Football town, baseball town, etc.

So I got into a discussion yesterday with someone about whether or not a city is always a baseball town, football town, etc.

I brought up Philadelphia and how it has slowly morphed into a baseball town ever since the Phillies began to play well and they had more likable guys on their squad than that of the Eagles. He said Philadelphia would vary on what team has the most-recent success and saying that if the Eagles won the Super Bowl, it would be a football town and baseball would go by the wayside.

What are your thoughts? Can a town with a few major sports teams switch in between the type of "town" they are or will it be steadfast into what it is?

 

Going by what I know from Washington, D.C., we will always be a Redskins town. Even with success by the Capitals of late, we're not a hockey town. It would take years of sustained success to become a baseball town.

However, Washington has lived or died by the fortunes of the Redskins for so long that there's no changing that.

 

New York & St. Louis are baseball towns.

I think you could call Boston a baseball town, though all of the sports have big followings.

Having lived in Houston & Tampa/St. Pete, I don't think you could call any city in either Texas or Florida baseball towns. They are all football towns.

 

The fact that the crowd chanted "Yankees Suck" after the Patriots won their first Super Bowl makes me think Boston is indeed a baseball town.

The SF Bay Area is a Giants town: The niners were big, but the Giants are partly owned by the biggest sports talk station in the region and whether the team is good or bad, they always dominate coverage.

Dallas: football town
Denver: football town
Phoenix: basketball town
Chicago: football town (Yes the Cubs are beloved, but mostly by people who don't live in Chicago anymore).
Atlanta: College football town
L.A.: basketball town

 

Detroit's a hockeytown, but if the Lions ever got their act together for anything more than two straight weekends, it would convert.

 

Toronto is definitely a hockey town these days, or probably more accurately a Maple Leafs town. Plenty of great hockey in the Toronto area goes unnoticed in favour of the Leafs.

But as a kid in the early 1970s I remember when the Toronto Argonauts were as big or bigger than the Leafs and of course the Blue Jays ran the show here for several years beginning in the late 80s through their World Series wins.

But I doubt the Leafs will give up their throne any time soon unless the Jays become serious World Series contenders or an NFL team moves into town. I don't see either of those things happening anytime soon.

 

Do yourself a favor - Check out the Sports Illustrated "Wish I Was There" issue from 1999 - there was a story recreating what it must have been like when the Redskins played at home on Dec. 7, 1941 as the PA announcer paged general after general and senator after senator over the loudspeaker throughout the game.
Big shock - it was written by Scott Price.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1017830/index.htm

 

Win or (way more often) lose, Cleveland's a football town.

 

Except when you move the team to Baltimore. Although I'd say much of that loyalty attached to Ohio State, which ironically became a national power again just as the Browns left. And you always have the high school football mania.

 

Are you drunk?

 

Boston is a baseball town. Coverage for the other sports, although strong, doesn't match the following for the Red Sox.

 

Pittsburgh

Pro Football
Hockey
NCAA College Football
High School Football
NAIA Football
DII Football
Pro Basketball
Baseball

Just kidding on the baseball. I am "in country" this weekend and there is an undercurrent of baseball fans here that are itching to rise up again to overtake hockey, but they may have to wait a long time for a competitive team. Like decades.