It’s always been interesting in my time and travels across this country to see how people show their passions for certain sports, whether it be professional or amateur in nature. As a die-hard sports fan who grew up in Atlanta, I’ve heard every other city bad mouth Atlanta’s sports fans saying how they don’t care about sports. They cite the poor attendance for Braves’ game when the Braves were actually good (a failure to sell out home playoff games), the blackouts for Falcons games, the miserable attendance for Hawks basketball, and that the Thrashers should be moved to Canada where people care. Based on that, Atlanta is a bad sports town?
Look, Atlanta may be a lot of things, but just because the capital of the South doesn’t support professional teams at a level their Northern counterparts do, it doesn’t mean Atlanta hates sports. Go to a Prep football game on Friday nights in the Fall, or go try and find a seat on Saturday across any major College Football stadium in the South. The passion is there. In fact, as you look across the country different sports take different importance.
In the Northeast, collegiate sports, once powerful, have now all but vanished. Aside from Boston College and maybe Penn State, there is no reason for fans to support college team and prep teams are ignored. In those areas, professional teams dominate. In the South, college and prep teams have dominated while the professional teams struggle to draw crowds. The Midwest, except for Chicago, is very much like their southern counterparts.
So, what areas support what sports? Here’s my view on key areas, mainly those I have been to…
New York: Professional, and although split, Yankees have the edge
Baltimore: Professional, Ravens
Buffalo: Profession, Bills
Philadelphia: Professional, either Eagles or Phillies
Pittsburgh: Professional, Steelers
Washington: Professional, Redskins
North Carolina: Collegiate, ACC Basketball
Atlanta: Collegiate and Prep, SEC Football
Cincinnati and Cleveland: Collegiate, Ohio State Buckeyes
Indiana: Collegiate and Prep, Basketball
Chicago: Professional, Bears
Denver: Professional, Broncos
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