don't know if this has been posted, looked and did not see it. number four seems a little high to me. http://msn.foxsports.com/story/2631604 The Top 25 1. Boston 2. Oakland-San Francisco-San Jose 3. New York-Long Island-New Jersey 4. Houston 5. Los Angeles-Anaheim 6. Miami-Fort Lauderdale 7. Detroit 8. Dallas-Fort Worth 9. Philadelphia 10. Minneapolis-St. Paul 11. Chicago 12. Denver 13. Atlanta 14. Tampa-St. Petersburg 15. Seattle 16. Indianapolis 17. Baltimore-Washington 18. St. Louis 19. Nashville 20. Phoenix 21. Charlotte 22. New Orleans 23. Salt Lake City 24. Pittsburgh 25. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.
Los Angeles and Houston are both high on that list. I would definitely put St. Louis and Chicago ahead of us. Maybe Philly too. Not sure though. The argument can be made that with the exception of 3 or 4 cities, most of them can be considered "fair weather", when factoring in their support for all of their teams.
1. I hate these polls. I hate the whole, "good sports town, bad sports town" analysis. it's almost like the sports owners get this going to encourage more bucks in their pocket. 2. having said that...there are factors that would discredit any town from this list...except maybe Boston. Boston has a college sports mentality about its pro sports team. I've never seen anything else like it. I saw it at Fenway...and I saw it at Reliant Stadium when Pats fans travelled. They had the largest, most vocal representation of any visiting team I've ever seen here. 3. I don't know if this includes venues...but geez, who has us beat there? reliant stadium...minute maid park...and toyota center. yeah...those are fantastic.
really? not in my experience. i've never seen a deader crowd than I saw at Wrigley. never. truly! my friend from colorado walked out and said, "man..i'd rather see a game with a crowd at Minute Maid than see another game here."
I read the article at the gym this morning. The ass-kissing of Boston was disgusting. But I was surprised that Houston was as high as #4.
Houston at #4? There is enthusiasm for the Texans; T-Mac and Yao will draw crowds; and who doesn't like going to Minute Maid Park to see a game? But in the past, when I have gone to watch the Rox play, the crowds have not exactly been (literally) jumping-up-and-down-student-sections-at-Duke-games. Sometimes I felt like I was in Grant Wood's "American Gothic" painting.
but you know what? for the most part that's exactly how it is in every NBA city in the country. particularly the ones that don't make the playoffs for many years in a row. it's a corporate game...the direction the league went years ago.
With the exception of Sacramento. Even in their dark days, they sold out most nights. Of course, the Kings are the only game in town too.
certainly there are exceptions in every sport. particularly in towns where there is only one pro sports team.
There is a ton of subjectivity in the ranking system. NFL teams, regardless of the city, probably come close to selling out every game, regardless of the team's win%. I would base it more on baseball and basketball support. Chicago Bulls, 6-7 years after Jordan left, are still at the top of the league in attendance and come close to selling out every game. That fact that the Cubs were coming close to selling out every home game, even when they stunk, tells me that overall, Chicago should be at the top of that list.
yeah...i get that. i just don't think there is the fervor for Cubs baseball that people outside of Chicago think there is. it's a yuppie event in a very trendy part of town. i found the crowd to be extremely disengaged. when i contrast that experience with fenway, it's amazing. baseball is like college football to those people. every game! just amazing.
Hey, those Sand Gnats are something though. Okay, maybe not this year. The last Minor League game I went to was the Rickwood Classic in Birmingham where the Barons play one game a year in the oldest [remaining] ballpark in the country. It's a neat experience. Btw, I'm headed down to Savannah this weekend. Looks like it'll be just another quick visit with the grandmother; all I can think of doing is heading down to River Street or something. We would check out Tybee, but I'm off to Miami next week anyway. Anything else worth checking out or doing this weekend?
I hate to break it to ya'll, but the yearly ratings are affected by sporting events (I read the article). Without either the Super Bowl or the All Star Game to help out, Houston would be lower in the ratings.
Since you still have "how's my spelling" on your sig, I'm going to bust you. It is y'all, as in you all. Not ya'll.
