Comments on: Which sport reigns supreme in each major league city?

By: thepunkyqb

thepunkyqb — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:04:24 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more Johnnynewguy…shorttracknews clearly is a stat geek and has never been to the great city of Chicago. The city of chicago is split 50/50 down the middle Sox, Cubs.
You either bleed black and white or are being associated with preppy, stuck up, north suburb, high class, frat boy-like actions. The only reason the Hawks are popular now is because Bill Wirtz passed on and his son started showing all the Home games locally(something that hadn’t been done by his father), and then soon thereafter they won the Stanley.
For as much of a Sox fan as I am, I completely agree with you Johnny…Cubs fans are like a cancer in that city, they are EVERYWHERE. I will give them that, they have always had the most loyal(albeit blindly)and deepest fanbase in Illinois. Hands down.
They play in an absolute shithole of a stadium, of which Mayor Richard Daley used to Annualy threaten to tear down(he is a Sox fan), there is no parkin lot(you park on the streets in the area)and it is just absolutely laden with bar after bar…yet they are always there, in full force. Even if a large percentage of their fans don’t know an absolute thing about baseball(just like Yankee fans), they are still there…cheering for ‘their’ team. The ever horrible, ever lovable Cubbies.

By: johnnynewguy

johnnynewguy — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:07:05 +0000

The amount of success doesn’t mean one is more popular then the other.

By: johnnynewguy

johnnynewguy — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:01:42 +0000

I forgot this in my previous response but; if you are correct and I am wrong why do you have more thumbs down then up? Not to say that that validates or invalidates your post but it sure doesn’t help your argument.

By: johnnynewguy

johnnynewguy — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:59:52 +0000

If based, on your premise which is, “Which team, if the city could pick one, would be kept.” It would totally be the Cubs specifically and the sport of baseball in general. I hate the Cubs but it would still totally be them. More to the point, putting the Blackhawks and Bulls ahead of the Cubs is batspit crazy talk and delegitimizes your point. Even if you are correct that the Bears are the hottest ticket in town (which I don’t think they are) the Cubs would for sure be 2nd.

Also, you can’t really compare the White Sox attendance to that of other MLB teams. You should be trying to compare the sheer numbers of people walking through the gates to those of the other four major sports teams in Chicago. Then probably take those numbers and make it on a per capita basis of say 1,000 people to get a much more accurate representation of the popularity of the White Sox to other teams in the city. But comparing the White Sox to other MLB teams does nothing to answer the question that Craig posed with his article nor does it help advance your point or proving that my points are flawed or factually inaccurate.

So you looked at the attendance records of the Blackhawks during the year they won the Stanley Cup (and were coming of a Western Conference Finals appearance) and every year since? Of course it is going to be high. I could have told you that without looking at the numbers at all. And again, you are comparing the Blackhawks to other NHL teams not to other Chicago sports teams.

You compared the attendance of the Bulls to other NBA teams. See the above two comments cause I feel like I’ve beaten that horse enough times.

Every single away game the home team felt like they were on the road? I think the teams and fans of the Packers, Niners, Vikings, and Lions would strongly disagree with you. Also, remember that the even when you include expanded seating and standing room seats Soldier Field is the smallest in the NFL. Could it be that Bears fans have an easier time getting tickets to away games then home games? Probably. I’ll repost most of my previous points below so you can see them all together. These are questions and happenings of Chicago baseball teams and of no other Chicago sports.

Again, How many other teams have statues of broadcasters in Chicago? (Other than the Cubs)
Why is an entire neighborhood named after a team’s stadium that hasn’t won anything in 105 years?
Why does a mayor set off the air raid sirens when a baseball team makes it to the world series; not winning just making it there?
If everyone loved football so much then they would have had their own stadium before the 1970′s? Why are certain Cubs fans (Ronnie Woo Woo) more known in the city then current Bulls or Blackhawks players?

The Red line actually has a stop not called 35th st. Its called SOX/35th st. The entire city blamed one fan (when it wasn’t his fault) on why a team doesn’t make it to its first world series since 1945. The Cubs could sell 3 million tickets and they could be dog crap. Chicago is all baseball all the time. This is why as soon as Jordan left the Bulls stopped selling out. Why it took the Blackhawks winning a Stanley Cup to get interest again. Why the Bears played at Wrigley Field till the early 1970′s. And why Harry Carry is more beloved by the city then Bobby Hull or Stan Mikta.

By: billyboots

billyboots — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 18:54:42 +0000

Maybe he’s right about the Cities, but not the southern half of the state. Around Rochester, it’s almost a 50-50 split between the Vikings and Packers and it leans even more towards the Pack as you go further east. SE MN is more about the Twins than Vikings.

As far as youth sports go, hockey is looked at as a rich kid sport down here. It’s all about high school football with wrestling/basketball fighting for second. Hockey isn’t even a high school sport for 2/3 of the schools in Section 1 & 2.

By: captainwisdom88

captainwisdom88 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 10:48:04 +0000

hahaha with a name like bdawk20 you should be ashamed. whats the question at hand? most popular philly sports team or status of 2012 eagles?

yea

By: triman1

triman1 — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:25:51 +0000

EAGLES – forget the other sports, they are for front runners and niche fan bases. Gamedays are fiestas whether you’re at home, in a bar or at The Linc. It has been that way for many, many years. I know, this will be my 52d year going to the games. If you don’t believe me, listen to a sports talk radio station for 10 minutes any day of the year and you’ll hear Eagles’ talk no matter what’s going on with the other teams.

By: philswfc08

philswfc08 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:02:58 +0000

while i definitely agree it’s still and Iggles town, it’s definitely a lot closer than it has ever been in my 30 something years (since ohhh, i dunno, like 2008).

way back before i can remember, it might have even been a hoops town with the Big 5, the Doc and Mo (fo-fo-fo). now you can get Sixers tickets for a couple pennies.

By: brownsapologist

brownsapologist — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 07:45:33 +0000

As a sports fan that lives in Tampa I can safely say that it’s a Bucs town. They like their Rays but choose to follow them on tv. There is actually a pretty good fan base for the Lightning and it is the best ticket in town by far right now. 98% of the people around here don’t even know what a basketball looks like and even when the Magic were good a couple years ago did a good job at keeping their mouths shut because they knew they couldn’t fool anyone into believing they actually gave a s@#*.

By: asc14a

asc14a — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:41:40 +0000

Too many comments to read through all the Chicago opinions but i’m sure someone has made this point already. As an outsider living in Chicago it seems obvious that the Bears own this city. Just one example I remember is from 2-3 years ago when the White Sox were in a tight race with the Twins in August. The front page of the Tribune sports section had a huge picture of some random Bears player, while the game story from the Sox game the night before was relegated to a bottom corner. The Cubs were not very good so I don’t think they were even on the front page. I just remember pointing that out to my wife as further proof that Chicago is a Bears city.

As a native Detroiter (yes i grew up in the suburbs, but the hospital I was born in is in Detroit), I would agree that the Detroit area lived and died with the Wings while the Tigers were terrible. And I do think it is still more of a Wings town than anything else. However, I think the Tigers are on the verge of taking over the top spot that they occupied until their demise in the early 90′s. The Wings (at least for a lot of people) were just filling the void caused by terrible Tigers teams year after year.

By: phillyloveallday

phillyloveallday — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:51:23 +0000

It’s hard to compare the gameday experience between the NFL and NHL since in the NFL each team only has 8 home games. Plus it’s almost always on sundays when most people have off from work. Conversely, there are 41 home games in hockey falling on any day during the week. The NFL gameday experience is just more unique because there are only 8 home games each year and people cherish the experience. Personally I love the flyers game day experience especially during the playoffs. It has a festival type atmosphere and quite frankly nothing (in life) beats tailgating a flyers playoff game on a nice warm day in april or may.

By: mianfr

mianfr — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:24:30 +0000

Great insight, I appreciate hearing about that. I’ve never been to Minnesota, but I’ve always loved what I’ve heard about their passion for amateur hockey, so it’s good to hear that confirmed.

By: theluckytypist

theluckytypist — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:10:44 +0000

It’s always the Red Sox in Boston. The city bleeds red. The other three are mostly interchangeable. Right now, I’d say it’s…

1. Sawx
2. Bruins (Boston is a big hockey town too, arguably the biggest in the United States ((Detroit is the most likely rival)), but the Sox are just huge here)
3. Pats (Extremely popular, but a lot of EXTREMELY spoiled fair-weather fans who were rather displeased with the team making it all the way to the AFC freakin’ Championship game where they lost to the eventual Super Bowl winner)
4. Celtics (Inconsistent fan base in recent years, but they do maintain good ratings, a nationwide following, and they also have a great deal of tradition)

By: bmorelikeme

bmorelikeme — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:09:43 +0000

Grw up outside Bmore, now live just outside DC.

I’d say for Baltimore it’s currently.

1. Ravens: Been consistently good for the past 10 years
2. Orioles: Last season reignited the city’s love for the birds. I think with 1-2 more playoff seasons they could overtake the Ravens. Alot of hate for Angelos, but alot of love for the birds.
3. Maryland BB
4. Caps

Washington
1. Skin’s, easily, not even a question.
…
…
2. Nats/Caps, which ever team is doing better, DC is quick to jump on and off bandwagons, except in the case of the Redskins.
3. Gtown
4. Wizards

By: personalspaceinvader

personalspaceinvader — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:52:15 +0000

You’ll get no argument from me about Denver being Broncos Country. I just wish things were different. So many casual baseball fans that dont actually care how the Rockies do, they’ll just pile into the stadium because its a great activity in LoDo during the summer time.

By: bdawk20

bdawk20 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:19:22 +0000

I challenge your comment, only because a large majority of Eagles players napped during Eagles games last year.

By: bdawk20

bdawk20 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:19:13 +0000

I challenged your comment, only because a large majority of Eagles players napped during Eagles games last year.

By: Tyree Studio

Tyree Studio — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:40:02 +0000

KC is also a big college town (KU hoops, KSU football, Mizzu sports) and the soccer team Sporting KC gets a lot of “run” right now too.

I tend to think KC leans more to the MLB side, but that may just be my bias? I think without an NHL or NBA team KC could have enough “fan-energy” to be both an NFL and MLB town at the same time. Like you said though, it would just be nice to see either franchise actually field a winning team…

By: 1509lucky

1509lucky — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:17:07 +0000

Good,Bad,it doesn’t matter Philly is an EAGLES town.

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:32:14 +0000

THIS is THE MOST Mike-and-the-Mad-Dog-like post I have ever seen anyone do on HBT.

By: DelawarePhilliesFan

DelawarePhilliesFan — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:57:38 +0000

Tenfold?

By: nolanwiffle

nolanwiffle — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:19:50 +0000

As a native Washingtonian who has lived here all his life, I feel qualified to call you a nitwit.

It’s always been a football town.

By: stairwayto7

stairwayto7 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:03:56 +0000

Phoenix is a WNBA town!

By: voteforno6

voteforno6 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:30:57 +0000

If D.C. is more of a Phillies town, then why do I see so many more people wearing Nats gear? I’m not sure I would put Maryland basketball so high either. It seems to me that people care more about prep basketball here than they do college hoops. Also, with the run that the Nats made last year, along with the NHL lockout and the Caps’ subsequent struggles, I’d say that the Nats have moved past them.

By: dcfan4life

dcfan4life — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:13:51 +0000

Your top 5 is clearly defined by your perception since you actually live in Maryland. True Washingtonians dont care for Maryland basketball over the local team Georgetown. And the Nats were the worst team in baseball for years, and still filled the stadiums half up every game. They have been middle of the league in attendance nearly their entire stint in Washington. And last year they sold out plenty of games not including Philly games. Its simple when rating Washington. Redskins first and foremost now and forever by a mile, then it really is whos good and winning next. So right now, id go this as the top 5.

Redskins
Nats
Caps
Hoyas
Wizards

The Nats are higher than the Caps because they average a larger viewership per game right now but its close. The Wizards start winning again and they could be number 2, thats just how this city is.

By: xjokerz

xjokerz — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:27:33 +0000

Detroit-

Lions
Tigers
Wings
Pistons
Wolverines
Sparty

( to the guy who said wolverines are number 2… get real )

By: hockeyfan28

hockeyfan28 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:25:59 +0000

So the guy who made this original article and says the falcons are more popular then the braves actually is from the state of Georgia? Not likely there’s more Cowboy fans in Atlanta then Falcons fans but the Braves mean more to Atlanta then any other sport and it’s been that way since they made their 1991 run to the World Series

By: BigBeachBall

BigBeachBall — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:08:40 +0000

All the comments above this one are gay….

By: captainwisdom8888

captainwisdom8888 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:47:55 +0000

haha johnny ur a lil slow. Can the sport not be identified by the team?

congrats on missing the point of the question yourself…

By: captainwisdom8888

captainwisdom8888 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:44:37 +0000

I agree with mustbechris wholeheartedly. Eagles related news/media/chatter outweighs that of the Phillies tenfold

Thats the gods honest truth