CSNbbs

We've had threads about the most popular schools in your area. I want to get more specific, and discuss what are the most popular teams that everybody follows in your area. It can be college or pro.

In Charleston, it goes like this:

1A. South Carolina football: Huge following. Over 10,000 alumni, 2,500 students from immediate Charleston area, plus at least that number in the Gamecock Club, plus thousands more who go to single games. Huge TV ratings, has grown in past few seasons.

1B. Clemson football: Another very big following. Just as big as SC following. About 10% of either team's following is bandwagon, depending on who is better (not the case lately). About same number of alums and students as Carolina, plus bigger following in rural areas.

3. The Citadel football and baseball: Depends on their record. When they're good, large bandwagon. Leans old (lots of old money).

4. South Carolina baseball: Was almost invisible until they started becoming consistently good about a decade ago. Grew exponentially after 2010 CWS run. Sell out CofC and Citadel's stadiums when they play here each season.

5. College of Charleston basketball: More alums than any other school (almost 23,000), but lots of bandwagons. When they beat a big opponent or do well in the postseason, it seems like the whole town is behind them. Lower during average years.

6. The popular HS football team: Summerville, Goose Creek and Wando have huge followings, often even including students at rival schools. Several other schools also have a large bandwagon.

7. Braves: Don't even have radio affiliate this year here, but during their playoff runs it seems like everyone follows them. Many take trip to Turner Field.

8. Panthers: Steelers have as many fans as Carolina normally, but during their long playoff runs, most of the locals jump on the Panthers train. People were selling Garth Brooks tickets during the '96 run.

The other colleges and professional teams locally have their followings, but not as large as these teams.

What is it like in your area?

Probably Steelers number 1; WVU and Ohio State; Pirates but since they generally suck, no one really pays too much attention to them; Penguins for the hockey fans which are growing in number in this area

(06-21-2013 08:47 PM)sctvman Wrote: [ -> ]We've had threads about the most popular schools in your area. I want to get more specific, and discuss what are the most popular teams that everybody follows in your area. It can be college or pro.

In Charleston, it goes like this:

1A. South Carolina football: Huge following. Over 10,000 alumni, 2,500 students from immediate Charleston area, plus at least that number in the Gamecock Club, plus thousands more who go to single games. Huge TV ratings, has grown in past few seasons.

1B. Clemson football: Another very big following. Just as big as SC following. About 10% of either team's following is bandwagon, depending on who is better (not the case lately). About same number of alums and students as Carolina, plus bigger following in rural areas.

3. The Citadel football and baseball: Depends on their record. When they're good, large bandwagon. Leans old (lots of old money).

4. South Carolina baseball: Was almost invisible until they started becoming consistently good about a decade ago. Grew exponentially after 2010 CWS run. Sell out CofC and Citadel's stadiums when they play here each season.

5. College of Charleston basketball: More alums than any other school (almost 23,000), but lots of bandwagons. When they beat a big opponent or do well in the postseason, it seems like the whole town is behind them. Lower during average years.

6. The popular HS football team: Summerville, Goose Creek and Wando have huge followings, often even including students at rival schools. Several other schools also have a large bandwagon.

7. Braves: Don't even have radio affiliate this year here, but during their playoff runs it seems like everyone follows them. Many take trip to Turner Field.

8. Panthers: Steelers have as many fans as Carolina normally, but during their long playoff runs, most of the locals jump on the Panthers train. People were selling Garth Brooks tickets during the '96 run.

The other colleges and professional teams locally have their followings, but not as large as these teams.

What is it like in your area?

Sacramento Area:

49er Football


Raider Football


Cal Football
Fresno Football

I live in Dekalb County just outside of the city of Atlanta and as far as sports teams you have the Falcons, Braves, and Georgia Bulldogs all around the same level. The Hawks aren't too far behind, after that you pretty much have everything else under the sun due to the fact that Atlanta is a melting pot of people from all across the southeast.

Columbus, Ohio (based solely on my guess on number of fans; not intensity)

1. Ohio State
2. Browns
3. Bengals
4. Steelers
5/6. Reds/Indians (about equal)
7. Blue Jackets (NHL)
8. Michigan
9. Columbus Clippers (minor league baseball; however few care that much about the actual standing, more of a daily fun event)
10. Crew (MLS; higher than the Clippers in intesity for sure, but I'd guess a lot more people will see a Clippers a game in a year than Crew game)
11. Cleveland Cavs

#3 and #4 might be reversed. Michigan is definitely #2 college team. Definitely room for argument on most the bottom half teams.

In Pittsburgh, where I live, it's the Steelers by a mile and then everyone else. I think the Penguins are second with the Battlin' Bucs third. However, each is miles behind the Steelers, who are arguably the most popular franchise in what is inarguably the nation's most popular sport: professional football.

Note: It is relatively unusual for anybody in Pittsburgh to refer to the the local MLB team by their actual name: the Pirates. Rather it is almost always "Bucs" or "Buccos." Similarly the Penguins are called the "Pens", never the "Guins" as some goofballs try to pull off from time to time. Finally, the local major D1 team is always "Pitt," never Pittsburgh. Similarly, the city is always Pittsburgh and never "Pitt." Our own dumbarse AD didn't even understand that lesson for several years after coming to town from Nebraska.

Pitt football is clearly fourth with Pitt basketball likely fifth. Penn State football would be next followed by Notre Dame football and West Virginia football. I would guess that Duquesne basketball would be next followed by Robert Morris (aka "Bobbby Mo") hoops.

Nobody here cares about Penn State, Notre Dame or West Virginia basketball.

HS football is extremely popular here with the most well regarded teams being Central Catholic (Dan Marino), North Hills (Lavar Arrington), North Allegheny, Woodland Hills (Steve Breaston), Upper St. Clair (Bills GM Doug Whaley) and Mt. Lebanon.

Alliquippa HS is the most successful HS in the area and has produced all kinds of NFL players including Mike Ditka, Sean Gilbert, Jonathan Baldwin and Darelle Revis.

There are other great HS programs in the area too including Clairton, Jeannette, Seton-La Salle, Monesson, Hopewell and others.

Western PA has been a prodigious producer of major college and NFL talent.

Cincinnati:


1. Reds
2. Bengals
3. UC
4, High School Football
5. Xavier
6. UK
7. OSU
8. Notre Dame

1) The Great Satan in Chapel Hole.

(06-21-2013 10:56 PM)49RFootballNow Wrote: [ -> ]1) The Great Satan in Chapel Hole.

In Lincoln, Nebraska - and for miles around:

1. Husker football

2. Is there anything else?

Edmonton Oilers by a LONG SHOT.

In Knoxville it's...

1. Tennessee Volunteers
2a. Tennessee Titans
2b. Atlanta Braves
4. other SEC teams (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Vandy, South Carolina, Kentucky, etc. - in that order)

St. Louis, Missouri.

1-99 St. Louis Cardinals
100 Blues/Rams

Thinking back to Columbus again, but this time just focusing on college football.

1. Ohio State (by a wide mile)
2. Michigan: Definite #2 (also the most disliked, but that just means even more people watch them).
3. Cincinnati: I'll put them as #3, but preface that by saying most fans are also Ohio State fans. That probably sounds strange to someone in Cincinnati, but we aren't rivals and a lot of Ohio State fans like seeing other Ohio teams succeed.
4. Various MAC schools: I'm not going to break this one down further because I wouldn't do it very well. That said, we obviously have a ton of MAC alumni. Even more than with Cincinnati though, most are also Ohio State fans.
5/+ Notre Dame and Other Big Ten schools: Not huge populations, but you see them around on football Saturdays. While numerically smaller, they stand out more than their Ohio school breathen a lot. Less from the western side of the conference (and the eastern side too once we complete expansion). Ranking here is difficult. Michigan State, Penn State, and Notre Dame would probably be the top ones. Know some Indiana/Purdue fans though so think we might get more of those just because of distance than others.

Dallas is a no mans land but its can roughly be described in how many fans you see/attention they get by Tier grouping (schools within a Tier aren't ranked since its often too much nitpicking)

Tier 1

-OU/A&M/UT

Tier 2

-OSU/TTU/Ark/TCU

-Tier 3

Baylor/SMU/UNT

-Tier 4

UTA/DBU

I'll do a variation on the topic. I teach in a middle school and from listening to the kids and observing t-shirts / sweat shirts here is my list for rural NC not far from the triangle.

1. NC State
2. UNC-CH
3. ECU
4. Campbell
5. Panthers

(06-22-2013 09:59 AM)10thMountain Wrote: [ -> ]Dallas is a no mans land but its can roughly be described in how many fans you see/attention they get by Tier grouping (schools within a Tier aren't ranked since its often too much nitpicking)

Tier 1

-OU/A&M/UT

Tier 2

-OSU/TTU/Ark/TCU

-Tier 3

Baylor/SMU/UNT

-Tier 4

UTA/DBU

^

Does not want to admit that UT rules Texas in the number of fans. You know I'm not even joking but I can go to stores in Huntsville, Alabama and find Texas/USC/ND/Ohio State gear.

(06-21-2013 09:45 PM)GreenHornet33 Wrote: [ -> ]I live in Dekalb County just outside of the city of Atlanta and as far as sports teams you have the Falcons, Braves, and Georgia Bulldogs all around the same level. The Hawks aren't too far behind, after that you pretty much have everything else under the sun due to the fact that Atlanta is a melting pot of people from all across the southeast.

I also live in DeKalb County and I do NOT see anyone who cares about the Falcons, Braves, or Bulldogs

LOL ok so Dekalb County in Illinois..Da Bears, Da Bulls, Cubs, Sucks (sox), Blackhawks, than a huge melting pot of not as followed College. Probably mostly ND/Illini, than second tier NIU and NW.

Also have spent tons of time in Northern New Jersey (especially Bergen, Hudson, Essex counties). One of the most pro-centric areas in the nation.

WFAN doesn't talk about college sports unless there is a major college football upset, a huge story like the Penn State scandal, the BCS championship or during March Madness.

Most popular teams:

1. Yankees (have been for decades, almost all sports bars and diners in North Jersey show them)
2. Giants (tops after Yankees end)

3. Jets (depends on how well they do, can go lower)

4. Devils (especially when they make a long playoff run)
5. Knicks (can flip-flop with Devils and Mets, especially this season)
6. Mets (have gone down since a few years ago)
7. Rangers (have stayed about the same)
8. Brooklyn Nets (used to be much higher)
9. Islanders (few fans in North Jersey)

NY Red Bulls soccer also have a ton of fans in the area, since they play in Harrison, very close to Newark. Rutgers football is as popular as the Rangers when they're good, but until the last few years, it was almost non-existent. Seton Hall basketball is next on the totem pole, then all the other local schools.

Pretty much every major university in the country has alumni groups in the area, but Notre Dame and Penn State are most popular. Syracuse and UConn also have significant groups in North Jersey.

Ft. Worth

1.UT
2.Tech

3. OU
4. A&M
5.TCU

6. Everyone else

My rankings are based on being a lifelong Chicago sports fan that has seen all of these teams in both the best of times and worst of times (and observed who still had fans and media coverage in the low points as well as the high points). So, my assumption is how the pecking order would be if all things are equal (i.e. if every single team was .500) to remove temporary bandwagon expansions of fan bases (i.e. if we were taking a poll today, the Blackhawks would be up there with the Bears in popularity because they're playing for the Stanley Cup, but that's not how the pecking order normally is). The one constant is that the Bears are always #1 in town no matter how bad they might be. For Chicago:

(1) Bears
(2) Cubs
(3) Bulls
(4) White Sox
(5) Blackhawks
(6) Notre Dame football
(7) Illinois basketball
(8) Illinois football
(9) Northwestern football
(10) DePaul basketball
(11) Northwestern basketball
(12) Rest of the Big Ten (football and basketball)
(13) Northern Illinois football
(14) Fire
(15) Rest of the area colleges

The high school sports culture isn't that strong in the Chicago area (and it's probably comparatively stronger for basketball as opposed to football). You might watch a high school if your kid is attending there or there's a mega-superstar that's drawing national attention (i.e. Simeon basketball has been blessed with Derrick Rose and Duke-bound top recruit Jabari Parker in succession), but it's not a spectator sport where people pay attention if you don't have a direct affiliation with a school (which I know is different than places like Texas, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania).