Best Sports Cities

[Doggy 130]

I never once said I was a know it all about Austrailian Football. I know very little about the sport. Show me where I made negative remarks and/or discussed the sport in an uneducated manner.

Compared it to Arena Football is an insult. In my view.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Compared it to Arena Football is an insult. In my view.

Again, I wasn't comparing the two.

You ripped on Arena Football in smart-allec manner saying it was just a joke and nothing more. Then you said it is a league of CFL washups, which is incorrect, since people from other colleges and leagues play in the Arena Football League. Where did the comparison to the Austrailian Football League come into play here.

You missed the point where you probably wouldn't like it if people ripped on your home continent sport of football in a false or jackass manner, but it is all right for you to rip on another sport in a similar degree? That's hypocrisy.

[BlakChamber 8]

Brisbane has the Lions. As much as I hate Brisbane and love Detroit - Brisbane has won championships.

How is it you came to love Detroit? Just wondering.

[Barrie 900]

The best sports towns in North America are New York, Boston, and Detroit.

Maybe it's just me, but I really don't think there's a debate about it.

[Doggy 130]

How is it you came to love Detroit? Just wondering.

Lol. No-one seems to understand it, and it's hard for me to explain but when I visited the place years ago I fell in love with it. People are always like, "Really? Detroit?" but yeah it reminds me of a quiet version Melbourne. The people in Detroit are great and love sports and so I became a Pistons fan, big Lions fan and ridicluous Wings fan because hockey is my favourite sport.

It's probably a little irrational now even. I actually have Spartan and Wolverine merch just because they're Michigan colleges. I'll be up there again next year.

[octopusonice 0]

They have two NBA franchises, one that just went to the Finals and that is probably the first team identified when you think of the NBA.

They have two MLB franchises even though one is technically located in Anaheim. The other one, the Dodgers, is one of the more popular ones in MLB.

They have the LA Galaxy, which includes David Beckham, one of the most first identified athletes in the world, even though I know soccer isn't the most popular sport here.

LA Kings

LA Avengers (Arena Football)

And USC and UCLA is there, where the two are huge sports rivals in pretty much anything and everything and USC has been a college football powerhouse for many recent years.

They should probably be in the running.

One thing I'll knock about LA fans is that they are notorious for arriving late and leaving early from games.

I know the article wasn't listing with this criteria, but I think some of the best sports fans are Green Bay Packers fans. No matter how good or bad the team is, they are there to support them.

[Doggy 130]

Again, I wasn't comparing the two.

You ripped on Arena Football in smart-allec manner saying it was just a joke and nothing more. Then you said it is a league of CFL washups, which is incorrect, since people from other colleges and leagues play in the Arena Football League. Where did the comparison to the Austrailian Football League come into play here.

You missed the point where you probably wouldn't like it if people ripped on your home continent sport of football in a false or jackass manner, but it is all right for you to rip on another sport in a similar degree? That's hypocrisy.

Regardless of whether or not you think I am a hypocrite, the fact remains Arena Football should not count because:

1) Having a franchise is not a achievement. Grand Rapids has one and not Detroit. What does that tell you?

2) It is largely unpopular.

3) It is about as legitimate and respected as the XFL was.

The fact that you're the only person who stood up for it after I ragged it so heavily pretty much sums it up. No-one cares about it.

Do you even like it, Jack? I doubt the reason you're defending it so much is not because you like to sit and watch the Des Moines Douchenozzles every week.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Regardless of whether or not you think I am a hypocrite, the fact remains Arena Football should not count because:

1) Having a franchise is not a achievement. Grand Rapids has one and not Detroit. What does that tell you?

2) It is largely unpopular.

3) It is about as legitimate and respected as the XFL was.

The fact that you're the only person who stood up for it after I ragged it so heavily pretty much sums it up. No-one cares about it.

Do you even like it, Jack? I doubt the reason you're defending it so much is not because you like to sit and watch the Des Moines Douchenozzles every week.

It is still recognized as a professional sport, that is why I included it in my initial stuff. That is why I also included Major League Soccer Franchises in it as well, even though it might not be as "popular". I didn't even think of WNBA teams at the time, and while those may not be popular to the average Joe, it is still a professional sport.

Detroit did have an arena football franchise at one time.

I like it some.

I wasn't defending or pointing it out so much for having a certain liking/openness to it, but to show you that you were being hypocritical.

[DaKineMaui 8]

No-one seems to understand it, and it's hard for me to explain but when I visited the place years ago I fell in love with it.

Ah hell! Happens all the time!

Well.......sometimes.

Well actually.......so far ......once.

Congrats - I think you get a prize or something......not sure....this is uncharted territory.

Did you get stabbed or shot or anything?

[Datsyerberger 279]

The entire article was easily indentifiable as a crock before ever seeing the absence of Detroit on that list by this line:

Los Angeles:

"The good: The weather."

Highly indicative of some desk jockey who thinks of that Californian sunshine and has obviously never been to LA. Yea, the weather in a desert. ******* fantastic, man.

Edit: Yea, so it's hardly all desert, but it's hardly some sort of paradise.

Edited July 14, 2008 by The Wheeled Winger

[miller76 463]

The entire article was easily indentifiable as a crock before ever seeing the absence of Detroit on that list by this line:

Los Angeles:

"The good: The weather."

Highly indicative of some desk jockey who thinks of that Californian sunshine and has obviously never been to LA. Yea, the weather in a desert. ******* fantastic, man.

actually, USC football, the Lakers, Dodgers, and Angels are extremely popular in LA. Though the kings are terrible, Staples Center is usually full, or close to it.

great post, btw!

[Doggy 130]

It is still recognized as a professional sport, that is why I included it in my initial stuff. That is why I also included Major League Soccer Franchises in it as well, even though it might not be as "popular". I didn't even think of WNBA teams at the time, and while those may not be popular to the average Joe, it is still a professional sport.

Detroit did have an arena football franchise at one time.

I like it some.

I wasn't defending or pointing it out so much for having a certain liking/openness to it, but to show you that you were being hypocritical.

Jack, the CHL is considered a professional sporting league. Please see my point here.

They'd probably get better crowds than AFL too.

[octopusonice 0]

actually, USC football, the Lakers, Dodgers, and Angels are extremely popular in LA. Though the kings are terrible, Staples Center is usually full, or close to it.

great post, btw!

I second that. When the Lakers are in the playoffs, the number of purple and gold car flags goes up exponentially. Even in San Diego. In Orange County it's definitely all Angels and USC. The two hockey teams get less support.

On a side note: one interesting thing about the Angels is that they are eating into the Dodger fanbase a little bit. Everyone likes a winner.

[Coolio Mendez 7]

Atlanta Braves, which has been one of the better/more consistent teams in MLB for over a decade.

Atlanta Falcons, which will always have plenty of recent attention for better or worse with the whole Michael Vick drama

Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta Thrashers

Georgia Force (Arena Football)

Georgia Tech Yellowjackets, usually a solid representative in the Atlantic Coast Conference in sports located in Atlanta

And nearby Gerogia Bulldogs, a solid SEC representative in sports, and will contend for a National Championship in football this year if things go their way.

Could definitely be a sportstown.

Atlanta was actually rated one of the worst sports city's in America. The Braves are always a consistent team, a team who's guaranteed a playoff spot. But they haven't sold out a regular season game in years, hell they dont sell out playoff games. Don't get me started about the Atlanta Thrashers easily one of the least popular teams in the NHL. College football is college football, no one pulls in more fans than Michigan at the Big House 100,000+ in one game.

Wings win the Cup, Pistons are consistently on top of the East, the Lions still manage to sell out the season before the first game starts, the Tigers pull in 30-40,000 every game despite there below .500 record,Michigan/ Michigan state football, Michigan hockey top 3 in U.S.

And...... Atlanta is on the list, the guy who wrote this must have been on something good.

Edited July 14, 2008 by Coolio Mendez

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Atlanta was actually rated one of the worst sports city's in America. The Braves are always a consistent team, a team who's guaranteed a playoff spot. But they haven't sold out a regular season game in years, hell they dont sell out playoff games. Don't get me started about the Atlanta Thrashers easily one of the least popular teams in the NHL. College football is college football, no one pulls in more fans than Michigan at the Big House 100,000+ in one game.

Wings win the Cup, Pistons are consistently on top of the East, the Lions still manage to sell out the season before the first game starts, the Tigers pull in 30-40,000 every game despite there below .500 record,Michigan/ Michigan state football, Michigan hockey top 3 in U.S.

And...... Atlanta is on the list, the guy who wrote this must have been on something good.

Just because the beloved city of Detroit where our beloved Red Wings play isn't included, doesn't mean the list is automatically null and void.

The guy just approached it from a different viewpoint, and I understand where he is coming from.

He could have included much more out of Detroit. He didn't include decent sporting cities such as perhaps Chicago, or San Diego, or San Francisco, but nobody is complaining about that.

It doesn't always have to be all about Detroit or Michigan.

[Dawgs 0]

Not including Detroit in the top 5 is insane. On a fall weekend in Detroit you could see 100k in the Big House, 70k in Lansing, 20k at Joe Louis, 40k at Comerica for three days and 50k at Ford Field. What other city in America can claim 360k people have witnessed a game live in person over the course of one weekend? Not to mention the fact that teams in this city win titles. Detroit and Boston are the two premier sports towns in the country and its not even debatable.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Not including Detroit in the top 5 is insane. On a fall weekend in Detroit you could see 100k in the Big House, 70k in Lansing, 20k at Joe Louis, 40k at Comerica for three days and 50k at Ford Field. What other city in America can claim 360k people have witnessed a game live in person over the course of one weekend? Not to mention the fact that teams in this city win titles. Detroit and Boston are the two premier sports towns in the country and its not even debatable.

I think you've got to include New York as a premier sports town.

The Yankees, Rangers, Mets, Jets, Giants, Knicks, and the U.S. Open. That's a lot of pro sports all accessible in a relatively small area.

[Barrie 900]

On a fall weekend in Detroit you could see 100k in the Big House, 70k in Lansing, 20k at Joe Louis, 40k at Comerica for three days and 50k at Ford Field. What other city in America can claim 360k people have witnessed a game live in person over the course of one weekend?

Which drives me crazy when the media outside Detroit has to make a big deal when there's some empty seats at The Joe. They don't seem to notice the number of other teams in the same city/state playing at the same time.

Don't forget the Pistons. They pull in 20K every game too.

[dallas27 7]

I'm sure they also weighed what you can do after the game as well. You look at places like Boston, Chicago and New York and you can walk everywhere and find somewhere to go to. There is no way you can say that about Detroit. Sure we know every little spot to go to. But do you think a tourist is going to go to a Tigers game and then walk around trying to find somehwere to go? I don't think so.

[Coolio Mendez 7]

Just because the beloved city of Detroit where our beloved Red Wings play isn't included, doesn't mean the list is automatically null and void.

The guy just approached it from a different viewpoint, and I understand where he is coming from.

He could have included much more out of Detroit. He didn't include decent sporting cities such as perhaps Chicago, or San Diego, or San Francisco, but nobody is complaining about that.

It doesn't always have to be all about Detroit or Michigan.

Chicago was on the list. San Fran only has a couple of sports teams, same deal with San Diego so I don't really see why they would complain. ESPN does this list every year, Detroit usually ranks in 2nd or 3rd usually after Boston. If you want to base it on who develops the most athletes Michigan would also be up there, like I said I don't really see where you or the writer are coming from sorry.

[STK 0]

I think that list is total BS personally.

[Guest Shoreline]

Just because the beloved city of Detroit where our beloved Red Wings play isn't included, doesn't mean the list is automatically null and void.

The guy just approached it from a different viewpoint, and I understand where he is coming from.

He could have included much more out of Detroit. He didn't include decent sporting cities such as perhaps Chicago, or San Diego, or San Francisco, but nobody is complaining about that.

It doesn't always have to be all about Detroit or Michigan.

I'd complain if San Francisco was included. Not much of a sport city either. UCSF/SFSU are not really known for sports, the 49ers might be moving down to Santa Clara (Monster Park is barely even in San Francisco anyways), and the Giants' only notables in recent years was the 89 Quake series and the Bonds steroids era.

[Dawgs 0]

I'm sure they also weighed what you can do after the game as well. You look at places like Boston, Chicago and New York and you can walk everywhere and find somewhere to go to. There is no way you can say that about Detroit. Sure we know every little spot to go to. But do you think a tourist is going to go to a Tigers game and then walk around trying to find somehwere to go? I don't think so.

What do you mean? Downtown has lots of things to do. Hockeytown, Chelis, Casinos, Greektown, Hart Plaza, Fox Theatre, Belle Isle to name a couple. Great shopping a couple miles up Woodward. We all realize Detroit isnt N.Y., Chicago or L.A. but we are about a tenth the size. Ive never been to L.A but downtown areas in N.Y. and Chicago are as big as the entire city of Detroit. I hate when people sell this city short. Sure the neighborhoods are s*** but the downtown area plus the suburbs have alot to offer.

[dallas27 7]

What do you mean? Downtown has lots of things to do. Hockeytown, Chelis, Casinos, Greektown, Hart Plaza, Fox Theatre, Belle Isle to name a couple. Great shopping a couple miles up Woodward. We all realize Detroit isnt N.Y., Chicago or L.A. but we are about a tenth the size. Ive never been to L.A but downtown areas in N.Y. and Chicago are as big as the entire city of Detroit. I hate when people sell this city short. Sure the neighborhoods are s*** but the downtown area plus the suburbs have alot to offer.

You're somewhat new, people here may be able to back me when I say that I never sell this city short, I am quick to defend it in fact. I can tell you handfuls of things to go and see. But you are flat out ignorant if you think Detroit has just as much appeal as Chicago, New York, L.A. etc to the average joe/tourist.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Chicago was on the list. San Fran only has a couple of sports teams, same deal with San Diego so I don't really see why they would complain. ESPN does this list every year, Detroit usually ranks in 2nd or 3rd usually after Boston. If you want to base it on who develops the most athletes Michigan would also be up there, like I said I don't really see where you or the writer are coming from sorry.

My bad on Chicago, thought it wasn't on there. I think perhaps the writer might have also considered things such as quality of life outside of the sports teams as well.

How many cities though did this source list? 5 - 6 only? Whatever the number, I know it wasn't much. There are hundreds and hundreds of cities in this country so that means there were a boatload of cities left out, so it is nothing to get too upset or judgemental over as plenty of great sports cities were left out, with the factor I just explained being a major emphasis.

For me personally, I conisdered things such as total number of professional franchises along with what I thought were large enough population metro bases, but it was an unscientific finding without sources obviously, so..... *shrugs*