Living in Charleston, SC, we have a potpourri of sports which are popular and are followed by many people. Here is my list of the most popular sports/teams in our area.
1. College football. Local sports radio could talk Clemson and South Carolina football 365 days a year and have something to talk about. It depends on the year, but Clemson has more popularity currently because of the national championship, as there are bandwagoners who jump on whoever is better. The Citadel (FCS military college) and most of the SEC and ACC schools have sizable fan bases here.
2. High school football. Huge in this market. Every TV station has a 20-30 minute show on Friday nights just showing HS football highlights. Some of the bigger schools fill stadiums that are 5,000 seats plus. Local TV package on our MyTV station shows 10 games a year.
3. NFL. Even though we are 3 hours from Charlotte, we may be the most divided NFL market on the East Coast. The Panthers are the most popular team in town (barely), but it took the recent Super Bowl berth for that to happen. There are at least 10-12 teams with sizable followings (all the East Coast teams, plus the Cowboys, Packers, and the Seahawks thanks to Boeing).
4. College baseball/basketball. Until this year, college baseball was probably above college basketball because of South Carolina's two national titles they won this decade. Even with the Gamecocks making the Final Four in men's basketball and winning the women's national title, they are still equal in popularity. College of Charleston, Clemson, S. Carolina, The Citadel, and Charleston Southern all have decent followings.
5. MLB. There are a lot of fans of the sport in this area, but most are transplants currently, as most of the locals follow the Braves, which haven't been consistently good in years. When they are good, there are a ton of Braves bandwagon fans. Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox are just as popular as them right now.
6. Minor league teams. Charleston has 3 minor league teams (the Battery soccer, Stingrays hockey, RiverDogs baseball). All are very popular, but each only have a few hundred die-hards who purchase season tickets. Many people don't follow these teams, they just go for a night out on a weekend or for a drink special.
7. NBA/NHL. Interest in these sports is pretty non-existent in this market except during the playoffs. Few people follow the Hornets, and even fewer follow the Hurricanes. There is no real dominant NBA team, and the Penguins are probably the most followed NHL team.
8. Golf/tennis. We have a local women's tennis tournament (the Volvo Cars Open) which is a pretty major tournament on the WTA tour, and a lot of people go to that every April. Charleston is also a big golf town, but our PGA tournament is 60 miles SW in Hilton Head. We have had the PGA Championship recently though at Kiawah (2012, and will have it again in 2021), and in two years we will have the US Women's Open.
Everything else is pretty non-existent in this market. What about your area?
I'll bite with my three hometowns:
Chicago: The Cubs are obviously the #1 team in the city, with the White Sox a distant second. Even in 2005 (the year of the Sox' World Series win), more attention was focused on the Cubs and their so-called Billy Goat curse, which I've always perceived as stupid and was thankfully eradicated with last year's championship. The Bears suck, the Bulls haven't really gotten back to the championship level they achieved in the Jordan-Pippen years, and the Blackhawks have gotten major attention since their Stanley Cup run began in 2010. Northwestern hasn't been historically good, but it's always fun to see them win. I don't know enough about DePaul, and seeing that this is Big Ten country, Illinois and Indiana tend to dominate the scene locally.
Los Angeles: The Dodgers and Lakers have been entangled in an eternal fight for local supremacy, with their championship pedigree. However, the Angels have a World Series title from 2002, and the Clippers have become a good team as of late (though not championship-caliber). The same goes for USC and UCLA (my alma mater), with the former being better in football and the latter in basketball. The Kings have managed to best the Ducks in terms of Stanley Cups won (Kings 2, Ducks 1). And of course, the NFL is getting a second go-around, so it's too early to tell how well the Rams and Chargers will do here. I remember, though, when the Raiders played in L.A., their popularity eclipsed that of the Rams, and it was a very common sight to see silver and black everywhere you went in the city (going back to the days before Straight Outta Compton even became a thing).
Seattle: I say the Seahawks are the #1 team in town, especially in the Russell Wilson era that produced two Super Bowl berths and one Lombardi trophy. Too bad that the Mariners had to take a long time to come into their own, but they had lots of memorable moments in the Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki eras (the 116-win season from 2001 comes to mind). The Sonics were the main draw (especially when Payton and Kemp were on the team), but then they left for Oklahoma City to become the Thunder (perhaps the Portland Trail Blazers are attracting former Sonics fans as of late?). And then there's Washington, whose main campus is right in the city. There's no local NHL team either, but I imagine everyone goes up to Vancouver to follow the Canucks.
Quote from: Henry on August 03, 2017, 09:57:47 AM
I'll bite with my three hometowns:
Chicago: I don't know enough about DePaul, and seeing that this is Big Ten country, Illinois and Indiana tend to dominate the scene locally.
It's all f-ing Notre Dame. Even Northwestern gets second billing to the Domers.
Greater Hartford: It's a combination of MLB, NFL, and college basketball that rule the roost. For baseball, the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is taken to the next level, dividing neighbors and even families. The Mets are a distant third, and a fan of any other team is most likely a transplant. For the NFL, the Giants and Patriots dominate much like the Red Sox and Yankees, except it is not as strong a rivalry, and those that root for one city in baseball don't necessarily root for a team from the same city in football (have many Red Sox/Giants and Yankees/Patriots fan friends). Jets fans pretty much are non-existent north of the New Haven area, and fall in popularity with the teams that have a national following (Steelers, Cowboys, Packers). But, no matter what team(s) anyone follows, everyone is united for the cause when it comes to UConn Basketball, both mens' and womens'. CT is probably the only state where a guy can watch womens' basketball and not have his man card called into question by people from out of state. UConn football is kind of a niche sport (many national teams have as much of a following around here), along with NHL since the Whalers left town, and the NBA.
Salt Lake City: everyone loves the Jazz, and the Real Salt Lake soccer games are well attended, but college football is definitely huge and probably the biggest sports talk in the area. The Utah BYU rivalry is so intense that if you don't care about the game and wear a blue shirt on game day , people will think you're for BYU (and vice versa).
Obviously the Chiefs and the Royals. Sporting KC also has a fairly sizable fandom here. As far as college spots go, mostly Kansas or K-State, depending on the sport a particular fan likes more. There's a decent-sized contingent of Mizzou fans as well.
Since we don't have a NBA or NHL team, there doesn't tend to be that one team that most fans flock to - and on the basketball side, more people here tend to be fans of college basketball anyway and tend to root for one of the aforementioned Kansas schools.
In my area, the sports loyalites change greatly in just a few miles. This causes headaches for the media, especially TV stations that have to cover a huge media market covering 66 counties in 3 states.
I live about half-way between the other Charleston and Huntington, in West Virginia.
1. College football. Clearly the most popular sport locally. Huntington is the home of Marshall and supports it greatly, but it is pretty much limited to alumni or others with a relationship to the school in the rest of the state. Charleston follows WVU. People in Kentucky seem to know that UK has a football team, but there is no hope for it, when is basketball season? Ohio is split between the local Ohio and the big time Ohio State. Charleston's once robust chemical industry has left behind some alumni of Virginia Tech.
2. NFL. Charleston is probably 50% Steelers, 30% Bengals, 10% Browns (back in the 60s when the Steelers were a joke and the Bengals did not exist, the Browns were on TV here every week, it dates to that) and the rest bandwagoners. Rest of the market is 100% Bengals.
3. MLB. We get the Reds, Pirates, and Indians on TV. Only Pirates fans are people from northern WV who moved to Charleston to work for the government. Never met an Indians fans. Market is 95% Reds. Some residual Cubs and Braves fans from the superstation days.
4. College basketball. Same loyality map as college football, except this part of Kentucky is, like the entire Commonwealth except for downtown Louisville, 100% Big Blue. Some Marshall fans will follow MU as their "small time" team and UK or some other "big time" team.
5. NASCAR. During the "NASCAR boom" of the 90s, the sport took off here big time, particularly in the rural areas. As everywhere, the massive and foolish changes to the sport have driven away most of the fans. There are some Indy fans, particularly in Ohio.
6. HS football/basketball. Football is mostly just parents and people that work for the school system. Declining population has led to lots of consolidations, and that cut interest. Basketball is probably equal to football, maybe a bit more popular.
7. Golf. Our witless governor has a PGA event at his resort. It did well at first, but it has died down as the newness has worn off. Gave away tickets this year. The PGA is redoing its schedule in 19, might move to the fall, which might help. Several other tournaments nearby. Golf on TV get among its highest ratings outside Florida here, which is probably a function of the high %age of old people here. Tennis is not followed.
8. Minor league teams. Charleston has had a minor league baseball team most of the time since forever. Current team seems to be dying out, not drawing well. Nobody from outside Charleston cares about it.
9. NBA/NHL/soccer/whatever. No one cares about the NBA. We get Cleveland on TV. Hockey, we get Columbus and Pittsburgh on TV. Not a big deal. Most people don't understand the rules of hockey. College baseball is not followed. Soccer gets the stereotypical upper middle class spoiled kid demographic. As with any college, Marshall has a number of professors and students from elsewhere and they turn out for Marshall's games, but nobody else does.
Northern NJ, greater suburbia (Morris County):
* In order by sport: Football, baseball, basketball, college football, hockey, soccer (international), soccer (MLS), college basketball... trace amounts of golf, especially in richer places
* In order by team: Yankees, Giants, Jets, Devils, Mets, Lakers (or possibly whatever team is currently popular), Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Real/Man U/other popular int'l teams, Red Bulls, NYCFC
For Fresno...
MLB: The Giants are the favorite by far. I don't even run into many Dodgers fans out here.
NBA: The Warriors are the favorite but I suspect the Lakers have been historically.
NFL: The Raiders by far with the 49ers and Rams coming in far behind.
NHL: I suppose the Sharks? Really not a ton of hockey followers around these parts but I hear them get mentioned now and then.
NCAA: By far Fresno State based off the football program and the Carr kids. There seems to be a decent baseball following.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 03, 2017, 10:11:52 AM
Greater Hartford: It's a combination of MLB, NFL, and college basketball that rule the roost. For baseball, the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is taken to the next level, dividing neighbors and even families. The Mets are a distant third, and a fan of any other team is most likely a transplant. For the NFL, the Giants and Patriots dominate much like the Red Sox and Yankees, except it is not as strong a rivalry, and those that root for one city in baseball don't necessarily root for a team from the same city in football (have many Red Sox/Giants and Yankees/Patriots fan friends). Jets fans pretty much are non-existent north of the New Haven area, and fall in popularity with the teams that have a national following (Steelers, Cowboys, Packers). But, no matter what team(s) anyone follows, everyone is united for the cause when it comes to UConn Basketball, both mens' and womens'. CT is probably the only state where a guy can watch womens' basketball and not have his man card called into question by people from out of state. UConn football is kind of a niche sport (many national teams have as much of a following around here), along with NHL since the Whalers left town, and the NBA.
Yankees/pats? Ew
For the San Francisco area
1. Golden state Warriors mainly because of the Rivalry with the Cleveland Cavs in the NBA Finals.
2. San Francisco Giants ok
3. San Jose sharks
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. New England Patriots mainly because News Outlets mention that Tom Brady grew up in San Mateo as a Child.
Quote from: bing101 on August 03, 2017, 09:50:52 PM
For the San Francisco area
1. Golden state Warriors mainly because of the Rivalry with the Cleveland Cavs in the NBA Finals.
2. San Francisco Giants ok
3. San Jose sharks
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. New England Patriots mainly because News Outlets mention that Tom Brady grew up in San Mateo as a Child.
But perennially, until recently, it was 4-2-1-A's-3? (Don't forget the A's!)
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.
Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally. I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy. For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/ I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.
In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay. They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans. The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.
The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team. As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale. Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.
In the Charleston area, our minor league team is a Caps affiliate, so a few people gravitate toward them, but most people are fans of their transplanted teams. The Blackhawks, Bruins, Rangers, Penguins, Sabres, and a few Hurricanes fans.
The local news here frequently shows highlights of Blue Jays star Justin Smoak, and used to show them every time Yankees CF Brett Gardner and Orioles (now Nats) C Matt Wieters went deep, but there have been no fans added of those teams.
There were a good amount of Cubs fans, well before the WS, dating back to the 80s when the Cubs and Braves were the only two teams on TV in most of the country unless you were near a local team.
Roddy White, a WR for the Falcons for over a decade, was from James Island, and he added a decent Falcons fan base here. When he stopped playing, a lot of those folks gravitated back toward the Cowboys or other teams.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.
Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally. I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy. For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/ I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.
In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay. They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans. The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.
The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team. As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale. Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.
Wisconsin should be pretty obvious for the NFL, NBA, and MLB: Packers, Bucks, and Brewers. But living here in the SW corner of Wisconsin after growing up in the Milwaukee area, things are a little different. The Packers are obviously still popular, but it is more evenly split with Duh Bears because Duh Bears used to hold training camp at UW-Platteville from 1984-2000. Lots of people became Bears fans because of that, and especially when they won the Super Bowl in 1986. There are plenty of stories about the players doing things around town from those days.
The Bulls seem to be the more popular team than the Bucks. I'm a Bucks fan, and fellow Bucks fans are few and far between. Most are Bulls fans dating back to the Jordan years.
Baseball seems to be somewhat split between Brewers and Cubs. Plenty of Brewers fans came out of the woodwork when the Brewers made the playoffs in 2008 and 2011, but that has since been taken back over by the Cubs, especially since they won the World Series last year.
Stores around here will usually carry Packers, Brewers, Bears, Cubs, maybe Bulls, but rarely Bucks, which is disappointing. We do however see the majority of the coverage on local TV related to the Wisconsin teams, since we get Madison TV, with a little bit of Cubs. I would be happier, though, if all the Cubs and Bears fans stayed south of the border, lol.
Around here, as far as a local team goes, most people follow the VCU Rams (college basketball) and it's not even close.
Since Richmond (or Virginia for that matter) doesn't have any pro teams, the NBA, NHL, and MLB is up in the air for the most part.. you'll find fans of all sorts of franchises no matter what region they play in despite the DC teams (*see below) being the closest to most of the state.
The NFL fans here though is what makes me sick: the vast majority of Virginians are either Redskins fans or Cowboys fans, to the point where it's like the only 2 teams in existence lmao. You might come across some Giants (me), Panthers, Ravens or Steelers fans, but Redskins and Cowboys BY FAR have the state on lock
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.
Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally. I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy. For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/ I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.
In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay. They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans. The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.
The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team. As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale. Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.
I've been seeing waaaaaaaay too many 'bandwagon' Cubs' fans here in NE Wisconsin the last few years, too.
Mike
Quote from: mgk920 on August 05, 2017, 10:29:48 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.
Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally. I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy. For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/ I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.
In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay. They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans. The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.
The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team. As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale. Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.
I've been seeing waaaaaaaay too many 'bandwagon' Cubs' fans here in NE Wisconsin the last few years, too.
Mike
What is happening? Cubs having bandwagon fans.
As far as North Iowa goes:
MLB: Twins, then Cubs, then everyone else
NFL: Vikings, followed by Packers, followed by Bears, Cowboys and then everyone else. One of the people I work with says they have a lot of 49er fans here, but I don't really see that. I assume they became fans in the 80's if they exist.
NHL: Wild, then Blackhawks, possibly the Penguins, then everyone else
NBA: Hard to say, because no one wears a Cavaliers jersey that's not LeBron James. Same for Warriors and Stephen Curry. One thing I can say is I am still waiting to see someone in a Timberwolves outfit, as that is the only Minnesota team they don't go for here
NCAA: There's the Hawkeyes, and then there's everyone else. There's some Iowa State and some UNI, but it's Hawkeyes all the way
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on August 05, 2017, 10:38:01 PM
Quote from: mgk920 on August 05, 2017, 10:29:48 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.
Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally. I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy. For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/ I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.
In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay. They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans. The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.
The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team. As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale. Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.
I've been seeing waaaaaaaay too many 'bandwagon' Cubs' fans here in NE Wisconsin the last few years, too.
Mike
What is happening? Cubs having bandwagon fans.
You think the Cubs have a lot of bandwagon fans? Wait until the Yankees win a few games, and these fans who think baseball didn't exist before 1996 come crawling out of the woodwork like termites.
Quote from: plain on August 04, 2017, 02:29:04 PM
Around here, as far as a local team goes, most people follow the VCU Rams (college basketball) and it's not even close.
Since Richmond (or Virginia for that matter) doesn't have any pro teams, the NBA, NHL, and MLB is up in the air for the most part.. you'll find fans of all sorts of franchises no matter what region they play in despite the DC teams (*see below) being the closest to most of the state.
The NFL fans here though is what makes me sick: the vast majority of Virginians are either Redskins fans or Cowboys fans, to the point where it's like the only 2 teams in existence lmao. You might come across some Giants (me), Panthers, Ravens or Steelers fans, but Redskins and Cowboys BY FAR have the state on lock
Most hockey fans I've met here are Caps fans. For MLB, there are some residual Braves fans leftover from the R-Braves/TBS 90s heyday, but you're right about it mostly being a mix. Most prominent are Yankee, Red Sox, and the Nats in a distant third, along with bandwagon fans of whichever team has been successful lately (currently Cubs). Almost no Giants fans despite the Squirrels being an affiliate. Few Orioles fans. Few NBA fans as the Rams dominate everything. For the NFL, from what I've seen the Steelers are a distant third behind the Redskins and Cowboys, particularly with those under 30.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 06, 2017, 07:22:34 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on August 05, 2017, 10:38:01 PM
Quote from: mgk920 on August 05, 2017, 10:29:48 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.
Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally. I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy. For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/ I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.
In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay. They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans. The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.
The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team. As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale. Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.
I've been seeing waaaaaaaay too many 'bandwagon' Cubs' fans here in NE Wisconsin the last few years, too.
Mike
What is happening? Cubs having bandwagon fans.
You think the Cubs have a lot of bandwagon fans? Wait until the Yankees win a few games, and these fans who think baseball didn't exist before 1996 come crawling out of the woodwork like termites.
I always find that a good test to see whether or not someone is a bandwagon fan is to start discussing something from the team's history when they mention that they're a fan. Bonus points if it's a big moment in the team's history and they seem utterly clueless. I wonder how many Yankees bandwagoners know about Thurman Munson's plane crash or the Maris/Mantle home run chase.
For Seattle:
The Seahawks (NFL) have a lot of region-wide support, which is also healthy in the urban core. Plenty of office workers milling about in Seahawks gear on the Fridays before games, but not so much the regular people out and about on Saturdays.
The Sounders (MLS) have a very strong urban base, which drops off in the suburbs. Thanks to the number of games they play (17 at home) and high average attendance (45K, some games fill out CenturyLink's full 67K), they actually attract more total attendance than the Seahawks and help make the stadium more profitable. The Sounders also seem to inspire more lingering around Pioneer Square prior to games, with people participating in the March to the Match.
The Mariners have strong regional support and weak in-city support, which puts them neck and neck with the Sounders for the number 2 spot here. If they put together a decent team and made a deep run into the playoffs, the city would be all over them.
Despite being absent for 9 years, the Sonics still have their place in the hearts of Seattleites. The city is in the middle of a huge arena debate (between renovating KeyArena and building a new SODO Arena) that is spilling over into the mayoral contest; don't expect shovel to hit dirt before the end of the decade, though, because things move slow here.
The Storm (WNBA) and Reign (NWSL/women's soccer) have a small but loyal fanbase. The Thunderbirds are far out in the suburbs and not well followed by in-city fans.
The Huskies (CFB) have a huge following as well, but it's hard to gauge in the city. Seattle has a lot of transplants, after all, who are more loyal to their alma mater than UW.
NASCAR is looked down upon here, partially because they tried to come in and mooch off the taxpayers while building a new racetrack in the suburbs. Given the current condition of the selected site (prime industrial land in an area that needs it) and the state's finances, we dodged a huge bullet.
I should have done Omaha, since I lived there for 20 years.
MLB: I always thought it was the Cubs or the Cardinals, but when the Royals won the World Series in 2015, the Royal fans sure came out of the woodwork. Omaha has lasted longer as the minor league affiliate of the Royals than any other city with any team, so perhaps it wasn't surprising. The Yankees and Red Sox had some popularity and then there's everyone else.
NFL: A mix of Chiefs, Cowboys, Packers, Vikings, Bears, Raiders and Broncos. Not sure who #1 is, but it probably is one of those.
NHL: Hard to say, but I personally suspect it's either the Blackhawks or Penguins
NBA: I think I could repeat my previous comment on North Iowa for Omaha as far as the NBA goes. It probably entirely depends on who's good at the moment.
NCAA: Nebraska Cornhuskers football is practically a religion there and I had a love/hate relationship with it. That said, Creighton basketball and UNO hockey have their fans as well.
OTHER TEAMS: The Omaha Lancers junior hockey team always had a following, as does Omaha Beef indoor football. The Omaha Nighthawks UFL football team was huge for one year, and people will still wear the t-shirts.
Quote from: Henry on August 03, 2017, 09:57:47 AM
I'll bite with my three hometowns:
Chicago: The Cubs are obviously the #1 team in the city, with the White Sox a distant second. Even in 2005 (the year of the Sox' World Series win), more attention was focused on the Cubs and their so-called Billy Goat curse, which I've always perceived as stupid and was thankfully eradicated with last year's championship. The Bears suck, the Bulls haven't really gotten back to the championship level they achieved in the Jordan-Pippen years, and the Blackhawks have gotten major attention since their Stanley Cup run began in 2010. Northwestern hasn't been historically good, but it's always fun to see them win. I don't know enough about DePaul, and seeing that this is Big Ten country, Illinois and Indiana tend to dominate the scene locally.
Los Angeles: The Dodgers and Lakers have been entangled in an eternal fight for local supremacy, with their championship pedigree. However, the Angels have a World Series title from 2002, and the Clippers have become a good team as of late (though not championship-caliber). The same goes for USC and UCLA (my alma mater), with the former being better in football and the latter in basketball. The Kings have managed to best the Ducks in terms of Stanley Cups won (Kings 2, Ducks 1). And of course, the NFL is getting a second go-around, so it's too early to tell how well the Rams and Chargers will do here. I remember, though, when the Raiders played in L.A., their popularity eclipsed that of the Rams, and it was a very common sight to see silver and black everywhere you went in the city (going back to the days before Straight Outta Compton even became a thing).
Seattle: I say the Seahawks are the #1 team in town, especially in the Russell Wilson era that produced two Super Bowl berths and one Lombardi trophy. Too bad that the Mariners had to take a long time to come into their own, but they had lots of memorable moments in the Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki eras (the 116-win season from 2001 comes to mind). The Sonics were the main draw (especially when Payton and Kemp were on the team), but then they left for Oklahoma City to become the Thunder (perhaps the Portland Trail Blazers are attracting former Sonics fans as of late?). And then there's Washington, whose main campus is right in the city. There's no local NHL team either, but I imagine everyone goes up to Vancouver to follow the Canucks.
The Bears will ALWAYS be Chicago's #1 team, not the Cubs.
Quote from: Brandon on August 03, 2017, 10:05:32 AM
Quote from: Henry on August 03, 2017, 09:57:47 AM
I'll bite with my three hometowns:
Chicago: I don't know enough about DePaul, and seeing that this is Big Ten country, Illinois and Indiana tend to dominate the scene locally.
It's all f-ing Notre Dame. Even Northwestern gets second billing to the Domers.
Go Irish and Go Huskies! :D
Most fans in central Indiana like the Colts, IU basketball, Notre Dame football, and the Pacers, in that order. As far as baseball goes, it seems pretty evenly split between the Cubs and Reds, with some Cardinals fans.
Naturally, I can't stand any of these teams, except the Colts and Pacers. Even those two are depressing.
Quote from: csw on October 22, 2017, 09:50:11 PM
Most fans in central Indiana like the Colts, IU basketball, Notre Dame football, and the Pacers, in that order. As far as baseball goes, it seems pretty evenly split between the Cubs and Reds, with some Cardinals fans.
Naturally, I can't stand any of these teams, except the Colts and Pacers. Even those two are depressing.
Andrew Luck out till thanksgiving.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on October 23, 2017, 09:07:01 AM
Quote from: csw on October 22, 2017, 09:50:11 PM
Most fans in central Indiana like the Colts, IU basketball, Notre Dame football, and the Pacers, in that order. As far as baseball goes, it seems pretty evenly split between the Cubs and Reds, with some Cardinals fans.
Naturally, I can't stand any of these teams, except the Colts and Pacers. Even those two are depressing.
Andrew Luck out till thanksgiving.
Thanks, I was aware.
Quote from: csw on October 23, 2017, 10:56:03 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on October 23, 2017, 09:07:01 AM
Quote from: csw on October 22, 2017, 09:50:11 PM
Most fans in central Indiana like the Colts, IU basketball, Notre Dame football, and the Pacers, in that order. As far as baseball goes, it seems pretty evenly split between the Cubs and Reds, with some Cardinals fans.
Naturally, I can't stand any of these teams, except the Colts and Pacers. Even those two are depressing.
Andrew Luck out till thanksgiving.
Thanks, I was aware.
And how does Chuck Pagano still have a job? Should've been let go after that fake punt fail against the Pats a couple of years ago.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on October 23, 2017, 02:04:09 PM
Quote from: csw on October 23, 2017, 10:56:03 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on October 23, 2017, 09:07:01 AM
Quote from: csw on October 22, 2017, 09:50:11 PM
Most fans in central Indiana like the Colts, IU basketball, Notre Dame football, and the Pacers, in that order. As far as baseball goes, it seems pretty evenly split between the Cubs and Reds, with some Cardinals fans.
Naturally, I can't stand any of these teams, except the Colts and Pacers. Even those two are depressing.
Andrew Luck out till thanksgiving.
Thanks, I was aware.
And how does Chuck Pagano still have a job? Should've been let go after that fake punt fail against the Pats a couple of years ago.
cancer
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on October 23, 2017, 02:04:09 PM
Quote from: csw on October 23, 2017, 10:56:03 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on October 23, 2017, 09:07:01 AM
Quote from: csw on October 22, 2017, 09:50:11 PM
Most fans in central Indiana like the Colts, IU basketball, Notre Dame football, and the Pacers, in that order. As far as baseball goes, it seems pretty evenly split between the Cubs and Reds, with some Cardinals fans.
Naturally, I can't stand any of these teams, except the Colts and Pacers. Even those two are depressing.
Andrew Luck out till thanksgiving.
Thanks, I was aware.
And how does Chuck Pagano still have a job? Should've been let go after that fake punt fail against the Pats a couple of years ago.
That was the worst football play I had ever seen. I still watch the youtube video of that if I need a good laugh.
Quote from: roadguy2 on October 23, 2017, 07:58:11 PM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on October 23, 2017, 02:04:09 PM
Quote from: csw on October 23, 2017, 10:56:03 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on October 23, 2017, 09:07:01 AM
Quote from: csw on October 22, 2017, 09:50:11 PM
Most fans in central Indiana like the Colts, IU basketball, Notre Dame football, and the Pacers, in that order. As far as baseball goes, it seems pretty evenly split between the Cubs and Reds, with some Cardinals fans.
Naturally, I can't stand any of these teams, except the Colts and Pacers. Even those two are depressing.
Andrew Luck out till thanksgiving.
Thanks, I was aware.
And how does Chuck Pagano still have a job? Should've been let go after that fake punt fail against the Pats a couple of years ago.
That was the worst football play I had ever seen. I still watch the youtube video of that if I need a good laugh.
He will most likely be fired after this season.
In my area of So Cal (Palm Springs-Coachella valley), here's the most popular teams:
Baseball - 1. Angels (Palm Springs had spring training site, 1961-93 and Indio CA native family Mike and Tony Reagins), 2. Dodgers (world series fever swept us) and 3. Padres (not really many fans). I noticed newcomers and snowbirds love the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, A's, Giants, Mariners and Blue Jays the most.
Football- 1. Raiders (huge fan base in CA, despite left LA or leaving Oakland again to Vegas), 2. Chargers (now in LA), 3. Rams (back in LA) and 4. 49ers (the best super bowl record 5-1). Other faves are Seahawks, Cardinals, Cowboys, Broncos, Patriots, Giants, Packers and Vikings (Indio CA native Ed(ward) White's alma mater).
Basketball-1. Lakers (big deal here), 2. Clippers (developmental Agua Caliente Clippers play in nearby Ontario CA arena), 3. Warriors (current NBA champs in northern CA) and 4. Kings (a few fans). I noticed an occassional Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Spurs, Mavs, Nuggets and Blazers fan. The Phoenix Suns hosted the outdoor NBA game in Indian Wells tennis garden in 2008-10.
And Hockey - 1. Ducks (closer to Anaheim and the OC), 2. Kings and 3. Sharks. So far, Canucks, Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Coyotes, Avalanche, Flames, Oilers and BlackHawks fans winter in the area watch their teams on TVs.
California and Texas claim to be the best sports market state, then let's take a look:
The Houston Astros in baseball defeated the LA Dodgers in this year's world series. but the Oakland Raiders didn't want San Antonio...it moved to Las Vegas 50 miles from CA. The Houston Rockets might move to Las Vegas (attempted in the 1990s), cus the nearby Mavericks & Spurs do better in basketball. And I don't think the Arizona (was Phoenix) Coyotes a 250-mile drive from Indio CA in hockey are moving to Houston, nor Seattle (the all-female city council voted against the arena 5-0, trying a 2nd NBA team proposal). In the 2000s, the Coyotes tried to move to (Las) Vegas, now has the Golden Knights.
Quote from: Desert Man on November 09, 2017, 10:43:42 AMnor Seattle (the all-female city council voted against the arena 5-0, trying a 2nd NBA team proposal).
Get your facts straight. The city council, which is majority female (not all), voted against the arena because it was a poor proposal. Also the Port had some meddling, mainly arguing against the use of a street vacation right next to the truck entrance to the container port...while not used often, it's still important to consider.
A week ago, I probably would have said the Bengals, but resigning Marvin Lewis is probably going to hurt things.
Yep. My cousins are die-hard fans in Fayette County, KY and are furious.
1. College football. It's a mixture of both Michigan State and Michigan for the most part. Michigan seems to have more fans though.
2. High school football. Saginaw High and Arthur Hill even though both schools have declining enrollment is a big rivalry in Saginaw.
3. NFL. Detroit Lions. Steelers are up there as well they have a former Linebacker from Saginaw named LaMarr Woodley who is pretty popular around here even though he no longer plays for the Steelers. There are some Green Bay fans around here as well.
4. College baseball/basketball. Michigan State is the biggest in college basketball around here. They usually have a top team.
5. MLB. Well the Detroit Tigers pretty much own the landscape for MLB in Michigan. There are a lot of Chicago and Yankees fans here too though.
6. Minor league teams. Midland has the Great Lakes Loons who are a Dodgers farm team, I remember when Clayton Kershaw played for this team. They have a nice stadium for minor league baseball and draw well.
7. NBA/NHL. Pistons and Red Wings just like the rest of the sports teams around here most people are Detroit fans.
8. Golf/tennis. Not big around here really.
NFL and NBA are pretty close for number 1.
Quote from: Alps on August 03, 2017, 10:44:27 PM
Quote from: bing101 on August 03, 2017, 09:50:52 PM
For the San Francisco area
1. Golden state Warriors mainly because of the Rivalry with the Cleveland Cavs in the NBA Finals.
2. San Francisco Giants ok
3. San Jose sharks
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. New England Patriots mainly because News Outlets mention that Tom Brady grew up in San Mateo as a Child.
But perennially, until recently, it was 4-2-1-A's-3? (Don't forget the A's!)
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21987900/jon-gruden-named-oakland-raiders-head-coach
Now this the Raiders until they move to Las Vegas is getting attention in my area.
We get that New England Patriots following here too because Tom Brady attended the University of Michigan. I for one don't care about where he went to college or where he played in the NFL. I'm a Chicago Bears fan.
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 07, 2018, 01:47:17 PM
We get that New England Patriots following here too because Tom Brady attended the University of Michigan. I for one don't care about where he went to college or where he played in the NFL. I'm a Chicago Bears fan.
How does it feel rooting for a divisional rival in enemy territory?
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 07, 2018, 04:59:19 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 07, 2018, 01:47:17 PM
We get that New England Patriots following here too because Tom Brady attended the University of Michigan. I for one don't care about where he went to college or where he played in the NFL. I'm a Chicago Bears fan.
How does it feel rooting for a divisional rival in enemy territory?
It's not really as bad as you'd think. There are a lot of Chicago fans mixed in depending where you are in Michigan. I'm closer to Detroit though and never have had any problems.
Quote from: Alps on August 03, 2017, 10:44:27 PM
Quote from: bing101 on August 03, 2017, 09:50:52 PM
For the San Francisco area
1. Golden state Warriors mainly because of the Rivalry with the Cleveland Cavs in the NBA Finals.
2. San Francisco Giants ok
3. San Jose sharks
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. New England Patriots mainly because News Outlets mention that Tom Brady grew up in San Mateo as a Child.
But perennially, until recently, it was 4-2-1-A's-3? (Don't forget the A's!)
It depends on what you mean by "perennially." I'd say if you were take "average" of the last 50 years into account (basically since the A's moved to Oakland) it would be something like:
1. Giants
2. 49ers
3. Raiders
4. Warriors
5. A's
6. Sharks
The 49ers were certainly the biggest team in town for the 15-year stretch where they won five Super Bowls, but not as big before or since. The A's were probably bigger than the Giants during their World Series stretches of the early '70s and late '80s. The Sharks are only on the bottom because 1) they're still the new kid in town, and 2) the relative popularity of the NHL compared to the other leagues. They're still well-loved and well-attended.
At this writing, it's probably something closer to this:
1. Warriors
2. 49ers (lots of optimism for next season)
3. Giants (not as much optimism)
4. Sharks
5. A's
6. Raiders (and this is only because they're a lame duck until they move)
Quote from: bing101 on August 03, 2017, 09:50:52 PM
5. New England Patriots mainly because News Outlets mention that Tom Brady grew up in San Mateo as a Child.
No, the Patriots are not any more popular here than any other out-of-market team, Tom Brady's hometown notwithstanding. You're far more likely to get news about teams with recent Stanford or Cal players (Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck, Christian McCaffrey, Jared Goff, etc.).
Basketball: Portland trail blazers
Football: Slight majority Seattle Seahawks
Baseball: split
Soccer: Portland Timbers
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 07, 2018, 05:04:12 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 07, 2018, 04:59:19 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 07, 2018, 01:47:17 PM
We get that New England Patriots following here too because Tom Brady attended the University of Michigan. I for one don't care about where he went to college or where he played in the NFL. I'm a Chicago Bears fan.
How does it feel rooting for a divisional rival in enemy territory?
It's not really as bad as you'd think. There are a lot of Chicago fans mixed in depending where you are in Michigan. I'm closer to Detroit though and never have had any problems.
^This^
As a young child in the 1970's living in Jenison, Mi it seemed all of my friends and their parents were Bears fans, not Lions fans. Yet baseball wise it was Tigers or bust, no one rooted for either of the 2 Chicago teams.
Now for my current area:
NFL and MLB:
When I first moved here in 1991 we had no local NFL or MLB team to root for. Most lifelong locals pulled for the Washington Redskins in football and it seemed to be a 50/50 split between the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves in MLB. The next town west on US-70 had the Kinston Indians, which was Cleveland's AA(?) farm club for many years. It seemed when ever a player made it to the big show the local TV stations would give them some love for a few weeks featuring highlights of a hit here or a good play there with Cleveland and then that was it. When the Braves were winning in the mid 90's one almost couldn't find a Baltimore fan. Strangly enough it was the same thing when the Cowboys were winning in the 90's the Redskins pretty much ceased to exist around here. I think we have a bunch of bandwagon jumpers. In this half of the state there are not a bunch of Panthers fans now (though since the Rivera regime turned things around more and more people have started following them).
Actually with the large numbers of military that get out and then stay here in the area (MCAS Cherry Point and MCB Camp Lejune are both in our area) you will find that team alliegances are all over the place. Heck, just between the 6 of us that work on my rotation in 911 you have a Bears fan (me), 2 Steelers fans, 1 Packers fan, 1 Redskins fan and 1 Panthers fan.
NBA: When I first moved here, the Chicago Bulls just starting their run of 6 titles in 8 years, so it was no surprise to me that I was able to find that the majority of people around here pulled for the Bulls. MJ being from this part of NC (Wilmington) didn't hurt matters either. The Charlotte Hornets just never really took a foothold in this half of the state.
NCAA: For basketball its either UNC or Duke or go home. No one cares a wit for NC State. For football its the ECU Pirates-though here again we are starting to see a real watering down of loyalties based on a growing population of "not from here's" and their children. For me personally its Michigan-and there is a Florida Gators fan, and a Duke fan on my shift, not sure about the other half of our rotation.
NASCAR: Its been huge around here, though its beginning to die off because many of us are irritated at all the changes that have occured since Brian France became the Chairman circa 2003. We always had race pools at work, many of us were season ticket holders at various tracks (for me it was Rockingham and Darlington). One of my neighbors had the coveted Bristol tickets handed down from his parents, back when the only way to get tickets to Bristol was to have had older family members who already held the season tickets because the waiting list was like 5 years long. Now its easy to get tickets to Bristol since they screwed up the track in 2008.
Hockey: This was never a big hockey area, though the Carolina Hurricanes seem to do quite well among my neighbors now.
Soccer: In the immortal words of one of my old shift lieutenants from the sheriff's office: "What's that?" Enough said.
Quote from: slorydn1 on January 16, 2018, 03:50:31 AM
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 07, 2018, 05:04:12 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 07, 2018, 04:59:19 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 07, 2018, 01:47:17 PM
We get that New England Patriots following here too because Tom Brady attended the University of Michigan. I for one don't care about where he went to college or where he played in the NFL. I'm a Chicago Bears fan.
How does it feel rooting for a divisional rival in enemy territory?
It's not really as bad as you'd think. There are a lot of Chicago fans mixed in depending where you are in Michigan. I'm closer to Detroit though and never have had any problems.
^This^
As a young child in the 1970's living in Jenison, Mi it seemed all of my friends and their parents were Bears fans, not Lions fans. Yet baseball wise it was Tigers or bust, no one rooted for either of the 2 Chicago teams.
Now for my current area:
NFL and MLB:
When I first moved here in 1991 we had no local NFL or MLB team to root for. Most lifelong locals pulled for the Washington Redskins in football and it seemed to be a 50/50 split between the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves in MLB. The next town west on US-70 had the Kinston Indians, which was Cleveland's AA(?) farm club for many years. It seemed when ever a player made it to the big show the local TV stations would give them some love for a few weeks featuring highlights of a hit here or a good play there with Cleveland and then that was it. When the Braves were winning in the mid 90's one almost couldn't find a Baltimore fan. Strangly enough it was the same thing when the Cowboys were winning in the 90's the Redskins pretty much ceased to exist around here. I think we have a bunch of bandwagon jumpers. In this half of the state there are not a bunch of Panthers fans now (though since the Rivera regime turned things around more and more people have started following them).
Actually with the large numbers of military that get out and then stay here in the area (MCAS Cherry Point and MCB Camp Lejune are both in our area) you will find that team alliegances are all over the place. Heck, just between the 6 of us that work on my rotation in 911 you have a Bears fan (me), 2 Steelers fans, 1 Packers fan, 1 Redskins fan and 1 Panthers fan.
NBA: When I first moved here, the Chicago Bulls just starting their run of 6 titles in 8 years, so it was no surprise to me that I was able to find that the majority of people around here pulled for the Bulls. MJ being from this part of NC (Wilmington) didn't hurt matters either. The Charlotte Hornets just never really took a foothold in this half of the state.
NCAA: For basketball its either UNC or Duke or go home. No one cares a wit for NC State. For football its the ECU Pirates-though here again we are starting to see a real watering down of loyalties based on a growing population of "not from here's" and their children. For me personally its Michigan-and there is a Florida Gators fan, and a Duke fan on my shift, not sure about the other half of our rotation.
NASCAR: Its been huge around here, though its beginning to die off because many of us are irritated at all the changes that have occured since Brian France became the Chairman circa 2003. We always had race pools at work, many of us were season ticket holders at various tracks (for me it was Rockingham and Darlington). One of my neighbors had the coveted Bristol tickets handed down from his parents, back when the only way to get tickets to Bristol was to have had older family members who already held the season tickets because the waiting list was like 5 years long. Now its easy to get tickets to Bristol since they screwed up the track in 2008.
Hockey: This was never a big hockey area, though the Carolina Hurricanes seem to do quite well among my neighbors now.
Soccer: In the immortal words of one of my old shift lieutenants from the sheriff's office: "What's that?" Enough said.
I guess it's just the closeness of Chicago and I was there every summer so I started liking the White Sox and that was mainly because I liked Frank Thomas and Jack McDowell. I just chose to go with all Chicago teams and I live in Saginaw. It was harder being a Blackhawks fan around here than anything for awhile but that's kind of lost it's edge especially with the Wings moving to the Eastern Conference.
Where I live now, the pecking order is:
1. University of Michigan
2. Lions
3. Tigers
4. Red Wings
5. Michigan State University
6. Pistons
In most of Michigan, at least one of the Packers, Cubs, Bears, and Patriots are ahead of the Pistons. Outside of Ann Arbor and Lansing, Michigan and MSU are closer to each other in the pecking order
Quote from: ftballfan on January 21, 2018, 07:27:21 PM
Where I live now, the pecking order is:
1. University of Michigan
2. Lions
3. Tigers
4. Red Wings
5. Michigan State University
6. Pistons
In most of Michigan, at least one of the Packers, Cubs, Bears, and Patriots are ahead of the Pistons. Outside of Ann Arbor and Lansing, Michigan and MSU are closer to each other in the pecking order
Man, that's a sign how far the Wings have fallen. A few years ago they'd have been #2.
Quote from: Alps on January 21, 2018, 09:32:10 PM
Quote from: ftballfan on January 21, 2018, 07:27:21 PM
Where I live now, the pecking order is:
1. University of Michigan
2. Lions
3. Tigers
4. Red Wings
5. Michigan State University
6. Pistons
In most of Michigan, at least one of the Packers, Cubs, Bears, and Patriots are ahead of the Pistons. Outside of Ann Arbor and Lansing, Michigan and MSU are closer to each other in the pecking order
Man, that's a sign how far the Wings have fallen. A few years ago they'd have been #2.
Even though Detroit is Hockeytown the Red Wings were never really above the Lions or Tigers. Detroit is a town that goes with the team based on the season and attendance to these teams is based on if they are winning or losing at the time. Like in 2017 the Tigers lost 98 games and their attendance has been declining since 2014 as they are only middle of the pack in the AL in attendance these days.
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 21, 2018, 11:06:08 PM
Quote from: Alps on January 21, 2018, 09:32:10 PM
Quote from: ftballfan on January 21, 2018, 07:27:21 PM
Where I live now, the pecking order is:
1. University of Michigan
2. Lions
3. Tigers
4. Red Wings
5. Michigan State University
6. Pistons
In most of Michigan, at least one of the Packers, Cubs, Bears, and Patriots are ahead of the Pistons. Outside of Ann Arbor and Lansing, Michigan and MSU are closer to each other in the pecking order
Man, that's a sign how far the Wings have fallen. A few years ago they'd have been #2.
Even though Detroit is Hockeytown the Red Wings were never really above the Lions or Tigers. Detroit is a town that goes with the team based on the season and attendance to these teams is based on if they are winning or losing at the time. Like in 2017 the Tigers lost 98 games and their attendance has been declining since 2014 as they are only middle of the pack in the AL in attendance these days.
Even a losing Tigers team managed to be the best drawing team in the AL Central in 2017. Cleveland is notorious for low attendance despite their being successful in recent years.
1. Ohio State Buckeyes
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Cleveland Browns
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
5. Michigan Wolverines
6. Pittsburgh Steelers
7. Detroit Tigers
8. Cincinnati Reds
9. Detroit Red Wings
10. Columbus Blue Jackets
Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Sabres
:popcorn:
Quote from: webny99 on January 22, 2018, 12:06:43 PM
Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Sabres
:popcorn:
Rochester? NY Yankees still rate.
Quote from: ftballfan on January 22, 2018, 09:59:32 AM
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 21, 2018, 11:06:08 PM
Quote from: Alps on January 21, 2018, 09:32:10 PM
Quote from: ftballfan on January 21, 2018, 07:27:21 PM
Where I live now, the pecking order is:
1. University of Michigan
2. Lions
3. Tigers
4. Red Wings
5. Michigan State University
6. Pistons
In most of Michigan, at least one of the Packers, Cubs, Bears, and Patriots are ahead of the Pistons. Outside of Ann Arbor and Lansing, Michigan and MSU are closer to each other in the pecking order
Man, that's a sign how far the Wings have fallen. A few years ago they'd have been #2.
Even though Detroit is Hockeytown the Red Wings were never really above the Lions or Tigers. Detroit is a town that goes with the team based on the season and attendance to these teams is based on if they are winning or losing at the time. Like in 2017 the Tigers lost 98 games and their attendance has been declining since 2014 as they are only middle of the pack in the AL in attendance these days.
Even a losing Tigers team managed to be the best drawing team in the AL Central in 2017. Cleveland is notorious for low attendance despite their being successful in recent years.
That might be because there was still some drawing power there but I think they'll drop under 2 million in 2018 just because no improvements have been made to a terrible team. Only thing they did right was got rid of Brad now they need to go further and get rid of Avila too. Cleveland was really bad at drawing fans in their old ballpark and it seems to have carried over with their new ballpark too (well I guess it's 24 years old now but still seems new to me) after the newness of it wore off and the late 1990's teams they had faded. The White Sox are pretty notorious for low attendance too.
Quote from: Alps on January 22, 2018, 10:27:05 PM
Quote from: webny99 on January 22, 2018, 12:06:43 PM
Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Sabres
:popcorn:
Rochester? NY Yankees still rate.
Right right. But baseball is not that popular, at least among people I know. Our biggest loyalty is to the Bills.
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 22, 2018, 11:02:20 PM
Cleveland was really bad at drawing fans in their old ballpark and it seems to have carried over with their new ballpark too (well I guess it's 24 years old now but still seems new to me) after the newness of it wore off and the late 1990's teams they had faded.
It was perfect storm of 3 factors coming together that produced the Indians 455 game sellout streak from June of 1995 to April of 2001:
1. The team was playing very good baseball (5 straight division titles and 2 pennants during the streak)
2. The ballpark was new (opened in 1994)
3. The Browns were gone for 3 years during this time (1996-1998)
But yes, once all of that wore off things went pretty much back to normal for Indians attendance....and as a result they recently reduced the capacity at Progressive Field down to 35k.
Quote from: Buck87 on January 22, 2018, 11:29:51 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on January 22, 2018, 11:02:20 PM
Cleveland was really bad at drawing fans in their old ballpark and it seems to have carried over with their new ballpark too (well I guess it's 24 years old now but still seems new to me) after the newness of it wore off and the late 1990's teams they had faded.
It was perfect storm of 3 factors coming together that produced the Indians 455 game sellout streak from June of 1995 to April of 2001:
1. The team was playing very good baseball (5 straight division titles and 2 pennants during the streak)
2. The ballpark was new (opened in 1994)
3. The Browns were gone for 3 years during this time (1996-1998)
But yes, once all of that wore off things went pretty much back to normal for Indians attendance....and as a result they recently reduced the capacity at Progressive Field down to 35k.
That makes sense.
In this region (Charleston, SC) the teams that people follow have changed very much over the past couple of decades.
NFL: Before Panthers came, Charleston was a DC market. Local radio carried the Washington games, and TV (usually CBS) carried the Redskins. When Fox picked up the NFL rights, they went more Falcons and national games. That was the year before the Panthers came (1995).
There was Panthers fever immediately, as they made the NFC Championship in their 2nd season (1996). For a brief time, the Panthers were as popular as any other team around here. The Panthers never sustained it, so they lost a lot of their bandwagon. Cam Newton getting drafted pretty much saved the fan base around here. The year before he got drafted, we missed 2 regular season games because the Panthers were so bad. We haven't missed 1 since iin 7 years.
Most of the folks who grew up in the 90s who followed the AFC were Dolphins fans, because that was what NBC showed here. A few gravitated toward the Jags when they started, but now most of the AFC folks are Pats or Steelers fans.
MLB: Until the early 2000s, nearly everybody was an Atlanta Braves fan. They were hugely popular on TBS here, and local Fox picked up every Braves game they could. The local sportscasters would travel to Atlanta to cover playoff games. There were a few stray Cubs and Yankees fans, but that was about it. Now, it is probably the Braves tied with the Yankees and the Red Sox (and a few Cubs fans).
NASCAR: NASCAR was huge around here until about 12-15 years ago. Every race was intently followed locally, with even qualifying results on local news. The Daytona 500 was one of the biggest sporting events of the year. Now, even though it is followed here more than probably 90% of the country, the sport has a fraction of the following it used to.
NBA: We used to have a lot of Charlotte Hornets fans here (games were on local TV), but when they left the first time, the fan base disappeared and has never really come back. The Knicks also did their preseason training here, and hosted a preseason game, but they never really gained many fans.
College sports: It depends on the year and who is good. Probably 5-10% of the fan base flips between South Carolina and Clemson football depending on the year. Now it is probably 55-45 or even close to 60-40 Clemson. Most of the Citadel football fans are old alums and that fan base is slowly dying off.
College basketball is even more divided. Most of the middle and high school kids that follow sports are Duke or UNC folks. That first game they play (usually in February) is the "beginning" of the season for them. Until last year's Final Four run, not many people followed South Carolina around here. Same with Clemson. The three local teams (College of Charleston, Citadel, and Charleston Southern) have following depending on the year. CofC is the biggest.
College baseball pretty much replaced NASCAR around here. All the local schools are good, and it fills a big void in between football and the summer. South Carolina's baseball is probably 2nd to football statewide (they won back to back national championships in 2010 and 2011). The basketball teams are followed more in and around Columbia.
Couple of comments based on some of the above.
Redskins. The depth of the Redskins fandom into the south, has always been strong, and there are still plenty of such fans deep into the Carolinas. If you go back in history, one of the reasons for the founding of the AFL was the Redskins unwillingness to allow expansion in TEXAS, as they considered the entire south to be their territory. The like "fight for old D C" in the Redskins fight song is bowlderized, it used to be "fight for old Dixie". The oddest thing to be is the Redskins following in SW Virginia. The loyality seems to be near 100%, even in places that a vastly closer (and culturally vastly more similar to) Charlotte, and for that matter Nashville and Cincinnati. Redskins fandom even bleeds over into the Tennessee Tri-Cities (which shares TV between TN and VA counties). I just find it odd.
NASCAR. EVERY board I post on, on lots of subjects, we eventually get the OT board over to Brian France and what he has done to NASCAR. And I have yet to find ONE person that does not share the opinion that his changes to NASCAR have been 100% negative and not ONE person that does not report a massive decline in the sport's impact.
Quote from: SP Cook on January 23, 2018, 11:04:26 AM
Redskins. The depth of the Redskins fandom into the south, has always been strong, and there are still plenty of such fans deep into the Carolinas. If you go back in history, one of the reasons for the founding of the AFL was the Redskins unwillingness to allow expansion in TEXAS, as they considered the entire south to be their territory. The like "fight for old D C" in the Redskins fight song is bowlderized, it used to be "fight for old Dixie". The oddest thing to be is the Redskins following in SW Virginia. The loyality seems to be near 100%, even in places that a vastly closer (and culturally vastly more similar to) Charlotte, and for that matter Nashville and Cincinnati. Redskins fandom even bleeds over into the Tennessee Tri-Cities (which shares TV between TN and VA counties). I just find it odd.
Regional fandom beyond the immediate home territory of today is not that rare. Until the AFL came along, Giant fan loyalty in New England was probably about 90% because Boston didn't have a steady NFL franchise of its own. There were probably some legacy Redskins fans from their Boston days, but the old Boston Yanks had come and gone, and never drew a fan base. Other than in CT where the NY/Boston split is 50/50, you still see strong evidence of Giant fandom in places despite the Pats having been in existence for 58 years, and in the NFL for 48. There was an auto glass place in Boston called Giant Glass, so named because the owner was a huge Giants fan. Their advertising was all over the Fenway Park area, including one on the center field wall. And northern Maine still has a very strong Giant fan base. It's not like the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry; until 2007 Week 16 and SB XLII, being a fan of both the Giants and Pats really wasn't discouraged because they came from different leagues, play in different conferences, and rarely played meaningful games against each other. Another example is in baseball with the Cardinals. Until 1958, they were the only successful team that played west of the Mississippi (the Browns and the A's notwithstanding), and were the southernmost team in MLB until the Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966. So they pretty much had the southern tier and west of the Mississippi all to themselves until the Giants and Dodgers moved to California.
Quote from: SP Cook on January 23, 2018, 11:04:26 AM
NASCAR. EVERY board I post on, on lots of subjects, we eventually get the OT board over to Brian France and what he has done to NASCAR. And I have yet to find ONE person that does not share the opinion that his changes to NASCAR have been 100% negative and not ONE person that does not report a massive decline in the sport's impact.
You sir, speak the absolute truth. I had been a regular poster at Motorportforums.com since 2001 (and the NASCAR subforum moderator since 2010). In my early days there, even though the forum was european based (the admin lives in England) the NASCAR subforum was only slightly behind the F1 subforum in new threads and post count. By the time I took over as the moderator the post count was way down, and now is only a trickle of what it once was. Heck I haven't even logged in for about a year or so, so I am not sure I am even on the staff anymore.
No one cares anymore. Brian France has done everything he can to make NASCAR like a stick and ball sport. I can understand the concept, actually. Afterall, the US is primarily a stick and ball country. We love our football, baseball, basketball and hockey.
What he failed to undertstand is that those of us who love motorsports love it because of the speed, the action, and because its different from the stick and ball sports. There aren't supposed to be time outs in racing. A driver has to be on top of his game, even under caution, or he is going to lose track position and possibly his chance to win the race.
We loved the fact that a season was really one big race in and of itself, with each race of the 36 counting just as much as any other. Win the Daytona 500, get max points. Win the Bristol night race in August, get max points. Win the final race at Homestead, get max points.
We knew that some seasons were going to be blowouts, that one team and driver was really that much better than everyone else that year, and although we might groan some about it, we were fine with it. That's what made seasons like 1992 so special, when it came down to the last lap of the last race at Atlanta and Kulwicki beat Bill Elliott by just the 10 point bonus for leading the most laps in that final race.
The press started beating the "must have change" drum in 2003 after Kenseth ran away with the championship and he only won one race. Ryan Newman won 8 races, but found ways to crash out every other week, so he didn't get it done.
The Chase started in 2004 and the rest is history. Some new fans became intrigued but most hard core fans started drifting (actually flooding) away. I still watch the races, but I keep score using the old Latford points system and just for fun the FIA 25 point win system that F1 uses as well. I really don't care who wins the real life championship any more, I just don't.
It's kind of sad, actually, because the last few years since the Gen6 car debuted the on-track product has been pretty good.
NFL - Bears
NHL - Blackhawks
College Football - Notre Dame
MLB - Cubs
NBA - Bulls
College Basketball - Probably Notre Dame right now due to recent success but historically DePaul
Quote from: 1 on January 30, 2018, 02:25:08 PM
Quote from: cabiness42 on January 30, 2018, 12:29:33 PM
NBA - Bears
I fixed it, but really the Bears are that popular and the Bulls haven't been good in a long time.
Huntsville / Tennessee Valley Area:
1. College Football - it's king, end of that discussion.
A. Alabama Crimson Tide
B. Auburn Tigers
C. University of Tennessee
D. Other SEC teams, based on where you transplanted from/went to school
E. Troy or University of Alabama Birmingham; they rarely have games on TV, anyhow.
2. NFL
A. Probably a tie between Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons. I'm going to guess it's because the Nashville didn't have a team until 1998, so Atlanta was the default team.
B. New Orleans Saints, they're a bit more popular in the southern half of the state. If the other two A-teams aren't playing at the moment, their game is on TV.
C. Dallas Cowboys or Pittsburgh Steelers, because they have legions of fans everywhere.
D. Miami Dolphins, mysteriously. Some folks have tried to explain to me here were coaching links between them and the Crimson Tide many years ago, or the Mike/Don Shula family tree. Probably the 3rd-6th choice to broadcast regionally after all the other games have ended, which really doesn't mean anything.
3. High School Football. I don't really care, but I know it's a big deal to some people.
4. It's a long way back to baseball. Atlanta Braves, and that's about it. The minor-league team left a few years ago, and there's talk of another team in a new stadium.
5. Basketball: Not discussed much, unless you like a team that's out of the area. Turns out Auburn and Alabama are actually doing pretty good in the SEC at the time of this writing. NBA is bigger during the playoffs, but other than occasional Atlanta Hawks talk, not much.
6. Hockey kind of picked up a little interest when the Nashville Predators made it to the Stanley Cup Finals last year. Otherwise, not much discussion...it's kind of seen as a Yankee/Canadian thing. The University of Alabama-Huntsville has a hockey team, and the Huntsville Havoc is a minor-league affiliate, so other than Alabama A&M's football squad, the only games in town.
7. NASCAR has it's fans, but I think it's only a big deal during the two times they come to Talladega, about three hours away. You see more fans' tributes to Dale Earnhardt and Davey Allison than anyone else, save maybe Jeff Gordon/Dale Jr...so I think its overall popularity is waning now that they've retired. There's a bit more popularity of other motorsports in the Birmingham area, since the Barber course is nearby.
8. Soccer...well, it's way down the pecking order. I help out with my kids' games so I might have some bias; thus, I'm putting it in #8.
In terms of locally-popular sports (off the beaten path), disc golf is quite the pastime. There's a fair number of courses in public parks in the area, and they're usually in use on the weekends.
I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Western Michigan and the K-Wings have a decent following in town, although I have not made it to either's games. I see a lot of Red Wings, Lions, and Tigers gear around here, even though 1660 AM is a flagship station for the Cubs. There are a few Chicago sports fans around here.
The LA Rams aren't in this year's super bowl, but locals into football really like em, LOL. My Mom is a 49er fan while she doesn't like the Patriots, one former Patriot is now a 49er: Jimmy Garoppolo. And will the Raider fan base in Nor and So Cal root for a Las Vegas team?
In Philly: The Phillies can go 0-162 this year, and not a single person will notice.
I live close enough to Omaha the only sport I'm aware of is football and the only team I ever hear about is the Huskers.
:)