OT: Meaningless fan poll declares Detroit best sports city
http://aol.sportingnews.com/125/story/2011-11-18/detroit-tops-chicago-i…
The Sporting News conducted a bracket-style poll that found Detroit to be the best sports city in North America (it beat out Chicago in the final and Montreal and New York in earlier rounds).
I'm biased, but I think it's fair. Detroit is one of few cities that has 4 major sports teams that are all pretty much equally relevant, and 3 of them play downtown. Also, the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry lives within metro Detroit, as people there move west on weekends to cheer for their teams. As a city, fandom is balanced but still fanatic and passionate about their teams.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:39 PM ^
If that's the conclusion, then I declare it to be not even remotely meaningless. I'm biased, but I think selling out Ford Field in a year when the Lions were 0-16 beats out all other arguments.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:52 PM ^
Very few markets don't sell out every game in the NFL. Until the recent resurgence, Detroit was one of only a handful that was having trouble doing it. It's not that impressive of an accomplishment.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^
Even fewer markets suck as transcendently and spectacularly as the Lions did in football for a full decade, following a decade in which they teased their followers with now-you-see-us-now-you-don't playoff embarrassments.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
Playoff embarrassments? Thanks for bringing that era up. When Detroit had the greatest running back of all-time and a playoff team in five of seven years (1991-97), they STILL couldn't sellout the Silverdome on a consistent basis. Granted it was a larger venue but it still kind of blows your sellout = great fans theory all to hell.
The Houston Texans haven't made the playoffs ONCE since joining the league. Sellout every game.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:17 PM ^
The Silverdome was the biggest stadium in the league at the time and do you have any idea how far away it is from everything?
November 18th, 2011 at 3:28 PM ^
Whatever fucking city you're from is the fucking best. There! Ya happy?
/s
November 18th, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
Yes, but very few NFL markets have gone so long without success as Detroit did in the Millen years. Give all but a few NFL teams that long to suck, and their fans will bail. I think it's a testament to Detroit fans that it literally took 7 years of hopelessness for the fans to stop buying tickets.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:54 PM ^
Detroit fans, generally speaking, are fairweather in all sports but football. Perhaps that is most cities but it's glaring here how dedicated the populace seems to be to NOT giving a crap about the Tigers, Pistons and Wings (or Michigan basketball, quite frankly) when they aren't contenders.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:26 PM ^
Very few cities have the interest to stick with more than one team/sport through lean times. He'll, I've even heard that the Red Sox had trouble filling up (a very small) Fenway before their recent surge.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^
that is because there are so many games in those other sports. I mean sitting through 80-160 games or so is pretty tough when the team is terrible.
November 18th, 2011 at 5:27 PM ^
Well in regards to the WIngs they have been pretty good to a contender for the past twenty years, so you have to reach pretty far back to say that people didn't care about the Wings. And if we are going back to the tough periods of the 70's and 80's, then I am sure you can find any team or city that doesn't watch their team consistently, especially when they are losing.
Also on the Red Wings, ff you watch the games it seems the Joe isn't always packed because the lower bowl isn't filled, but the upper bowl almost always is filled to capacity. Still lots of interest from people.
On the concept of fair weather fans, it has always been a topic that frustrates me. I always considered it someone who asserted they were diehard fans and clearly are not. Most fans don't make that assertion. As people tend to be busy and have other things to do, they cant always make it to every game or watch every game. This tends to get magnified by quality of your team: bad teams don't excite people to spend their limited time. I also find it interesting you picked the three sports that play far and above the most games. Would you really have expected people to go all 162 games of the Tigers 2003 season? It is much easier to go to football games even when your team sucks because there are 16 games. It is much easier to fill out a stadium. I don't think fairweather fans are a proper measure of the loyalty to sports teams or which city is better. Ya, I've met and see some really passionate Boston fans that would make many Detroit fans look uninterested, but I've also met Detroit fans that clearly know more about their teams and care more than Boston fans. When you start measuring who is a worse or better fan than you it gets futile; there will always be better and worse fans.
From what I know of Detroit sports and other sports, we measure up well (we tend to measure up really well in hockey).
Boston, New York, Philly, and many other cities are all great sports cities. But Detroit has a lot going for it in the sports department. Hell, the sports teams are carrying the city practically (with a few other things). Have you ever been in downtown Detroit on a weekday during the summer from 5:30-7:30 when there is no Tiger game. Not much going on. Jimmy Johns even closes and doesn't bother to stay open for dinner. Sports are an integral part of Detroit and I think it's a fair assertion Detroit is the best sports town, although that doesn't mean it's true.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^
I'm not a fan of any Boston teams, never lived there or anything, but how is Boston not the best sports city right now? I mean, every one of their 4 major sports teams has won a championship in the last 10 years.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
I can think of a lot of other good reasons to name a town a great sports town besides just having some championships. When has Boston hosted a Super Bowl? Last All-Star Game? Do they care about college sports? Any Ryder Cups lately? Any auto races? I grant that when it comes to championships, it's been the decade of Boston, but Boston is pretty deficient in some areas and always will be.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:06 PM ^
Ummm, Boston hasn't hosted a Super Bowl because they don't have an indoor stadium and haven't hosted an All-Star game because MLB likes to give those to cities that have built new stadiums. Real relevant points of emphasis there.
Look, I am a diehard Detroit fan and I hate Boston. But I hate blind fan slappyism more. For me, Boston (or New York or Philly) gets it because when they have a team that's down, it probably still actually generates some local buzz about how they are doing and when they're going to get back. A Detroit team is down? Forget about 'em, treat 'em like garbage, pretend you were there all along when they win again.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^
They're playing the next ASG in Kansas City in a park that was built in 1973. 2010 was Anaheim, built in 1966. 2008, old Yankee Stadium. As for not hosting the Super Bowl, in an outdoor stadium, hey, that's their problem. I don't think it's relevant - fact is, they haven't hosted.
November 18th, 2011 at 4:18 PM ^
Forget about 'em, treat 'em like garbage, pretend you were there all along when they win again.
You've just summed up Boston fans' attitude toward the Bruins, Pats, and Celtics over the past decade. The only team that gets consistent attention when they don't win there is the Red Sox.
November 18th, 2011 at 5:35 PM ^
First paragraph, good. Second eh not so much. I don't think he is displaying slappyism. He is just making an argument for Detroit which isn't totally correct (most arguments rarely ever are, especially on a blog). If you are going to use speculation (above mentioned cities "probably" support their team when they are down), then so shall I. Detroit is filled with fans who are people. People have similar tendencies. If Detroit fans can be fairweather fans, so can fans in other cities.
Ya Detroit can be rough on our teams and there are fairweather fans. Hell, even I tend to fluctuate at times. It is human to do so.
Also, the Texan fans didn't have to watch their organization methodically and precisely tear their franchise to pieces and patternly deconstruct it to one of the worst, if not worst, team of all time. The Millen years were lean times.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:24 PM ^
- The last MLB All Star game in Boston was 1999
- The last Ryder Cup was in 1999 as well and it feautured one of the greatest comeback wins in sports history.
- There is a NASCAR track in New Hampshire
- Although the area doesn't have any powerhouse college teams there are a ton of small schools with small followings. Also, there is really good college hockey and decent college basketball.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:49 PM ^
A couple years ago I went to a basketball game at BC and there were maybe 1,500 people there, tops. Boston just doesn't do college sports at the level of most other cities, IME. That's kind of anecdotal, so here's some empirical evidence: BC is sometimes outdrawn by UDM.
November 18th, 2011 at 4:05 PM ^
Well we can both agree that BC sucks
November 18th, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^
I don't think you can find sports devotion anywhere in the country like you find in Detroit.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:28 PM ^
Needs more hyperbole Wilford.
November 18th, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^
Detroit is the best sports city and they also won the award for "city most likely to not have violence on the streets." Give me a break...
November 18th, 2011 at 4:08 PM ^
I tell them Detroit is a better sport's town. While I think they're both about equal, it sure gets under their skin if I show them something like this
November 18th, 2011 at 4:16 PM ^
Living here in Florida I've been able to sift through the dedication of some fans.. Baseball games in Tropicana is a great representation of city loyality to sports.. ive been to Boston, New York, and Detroit games, and they are the top 3 cities as far as out of town loyality..Its hard to say the Red Wings have fair weather fans because they are always good, but the st petersburg times forum looks like someone poured fruit punch on the fans during games vs the lightning (and i think you can say that about a lot of American cities)... the bucaneers do have loyal fans (not enough to sell out any games) but after the first game of the season against the Lions, fans were calling in about how embarassing it was how the lions to bucaneers fan ratio was nearly 60-30 in detroits favor..Pistons are the only team that I think Detroit fans are fairweather fans for..but I can't think of a city that aren't fairweather fans for the NBA, maybe Chicago or Boston, but probably not
November 18th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^
because it is
November 18th, 2011 at 4:38 PM ^
There aren't very many major markets that can boast four professional teams and one major collegiate rivalry. In this area, we also tend to go to games regardless of how well or poorly a given team plays (although I remember many crowds in the early years at Comerica, for example, that were BARELY 15,000, but a 43-119 season in 2003 didn't help matters).
November 18th, 2011 at 4:44 PM ^
is pretty much not the best at anything. Must have been a bad sample group or something...
November 18th, 2011 at 6:35 PM ^
The best at fulfilling the command "go fuck yourself"?
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