The Sporting City Tournament Criteria
by BirdGT on May 7, 2010 8:00 AM EDT
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Currently, I have hosting an NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL team as the primary criteria. Second, the city needs to have hosted special events like the Olympics, World Cup, or Super Bowl. Bowl games are generally garbage but maybe BCS and traditional bowl venues should count. What do you think? Since, we're a college sporting blog, how should Division I football/hoops be weighed? Let us know your thoughts.
After this weekend, Winfield and myself will unveil the 16 city field based on your criteria and the voting will begin.
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1. Should be at least three of the four big leagues present in the metro area.
2. Should take attendance into account. For example, the Colorado Avalanche were just a little bit better than the St. Louis Blues this year (98% capacity), but Blues fans packed the arena and Avs fans did not (77%.) That’s an average of 5,000 more fans a game.
3. College/satellite towns: A bit subjective but generally, if it’s within roughly an hour’s drive, it should count. Foxboro = Boston. Ann Arbor = Detroit. Norman = OK City. Boulder = Denver. But, Charlottesville =/= Washington, Eugene =/= Portland, etc.
4. Quality of college athletics matters. Chicago should get very little credit for Northwestern, for example. Rutgers is the tiniest of tiny blips for New York. But USC is a big deal in LA and GT will probably help out Atlanta more than the Thrashers will.
by MaizeAndBlueWahoo on May 7, 2010 8:36 AM EDT reply actions
I can go with that.
The only ones I would like to add are, unfortunately, subjective so I don’t know how you would factor these in. Let me give you a few anecdotes to illustrate.
Visit a random bar in New Jersey or New York and you will find the guys who are watching the basketball game amazingly knowledgeable. They will know something about every little college team around from St. John’s to Fairleigh Dickinson. They will know almost as much about the ACC as someone living on tobacco road.
Talk to an “average Joe” on the streets after a heart breaking loss by the Detroit Tigers and you get the feeling that the loss is felt deeply and personally as an insult to the city itself. I mention this example in particular because I watched an evolution of Atlanta fans over the decades in which the average Atlantan does not feel like a poor showing by the Falcons, Tech or the Braves has anything at all to do with their city or with them. This may be psychologically more mature but it does not create rabid or even knowledgeable fans.
Anyway, as much as I love Atlanta, visiting and living in other cities has made aware that in some ways it is not a sports town. When I used to live in Atlanta and go see the Braves I can remember many years where the stands were mostly empty and the loudest cheers were from people wearing Cincinnati hats.
I am not trying to skew the results before the poll is even taken but by the same token if the poll is going to be set up so that it only reinforces Atlanta chauvinism then we will not learn from all of the other great sports towns around the country.
Anyway this is long and I apologize but I am trying to figure out how one factors in things like a crowd that starts chanting and shaking the rafters an hour before the Celtics hit the floor, or the incredible buzz in LA before a home game of USC when even some surfers on the beach will stop to listen a few moments to the game on their radio.
by Atlanta's original team on May 7, 2010 9:42 AM EDT reply actions
I think that's because ATL is a transplant city
Lots of people stay loyal to their home teams and not to the local team
by Winfield Featherston on May 7, 2010 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions
I've heard that all of my life but
aren’t there other cities that have transplants but which still have enthusiastic fans? Years ago some friends moved from Detroit to Atlanta. They were big baseball fans and were ready to support the home team of their new city. After many efforts they said, “What the heck,” and went back to following the Tigers.
Likewise I have a friend who now lives in South Carolina but prior to leaving Georgia he stopped in Boston for some post graduate work. He is now a dyed in the wool Sox fan. I guess my point is why is it that other towns can sell their teams to people who move there and Atlanta can’t? I would argue that the fans are more contagious in those towns.
by Atlanta's original team on May 7, 2010 4:57 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d say it’s really not just Atlanta that can’t. Miami, Phoenix, Tampa, LA all have these problems as well. I’d wager it’s the other way round – only a few cities can leave their imprint on transplants. Boston is one, no doubt.
by MaizeAndBlueWahoo on May 7, 2010 6:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Agreed, there is a TON of subjectivity that’s hard to factor in unless you’ve had some kind of exposure to the culture. Detroit Lions fans have got to be the biggest gluttons for punishment out there, and I’m one, I should know. On the other hand, Miami has a lot going for it sports-wise – all four major leagues, plenty of college football, bowl games, Super Bowls, even NASCAR. But I never got the impression that it was a good sports town. The Dolphins lost? Oh well, let’s go to the beach.
Also, can you be a good sports town if you’re absolutely rabid for one sport but totally ignore others? Tennesseeans, for example, go apeshit for football but you’d never know there was a hockey team within their border. Philadelphia has a terrific college basketball scene, but the best thing they can say for college football is, uh, Temple. I’m not sure Minnesotans would notice if the Timberwolves left but that is a big-time hockey state.
by MaizeAndBlueWahoo on May 7, 2010 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions
This is an ATL-based blog
so ATL will win. All other cities are playing for No. 2.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. GobblerCountry.com
well
The goal is to involve blogs from other Cities and present from each blog. Hopefully, the massive followings of other SBN blogs will help to balance the ATL bias from our blog.
Features of the Perfect Car: 201 cubic inch displacement, 40 horsepower, 3.77:1 drive ratio, single barrel carburetor, top speed of 65 mph
Over before it starts
Baah-ston.
Sox-Green Monster and Teddy Ballgame
Pats-Brady leaves a baby everywhere he lays
Bruins-Original 6, Bobby Orr and the Flying Goal (really a trip)
Celts-Red, Cigars, Cousy, The Gaahden, Bird, Russell, Hondo. 17 Championships, 11 in 13 seasons.
Eagles
Crimson-Harvard vs. Yale one of the greatest rivalries of all time
OK, so a little lacking on the Div 1-A side.
Sorry, ATL, but my hometown is too infused with folks from elsewhere to to be a Championship City.
by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on May 7, 2010 1:30 PM EDT reply actions
I’d still argue the case for Detroit up against Bahston any day:
Tigers: The Olde English D, Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, Tiger Stadium and its oft-imitated features in other ballparks, Ernie Harwell, the two longest-tenured teammates in baseball history (Trammell and Whitaker) and a fanbase that doesn’t define itself by its inferiority complex to another team.
Pistons: The Bad Boys and DEEEEEE-TROOOOOOIT BAAAAAAAASKETBAAAALLLLL!!!
Red Wings: Original 6, the Winged Wheel, Mr. Hockey, the Production Line, The Captain, Wings-Avs, and the most Cups of any American team.
Lions: Um…..seven straight years worth of sellouts in the Millen years? (this is why I mean we are gluttons for punishment.) Also Barry Sanders!
U-M: Winged helmets, the Big House, Bo vs. Woody and the greatest football rivalry ever, the winningest football team of all time, the Big House, the Fab Five, most hockey national titles of all time.
Super Bowls, Ryder Cups, Formula One, the Gold Cup, MLB All-Star Games, the Final Four, the Frozen Four – they all come to Detroit.
by MaizeAndBlueWahoo on May 7, 2010 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions
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