothing compared to Chicago though where the Bulls are HUGE.

I don't have a whole lot to compare it to, but every professional sport is HUGE in Chicago.
 
jazz hands said:
The Boston people are kinda right though if they're talking about the pros... just look at the last few years in the MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA. When is the last time any of these Boston teams didn't go to the playoffs? The Patriots are the longest without a championship of the group (2004) and they're sitting at the top of the AFC right now.
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The other thing is that Bostons teams represent all of the New England states, since Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island all root for teams that play in Massachusetts. Are there any other teams that have 6 states calling them their home team? Having said that, a lack of big name college sports teams in that area doesn't provide for a gateway for kids in that area to get hooked on before moving to Pro football teams (this is a drug forum after-all, so a drug analogy is only appropriate). Now there are a few college sports teams in Boston, but there is no single college team that everybody roots for.

I kinda buy into the idea that college sports teams determine which towns are sports towns. A state in which all the parents can only hope that their kid goes to the big college in that area, and at the same time all those kids grow up hoping to one day go to that college, is what may make a sports town. I know that in NY for example, there is no single college in the state that everybody wants to go to, or that everyone at least knows a few people that call in their alma mater. Pro sports are a little different, and a place like MSG is a pretty epic sports venue.
 
I'd say my hometown of Fayetteville, AR is a huge sports town. I mean no there is no pro teams in the whole state. But the fanbase of the Arkansas Razorbacks is fucking insane here. We've got KC STL and DAL all within driving distance of 5 hours or less. Even the high school sports around here are insane with fayetteville winning state championships in football and baseball this year. Everyone's goal in this state is to go play football/basketball/track at the U of A. We have 47 NCAA track and field Championships at the U of A.
 
where i live we have minor league ball clubs

people are crazy about the baby penguins and really nobody gives a shit about the triple-a yankee's team

when it comes to nfl, since we really don't have any local team, there are only about 7-8 teams that i don't know a fan of

most eagle fans are looked down upon, as they should be

i went to college for 4 years near pittsburgh and i found the whole rah-rah mentality all over the region to be gay as hell

and as much as i hate to say it, philly just may be the ultimate sports town, winning franchises, six d-1 hoops teams(temple, 'nova, la salle, penn, drexel, and st joe's), and the edgy fan base has been in the national spot light since jesus
 
Meh, cali doesnt really have any hardcore sports towns.... too much other cool shit to do.
 
in atlanta you can get free entry to the cheetah with a ticket from any sporting event in town.

just throwing that out there.
 
Care said:
Meh, cali doesnt really have any hardcore sports towns.... too much other cool shit to do.
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i've heard this lame ass excuse all my life

mostly in reference to san diego, LA, and miami

there's plenty of great things to do in every fucking city

ohhh the beach, holy fucking shit!

i don't get the beach
 
China Rider said:
i've heard this lame ass excuse all my life

mostly in reference to san diego, LA, and miami

there's plenty of great things to do in every fucking city

ohhh the beach, holy fucking shit!

i don't get the beach
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Beach, mountains, big city, great weather.

I mean its not like we dont have well supported sports teams, its just people tend to focus less on pro sports than in other places.
 
Lol only in Arkansas does a five hour drive to major cities sound like an ok proposition for great sports.

That's like saying Kansas is centrally located because its in the middle of nowhere.

I do love the ozaeka, tho.
 
hey well fuck off lmao. 5 Hrs to get away from this forsaken place is a bargain my friend. I personally would only go to dallas outta those 3 locations though. KC and STL pretty much suck at everything from drugs to women to sports.
 
Cane2theLeft said:
Keni - Portland is much more into soccer than basketball but the blazers do have a very dedicated fan base. This is nothing compared to Chicago though where the Bulls are HUGE.
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I've always wondered - how is it that the Portland Trailblazers have a decent fan-base (I was more of a Schrempf-wearing, SuperSonics fan back in the day), in Portland?

it is a largely held belief that there are hardly any black people in the Pacific North-West. now, I won't be as so blind as to say that only black people watch the NBA, because that's not true in this day in age (closer to the truth ten years ago)

so how are the Trail-Blazers popular??
 
Yea Portland is pretty decent size when you compare it to like STL or OKC or something like that. And there are plenty of black people in the PNW lol. I found living out on the west coast that in general a lot less people are interested in sports.
 
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