What kind of "Sports Town" is your city?

[HedleyLamarr]

Here's Atlanta's sports interests:

1. UGA football (1a. SEC football)

2. Atlanta Falcons

3. Atlanta Braves

4. Georgia Tech football

5. Atlanta Hawks

6. Local college basketball

7. High school football

8. Atlanta Thrashers

9. Local college baseball

10. High school basketball

11. Lower-tier professional sports

12. Women's sports

[Lights Out]

Women's sports actually made the list in Atlanta? Wow, Atlantians must really be desperate for sports.

[HedleyLamarr]

I only mentioned women's sports because of Heather Mitts being on the local soccer team....

[MDC]

Chicago is a very tough one, Obviously when one team is doing better than the others, they have the most support. So, in a scenario where every team is doing well, I'd say Basketball is probably number one. Hype from the Jordan era is still prevalent, and the current success of the Bulls has revamped it. EVERYONE is talking about the Bulls. The Blackhawks, Cubs, and Sox all dont have enough sustained success to pass the Bulls. But, whenever the Cubs win the World Series, baseball will be the number one sport in Chicago for 20 years.That day looks far away though. The Bears get a lot of regional support, and probably the most viewers and commentary, but not as many casual fans like the Bulls have. I guess basketball is just the easiest sport to bandwagon in Chicago, and I feel it gets the most support. Any other Chicagoans care to chime in?

[loogodude90]

In the Baltimore area, the Ravens get the most attention, but I'm sure that is tied to their recent success. I would say the Maryland Terps and Baltimore Orioles are pretty much tied for second.

Baltimore is not really a basketball or hockey city, so it's not much of a surprise that very few people here care about the NBA or NHL. Although that may be a self-fulfilling prophecy, seeing as how there are neither of those teams here to begin with.

Soccer (in general) seems to be getting more popular in this area, too.

[Thad]

Greensboro/Triad, North Carolina

1a. UNC basketball

1b. Duke basketball

2. UNC football

3. NCSU athletics

4. Carolina Panthers

5. NASCAR

6. Wake/ECU football

7. App football

8. Bobcats

9. High School Basketball

10. Carolina Hurricanes

[Alphabet Man]

Melbourne worships AFL Football 48 weeks of the year. For one week in November we turn into a horse racing city and one week in December we turn into a cricket city. And one week in January to be a tennis city. Thats it. The rest is AFL. Actually an article in a newspaper about something football related in January will probably have greater interest than the tennis.

[The_Admiral]

Chicago is a very tough one, Obviously when one team is doing better than the others, they have the most support. So, in a scenario where every team is doing well, I'd say Basketball is probably number one. Hype from the Jordan era is still prevalent, and the current success of the Bulls has revamped it. EVERYONE is talking about the Bulls. The Blackhawks, Cubs, and Sox all dont have enough sustained success to pass the Bulls. But, whenever the Cubs win the World Series, baseball will be the number one sport in Chicago for 20 years.That day looks far away though. The Bears get a lot of regional support, and probably the most viewers and commentary, but not as many casual fans like the Bulls have. I guess basketball is just the easiest sport to bandwagon in Chicago, and I feel it gets the most support. Any other Chicagoans care to chime in?

Between the Cubs and the Sox, the most expertise and passion is demonstrated for baseball. Everyone watches Bears games, but I wouldn't call the area a football stronghold or anything, given that the college teams don't matter, high school teams don't matter, and all people can say about the Bears is "we need to run the ball because we're a blue collar town" (these two things are unrelated, and no "we" aren't) and "I miss Walter Payton" (fair enough). Real "Football Towns" have better stadiums than 61,000-seat architectural disasters. Chicago is more a Jordan town than a Bulls town, and Bulls games are more light shows and circuses for the rich than the staging of basketball games. In that respect, Chicago is vastly inferior to New York, Los Angeles, and Boston.

Michael Jordan and the '85 Bears were larger than life and totally awesome, but the love afforded them to this day can't be confused with any sort of comprehensive knowledge or love for the teams and their sports beyond those two monoliths.

[CS85]

Chicago is a very tough one, Obviously when one team is doing better than the others, they have the most support. So, in a scenario where every team is doing well, I'd say Basketball is probably number one. Hype from the Jordan era is still prevalent, and the current success of the Bulls has revamped it. EVERYONE is talking about the Bulls. The Blackhawks, Cubs, and Sox all dont have enough sustained success to pass the Bulls. But, whenever the Cubs win the World Series, baseball will be the number one sport in Chicago for 20 years.That day looks far away though. The Bears get a lot of regional support, and probably the most viewers and commentary, but not as many casual fans like the Bulls have. I guess basketball is just the easiest sport to bandwagon in Chicago, and I feel it gets the most support. Any other Chicagoans care to chime in?

To me there's nothing bigger in this town than the Bears. When the Bears are rolling, it's everywhere. The Bulls are easily second, but like you said there's no patience with the bulls. Six titles from Jordan spoiled everyone and fans only invest if the team is for real.

The Cubs are the other huge bandwagon draw. A lot of people around here like the Cubs but they don't go out of their way to broadcast it, but I live on the southside so I guess nobody WOULD want to broadcast cub love. However if the Cubs go deep into the playoffs the city goes absolutely ape-sh**.

The Sox and Blackhawks are hard to say because Sox fans are almost always blackhawks fans, and they both wear their fan gear year-wide, whereas cubs fans usually are only rocking the swag when it's not going to get them heckled.

I'd rank things like this:

1. Bears

2. Bulls

3. Cubs

4A. Blackhawks

4B. White Sox

5. Wolves

6. Fire

@ admiral, you're right about a couple things, the 85 Bears/Jordan Bulls really hurt the image of Chicago sports fans, but you can't say they accurately portray the whole. The 85 Bears were arguably the best team ever assembled, and the 90's Bulls changed the NBA forever. The curse of their success was the creation of a lot of fans who would otherwise have never taken interest in either team, much less area sports. These meatballs became overnight 'experts' and decide to broadcast their infinite wisdom to all local sports talk radio stations. Tag that along with Bill Swerski's superfans and nationwide the image of Chicago sports fans are bloated beer swilling pigs who are simple-minded and irrational buffoons. I can neither defend nor deny that there are a lot of people like that around here but I will declare that they are not the majority based on my experiences.

With that, I'm going to eat some polish sausage and bleed myself in front of my ditka shrine.

[Kevin W.]

5. Wolves

6. Fire

Ouch, it's that bad?

[CS85]

5. Wolves

6. Fire

Ouch, it's that bad?

For the fire, I'd say so. The fire have a good fanbase, don't get me wrong, but the Wolves fan base I feel gained a ton of ground when the blackhawks were mired in obscurity in the mid-late 90's. The fire is gaining though, but I don't feel that soccer could ever have real success in Chicago in terms of anything more than a passing glance from anyone not a die-hard. I'd like to be wrong on that, however.

[Kevin W.]

5. Wolves

6. Fire

Ouch, it's that bad?

For the fire, I'd say so. The fire have a good fanbase, don't get me wrong, but the Wolves fan base I feel gained a ton of ground when the blackhawks were mired in obscurity in the mid-late 90's. The fire is gaining though, but I don't feel that soccer could ever have real success in Chicago in terms of anything more than a passing glance from anyone not a die-hard. I'd like to be wrong on that, however.

It probably has something to do with the Fire not actually being located in the city, unlike the Sox, Cubs, Bears and Bulls. I mean, Bridgeview isn't that far away (and I loved Toyota Park when I went to a game in 2006) but still.

[CS85]

5. Wolves

6. Fire

Ouch, it's that bad?

For the fire, I'd say so. The fire have a good fanbase, don't get me wrong, but the Wolves fan base I feel gained a ton of ground when the blackhawks were mired in obscurity in the mid-late 90's. The fire is gaining though, but I don't feel that soccer could ever have real success in Chicago in terms of anything more than a passing glance from anyone not a die-hard. I'd like to be wrong on that, however.

It probably has something to do with the Fire not actually being located in the city, unlike the Sox, Cubs, Bears and Bulls. I mean, Bridgeview isn't that far away (and I loved Toyota Park when I went to a game in 2006) but still.

Toyota Park is amazing, but the issue of soccer succeeding in Chicago is equivalent to the argument of soccer succeeding in America, period. While I personally don't go nuts for soccer, I love supporting smaller area sports organizations, and I hope those people near Toyota Park support the soccer community and keep the arena full.

[TFoA]

I live in Marietta, GA...which is a suburb of Atlanta. Obviously the Atlanta Braves and college football are of almost all of the importance. I would take a wild guess and say about 40% of people are UGA fans, 25% are Georgia Tech fans, and other percentage consists of Bama, Auburn, Tennessee, and Clemson fans. Florida and South Carolina fans are more rare.

Also, just about everyone who likes football are Falcons fans. The fan base for the Falcons seems to go up when they are winning, obviously. The Hawks fan base is probably most people between the ages of 15-30, and I'm not making that up. It's rare to find a middle aged person here that gives a rats ass about basketball. And hockey is an afterthought. The only Thrashers fan I've ever known was a Canadian kid in my screenwriting class at school.

Agreed 100%. The Falcons fanbase has gone up like crazy since they finally strung together winning streaks. Before that, even with Vick in town there was both a sizeable amount of transplants who stayed loyal to the local team & local fans who just got fed up with the Falcons & didn't even come back to the team with Vick.

Here's Atlanta's sports interests:

1. UGA football (1a. SEC football)

2. Atlanta Falcons

3. Atlanta Braves

4. Georgia Tech football

5. Atlanta Hawks

6. Local college basketball

7. High school football

8. Atlanta Thrashers

9. Local college baseball

10. High school basketball

11. Lower-tier professional sports

12. Women's sports

That's pretty much it. Then, due to the recent success of the Falcons, the Falcons/Saints game @ the Dome last year was basically the only thing ANYBODY in town was talking about, & I think that was around the time the Hawks were getting into full swing & UGA was in some 3rd tier bowl game. I guess to sum it all up, I was reading an article on AJC the other day about the Hawks. The first reader comment was "KEEP ROGER MCDOWELL; FIRE MARK RICHT." So yeah, UGA football & the Braves run this town whenever the Falcons aren't playing (or suck).

[B-Rich]

New Orleans, without a doubt, is a football town.

The Saints are without question the metro area's number one team. Their support cuts across all socioeconomic strata, races, age groups, etc. Everybody is a Saints fan. While this is to be expecting as the Saints are the longest-tenured of the pro franchises in the city, what's interesting is how much this has been elevated even further since (1) hurricane Katrina, and, actually to a lesser degree, (2) the Super Bowl Championship. During the nineties and 2000s prior to Katrina, while the Saints often sold out their home games and rarely had blackouts, this was on a on a game-by-game basis and the franchise never had a full season ticket contingent and waiting list for season tickets, a la Denver, Green Bay or Washington. It was only after Katrina, when they spent the regular season playing away from New Orleans and there was uncertainty of the team ever returning, that locals stepped up and bought out the entire Superdome on a season -ticket basis, and created a waiting list. Having finally won a Super Bowl in 2010 after 44 years of frustration, that situation that will probably never change. The new lease and major Superdome renovations have the team locked in here for about the next twenty years.... the Saints are an institution.

Second in fan support is LSU football. I have seen a steady rise in local LSU fandom over my lifetime, concurrent with a rise in the % of people going to college, the growth of suburbia, and the construction of I-10, which puts LSU about an hour from suburban New Orleans. Most families in the area have either someone who went to LSU or a kid at LSU. The program has a lot of tradition, and their recent success hasn't hurt, either... An interesting point must be made about their support, however-- it does cut across racial lines. LSU appears to be not as well supported in the black community as they are in the white community, especially in comparison with support for the Saints. I think there are two main reasons for this:

1) From the beginning, the Saints were an integrated organization, with African-American players on the field, and desegregated seating in the stands. In 1967, when the Saints played their first game, LSU had not even had their first African-American player on the field, and would not until the early 70s. The college itself only had a "group" (more than one as a test case) of African-American students enrolled since 1964, when 6 black student enrolled for the fall semester of that year. As such, African-American New Orleanians developed an immediate embrace of the Saints as "their team" and have grown an undying, unquestioned loyalty to them.

2) Louisiana has and still has two HBCU football programs-- Southern University in Baton Rouge, and Grambling State. These colleges are still greatly supported, and annually hold their game together in New Orleans-- the Bayou Classic. I think a lot of college football following in the African-American community is more geared towards those teams.

This is not to say that the situation is static, by any means. More and more local African Americans are attending LSU, rooting for LSU, etc. But like anything else, this is taking some time.

Stepping out from order of support, for contrast sake we must now go to near the bottom of the order-- Tulane. And by that, I'm talking all Tulane sports. If African-American support for LSU is noticeably lower that that of whites, it is almost non-existent for Tulane. While Tulane plays in New Orleans, the percentage of New Orleanians who went to Tulane, have kids that go to Tulane, etc. has been steadily declining for years. As a private institution, they just aren't seen as "the city's college team". This was not always the case. The school's decision in the sixties to de-emphasize athletics and to leave the SEC has put a definite damper on their success. They have moved from being a "southern" regional school to a more nationally oriented one, with a higher echelon of students. This may do well for their general coffers, but in terms of athletics they are barely on the radar. Interestingly enough, Tulane baseball is probably followed as much as , if not moreso, than Tulane football. And Tulane basketball fandom has not been there since the scandal of the Hot Rod Williams point shaving scandal of the 1980s and the termination of the program for several years.

Back in order, in New Orleans metro area, after the Saints and LSU football comes the New Orleans Hornets. No matter how hard they try, they will never rise above this position, but it's a good slot to be in. Contrary to what a lot of people post and re-hash what you hear from talking head pundits, the Hornets are adequately supported and locals have grown fond of them. This is especially true given their rocky and somewhat tenuous history while in the city-- three different head coaches in the 1st three years, no "local" aspect of marketing or branding (TV announcers still verbally misstep and call them the "Charlotte Hornets"),then a move away for two years and an uncertainty as to whether the owner wanted to come back or if the team would be back, one REALLY successful year upon their return, ownership going from a owner/minority partner to sole owner to owner/minority partner and then owner selling the team to the league, and a stupid lease that ties in the team staying to an average attendance base? I'm surprised they have any appreciable following after that. This is not Oklahoma City, happy to prove themselves as a "big league town", this is New Orleans. I am optimistic that once the NBA gets their collective bargaining agreement straightened out, the former minority partner (and local) Gary Schouest will in fact buy the team (he was negotiating to buy the team from George Shinn but balked at paying the price Shinn desired AND assuming the ridiculous debt Shinn had also built up), work out a better long-term lease, and solidify the team's position.

Others are barely worth mentioning. The AFL Voodoo were pretty popular back when they were under Saints ownership, but since re-entering the league under a different owner this year after some hoopla have fallen from local interest as fast as anything I've ever seen. UNO sports-- baseball and basketball, mainly-- can't draw flies, actually seem to have less interest than Tulane Athletics, and are in the process of moving down from Division I sports. LSU baseball is pretty well followed, being the LSU brand AND having won multiple College World Series over the last 20 years. The AAA Baseball Zephyrs are a summertime diversion. The soccer team, the Jesters, are a less-popular summertime diversion.

Thus, the basic rank:

1. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

2. LSU Football

3. New Orleans Hornets

4. LSU baseball

5. Tulane baseball

6. New Orleans Zephyrs AAA baseball

7. Tulane Football

8. Other LSU sports (basketball-men's & women's, etc.)

9. New Orleans Voodoo AFL football(and falling rapidly)

10. Other Tulane sports (basketball-men's & women's, etc.)

11. Any University of New Orleans sports

12. New Orleans Jesters Soccer

[Gary]

Here in Phoenix it's pretty much a football town.

1. Cardinals

2. Suns

3. Diamondbacks

4. Arizona State Football

5. Arizona High School Football

6. Arizona State Baseball

7. Arizona Rattlers

8. Arizona State Basketball

9. Coyotes

10. Arizona Basketball

11. Phoenix Mercury

[charger77]

Here in Phoenix it's pretty much a football town.

1. Cardinals

2. Suns

3. Diamondbacks

4. Arizona State Football

5. Arizona High School Football

6. Arizona State Baseball

7. Arizona Rattlers

8. Arizona State Basketball

9. Coyotes

10. Arizona Basketball

11. Phoenix Mercury

Coyotes beat something?

[DustDevil61]

Utah loves alot of different sports, as teams on all levels are usually supported very well. If I had to pick only one sport, however, I think it'd be basketball. You don't truly realize how much Salt Lake City (and Utah in general) loves and supports the Jazz until you actually see it for yourself. It's really incredible, everywhere you go - not just in SLC, but statewide - are Jazz shirts, hats, flags, banners, you name it. I hate to sound cliche or cheesy, but the Jazz are a part of life here in Utah. Everyone watches on gameday, and they're a part or every discussion the next morning. Then, repeat. Like summer barbecues, rodeos, and country music, the Jazz are a Utah staple

The love for basketball carries over into college, too. The recent Jimmermania, as well as USU's consistency and Utah's NTG appearance in 1998 have all but contributed over recent years. Weber State has usually fielded decent teams as well, so the Ogden area supports them well, too.

EDIT: From my observation, I'd say a full-on list goes like this:

1. Jazz

2. Utah/BYU Football (depends on region)

3. Utah/USU/BYU Basketball (see above)

4. Real Salt Lake

5. Salt Lake Bees/Orem Owlz baseball (again, see 2 and 3)

6. Grizzlies hockey

7. Weber State sports

8. Ogden Raptors baseball

....192. Utah State football

I didn't count high school sports, because it varies SO much throughout not just the SLC and Provo areas, but statewide. They're all supported pretty well in general, but it all just depends in where you go as to which sports are supported, and how much.

Yea, I can't disagree with the first 4 there. You have a better idea of the Wasatch Front than I would. You know a team has a statewide following when you stop in Beaver, Utah for about 10 minutes and manage to hear about an upcoming Jazz/Lakers game that night (happened a couple of years ago).

You beat me to it!

[YessSir32]

Now that we're making lists Detroit's would be (as of now)

1. Detroit Lions

2. Detroit Tigers

3. Detroit Red Wings

4. Michigan Football

5. Michigan State Football

6(t). Mich/MSU Basketball

8. Detroit Pistons (fallen last 3 years)

9. Cent. Mich/West Mich./East. Mich. Football/

10. Oakland Grizzlies Basketball/ U of Detroit Basketball

11. College Hockey

12. Minor League Baseball (mostly Toledo Mud Hens)

13. High School Football

14. High School Basketball

[Mings]

New Orleans, without a doubt, is a football town.

The Saints are without question the metro area's number one team. Their support cuts across all socioeconomic strata, races, age groups, etc. Everybody is a Saints fan. While this is to be expecting as the Saints are the longest-tenured of the pro franchises in the city, what's interesting is how much this has been elevated even further since (1) hurricane Katrina, and, actually to a lesser degree, (2) the Super Bowl Championship. During the nineties and 2000s prior to Katrina, while the Saints often sold out their home games and rarely had blackouts, this was on a on a game-by-game basis and the franchise never had a full season ticket contingent and waiting list for season tickets, a la Denver, Green Bay or Washington. It was only after Katrina, when they spent the regular season playing away from New Orleans and there was uncertainty of the team ever returning, that locals stepped up and bought out the entire Superdome on a season -ticket basis, and created a waiting list. Having finally won a Super Bowl in 2010 after 44 years of frustration, that situation that will probably never change. The new lease and major Superdome renovations have the team locked in here for about the next twenty years.... the Saints are an institution.

Second in fan support is LSU football. I have seen a steady rise in local LSU fandom over my lifetime, concurrent with a rise in the % of people going to college, the growth of suburbia, and the construction of I-10, which puts LSU about an hour from suburban New Orleans. Most families in the area have either someone who went to LSU or a kid at LSU. The program has a lot of tradition, and their recent success hasn't hurt, either... An interesting point must be made about their support, however-- it does cut across racial lines. LSU appears to be not as well supported in the black community as they are in the white community, especially in comparison with support for the Saints. I think there are two main reasons for this:

1) From the beginning, the Saints were an integrated organization, with African-American players on the field, and desegregated seating in the stands. In 1967, when the Saints played their first game, LSU had not even had their first African-American player on the field, and would not until the early 70s. The college itself only had a "group" (more than one as a test case) of African-American students enrolled since 1964, when 6 black student enrolled for the fall semester of that year. As such, African-American New Orleanians developed an immediate embrace of the Saints as "their team" and have grown an undying, unquestioned loyalty to them.

2) Louisiana has and still has two HBCU football programs-- Southern University in Baton Rouge, and Grambling State. These colleges are still greatly supported, and annually hold their game together in New Orleans-- the Bayou Classic. I think a lot of college football following in the African-American community is more geared towards those teams.

This is not to say that the situation is static, by any means. More and more local African Americans are attending LSU, rooting for LSU, etc. But like anything else, this is taking some time.

Stepping out from order of support, for contrast sake we must now go to near the bottom of the order-- Tulane. And by that, I'm talking all Tulane sports. If African-American support for LSU is noticeably lower that that of whites, it is almost non-existent for Tulane. While Tulane plays in New Orleans, the percentage of New Orleanians who went to Tulane, have kids that go to Tulane, etc. has been steadily declining for years. As a private institution, they just aren't seen as "the city's college team". This was not always the case. The school's decision in the sixties to de-emphasize athletics and to leave the SEC has put a definite damper on their success. They have moved from being a "southern" regional school to a more nationally oriented one, with a higher echelon of students. This may do well for their general coffers, but in terms of athletics they are barely on the radar. Interestingly enough, Tulane baseball is probably followed as much as , if not moreso, than Tulane football. And Tulane basketball fandom has not been there since the scandal of the Hot Rod Williams point shaving scandal of the 1980s and the termination of the program for several years.

Back in order, in New Orleans metro area, after the Saints and LSU football comes the New Orleans Hornets. No matter how hard they try, they will never rise above this position, but it's a good slot to be in. Contrary to what a lot of people post and re-hash what you hear from talking head pundits, the Hornets are adequately supported and locals have grown fond of them. This is especially true given their rocky and somewhat tenuous history while in the city-- three different head coaches in the 1st three years, no "local" aspect of marketing or branding (TV announcers still verbally misstep and call them the "Charlotte Hornets"),then a move away for two years and an uncertainty as to whether the owner wanted to come back or if the team would be back, one REALLY successful year upon their return, ownership going from a owner/minority partner to sole owner to owner/minority partner and then owner selling the team to the league, and a stupid lease that ties in the team staying to an average attendance base? I'm surprised they have any appreciable following after that. This is not Oklahoma City, happy to prove themselves as a "big league town", this is New Orleans. I am optimistic that once the NBA gets their collective bargaining agreement straightened out, the former minority partner (and local) Gary Schouest will in fact buy the team (he was negotiating to buy the team from George Shinn but balked at paying the price Shinn desired AND assuming the ridiculous debt Shinn had also built up), work out a better long-term lease, and solidify the team's position.

Others are barely worth mentioning. The AFL Voodoo were pretty popular back when they were under Saints ownership, but since re-entering the league under a different owner this year after some hoopla have fallen from local interest as fast as anything I've ever seen. UNO sports-- baseball and basketball, mainly-- can't draw flies, actually seem to have less interest than Tulane Athletics, and are in the process of moving down from Division I sports. LSU baseball is pretty well followed, being the LSU brand AND having won multiple College World Series over the last 20 years. The AAA Baseball Zephyrs are a summertime diversion. The soccer team, the Jesters, are a less-popular summertime diversion.

Thus, the basic rank:

1. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

2. LSU Football

3. New Orleans Hornets

4. LSU baseball

5. Tulane baseball

6. New Orleans Zephyrs AAA baseball

7. Tulane Football

8. Other LSU sports (basketball-men's & women's, etc.)

9. New Orleans Voodoo AFL football(and falling rapidly)

10. Other Tulane sports (basketball-men's & women's, etc.)

11. Any University of New Orleans sports

12. New Orleans Jesters Soccer

Yeah this is pretty much right. It is definitely a football town. I really think Tulane needs to build a stadium of its own for football (unless Tad Gormley or Pan-Am hold 15,000) because the Superdome with only 15,000 fans in it is a very lonely place.