Football town, baseball town, etc.

Agree with you on hockey. TO is a Leafs town. The fact that junior hockey doesn't draw flies in the area is proof of that. To make it worse, you get some so-called hockey fans who don't understand the difference between major junior hockey and the AHL. Or people who stop watching the NHL after the regular season because the Leafs aren't in the playoffs

Best part of junior hockey is you get to see guys like Matt Duchene, Cody Hodgson, Wojtek Wolski start as 16 year olds and then see them drafted in the first round.

Before the Jays came to town, it was toss-up between the Leafs and the Argos. But, in typical Toronto fashion we downplay the CFL and think we'll only become a "world-class" city if we get an NFL team. And the friggin' Bills.

Biggest growing sport at the youth level in TO is box lacrosse.

 

Milwaukee: baseball
Twin Cities: hockey
Cincinnati: baseball or college basketball
Indianapolis: basketball
Cleveland: football, baseball during the late 90s

 

Pittsburgh is a football town. Nothing else comes close there. Not just the Steelers. High school football is big there, too.

The hockey fans in general have always struck me as being of the fair weather variety. They come around when the team is good, fade when it is not. Hockey just doesn't have the history there that baseball does.

That said, the last time both the Penguins and Pirates were good, the Pirates' attendance still sucked.

 

To a point. Rest of Wisconsin? Football ... big time.

 

Sorry, YankeeFan, NY is not a baseball town, it's a sports town.

Having lived and worked my entire life in the NY market, I can tell you it is, in order, a Giants town, a Yankees town, a Knicks town and a Rangers town. Jets and Mets are next,

Devils and Nets are considered New Jersey teams and therefore the lesser franchises in the area.

 

Maybe a couple years ago when the Giants were in the Super Bowl. Now? Ehhh...

There are some cities that are very popular with different sports. The Dallas-FW area is Cowboys territory, but the Rangers are making serious inroads. College football and high school football are huge, and college/HS sports in general are also big.

Pittsburgh's another sports-crazy city. Philadelphia too. Lots of colleges. I'd say with Philly having Villanova and Temple and other big universities, college hoops could rule there.

 

Hmm. While I basically agree that New York & Boston are "sports towns", I'd still put baseball over football in New York.

Even, If the Giants were to come ahead of the Yankees -- which I think is debatable - the Yankees plus the Mets are bigger than the Giants.

Youth & high school football are not very big in the area (NJ has good HS Football), and is nonexistent in the city, except for on Staten Island.

Baseball is big in the Hispanic/Latin community.

Considering how big basketball is in both the Jewish & African-American communities, I could even argue for it over football.

 

The 162 game schedule is a blessing & a curse.

When a baseball team catches a wave, any town can turn into a baseball town for a time.

In a lot of ways, even though the Yankees dominate the back pages, New York is still a National League City. There was no better place to be in '84, '85, & '86 than Flushing, Queens.

Cleveland, Baltimore & Toronto were all baseball crazy for a few years in recent memory, but have fallen back to their normal state.

But there's nothing better than a full baseball stadium night after night in a summer into fall pennant race. Throw in a couple of young exciting players or a true superstar, and any town can become a baseball town -- for a while at least.

 

Agree that Chicago is a football town, in this order:

1. Chicago Bears
2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
3. Whatever Big 10 team is doing best in the standings. There's tons of alums from every league school living there.

 

I've cited that story on here before as one of my faves.

And I'd say New York is a sports town, but I'd put the Yankees above the Giants, then the Knicks and Rangers, followed by Mets and Jets.

 

I would consider NYC to be a baseball town, even though all the teams get pretty good support.

Atlanta is a college football town. I don't think the ATL supports any of the pro teams well enough to be called anything but that.

St. Louis and Boston are baseball towns. Chicago changes a bit if the Bears, Bulls or Blackhawks are doing well, but overall, it's Cubs No. 1. Is Minnesota a baseball town? I don't know. Kansas City used to be a baseball town.

I would say Detroit is the only US city that is hockey first, unless you count the markets where that's all they have. Los Angeles is the only city where it's a NBA town over other sports. The only other NBA towns are cities where there's nothing else.

 

Dallas is a Cowboys city, first, third and fourth. Second (if at all) is whoever in which other sport is winning big (Rangers now, Mavs in 2006, Stars in 1999-2000).

Those teams may take over the front page for a short while, but as soon as those seasons are over, it's right back to knee-jerking over the starheads.