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Best Sports city

Loughlin

By Loughlin
in Sports

What is the best sports city  

176 members have voted

  1. 1. What is the best sports city

    • New York
      27
    • Boston
      38
    • Atlanta
      9
    • St louis
      7
    • Pittsburgh
      8
    • Detroit
      36
    • Other
      51

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stinkweed Whistle-Stop

stinkweed

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Philly is by far the best sports town. I will grant however that if we're voting on the best sports team that's Boston right now. But Philly is the only city with all four major teams located within the city ( I think). Pittsburgh doesn't even have a basketball team?

Atlanta?

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showtime21 Whistle-Stop

showtime21

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I voted for boston but I am upset that Chicago wasn't up there. Those died hard cubs fan who has won since 1908 should atleast be in the poll. Who put Atlanta on the poll. Atlanta hawks never sellout also the braves can't sell out in the playoffs the trashers and the falcorns have fair weather fans..

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

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Mine would be a three way tie for first with Chicago, Pittsburgh and Boston and following close behind NY, Philly, DC, Dallas, SF and some of the larger college towns like Tobacco Road, Ann Arbor, Columbus etc.

Philly is by far the best sports town.  I will grant however that if we're voting on the best sports team that's Boston right now.  But Philly is the only city with all four major teams located within the city ( I think).  Pittsburgh doesn't even have a basketball team?

Pittsburgh person for person it doesn't get much better, there are no other metros Pittsburgh size and in such close proximity to other metros such as Cleveland, Buffalo, Baltimore/DC, and Philly that have all four pro sports, most comparable metros to Pittsburgh are lucky to have just two or even one pro team.

Pittsburgh is mostly about football pro and college, hockey second and baseball, basketball just never had enough room to grow as big--but in some ways Pittsburgh's b-ball base is much much larger then most metros. Pittsburgh for decades had an ABA team and it won the WORLD'S FIRST championship that allowed dunking and 3 point shots (the NBA was the scrub league at that point if you consider the modern game). Stinkweed, your very own 76ers legend Wilt Chamberlain recorded NBA history in Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena with two seperate FG records that still stand today (in the 1960s and 1970s the 76ers played some of their home games here in Pittsburgh).

Pittsburgh also is the city where Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Moses Malone, Patrick Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, and Grant Hill among others played their first nationally competitive ball in the famed annual 5-star camp at RMU.

The college basketball game though does have a major fanbase in Pittsburgh, going to three straight sweet sixteens and being a powerhouse in the 70s and 80s (the old "beasts of the east") as well as posting three national titles before 1960. Pittsburgh also captured a BE title and three BE season titles this in a league that produced half of all national champs in the last 6 years. The best basketball arena in the world--even among NBA arenas--is said to be in Pittsburgh and home of the Panthers, so there is definetly a "fanbase" for roundball in the 'burgh. Skip Prosser (Wake Forest Coach), John Calapari (Memphis Coach), Rick Pitino (Louisville Coach), Chuck Daly (the "dreamteam" coach), George Karl (Seattle/Denver turnaround coach), John Carroll (former Celtics Coach) and all-time-points-leader Pete Maravich all grew up through the Pittsburgh basketball community and fanbase.

I could go on and on . . . the first college basketball game in world history was in Pittsburgh, the first televised basketball game in the world was a Pittsburgh game, etc. etc. Where there is smoke there is fire, and where there is world firsts and world records there are bigtime roundball fans. Chapel Hill NC, Storrs CT, Ann Arbor MI, Bloomington IN, the whole state of Kentucky, and Pittsburgh-- they all are NBAless but you are braver then I if you claimed they weren't great basketball sports cities. :thumbsup:

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popstar Unincorporated Area

popstar

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I agree that Atlanta is not one of the top sport towns. Having lived in Georgia for 20 years before moving to Kansas City, I witnessed a lot of bad Atlanta teams. When the Braves started winning in the early '90s, there probably wasn't a better baseball town, but with the continued winning came much apathy. Overall though, Atlanta doesn't cut it.

I would add though that Kansas City does seem to be one of the best football towns. This place lives for the Chiefs. It is hard for someone how hasn't spent time here to understand just how much that team needs the Chiefs. It's almost as though a significant part of KC's identity is wrapped up in that team. But throw in the Royals and lack of NBA or NHL francises and it's not a 'great' sports town (though adding NASCAR has added a lot!).

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Benhamin Whistle-Stop

Benhamin

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Boston, period. If you don't understand why, then you don't live here.

Never in my life have I seen trashier fans than Philadelphia. The sorest losers in all sports, and some of the most classless.

Tampa Bay sports fans rubbed me the wrong way, and Atlanta and Miami are both terrible sports cities.

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stinkweed Whistle-Stop

stinkweed

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Mine would be a three way tie for first with Chicago, Pittsburgh and Boston and following close behind NY, Philly, DC, Dallas, SF and some of the larger college towns like Tobacco Road, Ann Arbor, Columbus etc.

Pittsburgh person for person it doesn't get much better, there are no other metros Pittsburgh size and in such close proximity to other metros such as Cleveland, Buffalo, Baltimore/DC, and Philly that have all four pro sports, most comparable metros to Pittsburgh are lucky to have just two or even one pro team. 

Pittsburgh is mostly about football pro and college, hockey second and baseball, basketball just never had enough room to grow as big--but in some ways Pittsburgh's b-ball base is much much larger then most metros.  Pittsburgh for decades had an ABA team and it won the WORLD'S FIRST championship that allowed dunking and 3 point shots (the NBA was the scrub league at that point if you consider the modern game).  Stinkweed, your very own 76ers legend Wilt Chamberlain recorded NBA history in Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena with two seperate FG records that still stand today (in the 1960s and 1970s the 76ers played some of their home games here in Pittsburgh).

Pittsburgh also is the city where Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Moses Malone, Patrick Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, and Grant Hill among others played their first nationally competitive ball in the famed annual 5-star camp at RMU.

The college basketball game though does have a major fanbase in Pittsburgh, going to three straight sweet sixteens and being a powerhouse in the 70s and 80s (the old "beasts of the east") as well as posting three national titles before 1960.  Pittsburgh also captured a BE title and three BE season titles this in a league that produced half of all national champs in the last 6 years.  The best basketball arena in the world--even among NBA arenas--is said to be in Pittsburgh and home of the Panthers, so there is definetly a "fanbase" for roundball in the 'burgh.  Skip Prosser (Wake Forest Coach), John Calapari (Memphis Coach), Rick Pitino (Louisville Coach), Chuck Daly (the "dreamteam" coach), George Karl (Seattle/Denver turnaround coach), John Carroll (former Celtics Coach) and all-time-points-leader Pete Maravich all grew up through the Pittsburgh basketball community and fanbase.   

I could go on and on . . . the first college basketball game in world history was in Pittsburgh, the first televised basketball game in the world was a Pittsburgh game, etc. etc.  Where there is smoke there is fire, and where there is world firsts and world records there are bigtime roundball fans.  Chapel Hill NC, Storrs CT, Ann Arbor MI, Bloomington IN, the whole state of Kentucky, and Pittsburgh-- they all are NBAless but you are braver then I if you claimed they weren't great basketball sports cities.  :thumbsup:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think philly has a college basketball history too. Nova, St' Joes, Penn, Temple, Lasalle, and Drexel all playn ball here and have a big touramnet evey year. I would actually consider philly the home of college basketball. As for boston don't consider recent winning for a great sports town. Until recently they were looking to get rid of the lowly patriots but then they started winning. All the sudden they are the great pats. And yes the fan here are a little more rowdy then in most midwest towns. big deal.

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

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SW, Philly has some great roundball probably the best in the state IMHO--just stating that Pittsburgh doesn't close down during bball season, everything from the 76ers breaking world records in Mellon Arena to College Bball great moments and the birth of the "modern" game with the dunk and 3 point shot winning its first world championship at Mellon Arena. Pittsburgh also is not just Univ. of Pittsburgh but Robert Morris (Division I and went to the tourny 3-4 times in the last 20 years) and Duquesne which is very storied in Div I ball--with some world firsts in there--but has fallen on some hard times similar to Drexel or Temple.

Philly has a much deeper and broader history of bball and tons more fans--the way I see it our football is the eaststates basketball. I wouldn't go so far as to claim that Philly is the capital of college hoops--Tabacco Road, Indiana, maybe even Michigan and CT could all make a better claim to that. For not only the state but the whole mid-atlantic region though if u really study the history and the high points of the game Philly is King. Just because you have it really good in Philly though, the glare coming from the 76ers and bball land in the east, and LeBron frenzy to the north (and the lack of a proteam) sometimes makes people think Pittsburgh has ZERO when it comes to bball--as I went into detail above Pittsburgh has many more rabid fans and tradition then such "comparable" cities like Orlando, Phoenix, Denver, Kansas City, etc. even though those have pro teams.

As for Boston their fans were always rabid and they did have lots of success with the Celts, and Bruins and the Sox and Patsises were competitive most years (86, 90 etc.) so Boston to me has to make the list.

:)

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

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Stinkweed wrote:

Other than the 4 major sports what else does Pittsburg have? ie indoor football, soccer, lacrose? Just asking?

Well we really dont have the "4 pros" without pro basketball since the mid 1990s (and really since the 70s) but here is the list of the "other" sports Pittsburgh has:

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball:

Duquesne University

Robert Morris University

University of Pittsburgh

West Virgina University (some would claim as in the metroplex)

Penn State University (closest major media market)

NCAA Hockey:

Robert Morris University

Women's Basketball:

University of Pittsburgh

Duquesne University

Robert Morris University

West Virginia University (see above)

Penn State University (see above)

Major League Soccer Team

Minor League Baseball Team

Minor League Hockey

Wrestling:

University of Pittsburgh

Rowing:

Carnegie-Mellon University

University of Pittsburgh

Duquesne University

Three Rivers Rowing Club

Steel City Rowing Club

Lacrosse:

Carnegie Mellon University

St. Vincent's College

Seton Hill University

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh also has a big semi-pro boxing circuit with Paul Spadafora right now and boxing legends like Zivic and Conn etc. Station Square and the Pittsburgh Coliseum are two venues built JUST FOR Boxing in Pittsburgh!

Pittsburgh will also host this years OUTDOORSMAN SUPER BOWL in the BassMaster Classic!

Pittsburgh also was a founding city of the Arena Football League hosting the first ever Arena Bowl in the late 1980s and going to two Arena Bowls before moving to Tampa in the mid-90s. (Profootball in Pittsburgh is basically a bleed black and gold affair :) )

The Head of the Ohio Rowing Event held annually in downtown Pittsburgh is one of the TOP FIVE ROWING events in the nation.

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

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^^ when I think of best sports cities I am thinking fan base . . . Philly would rank on my top ten possibly five for that.

Most successful sports cities might be a better way to compare trophies in my mind, but I can see the link between fans and championships, eventually you need both or at least lots of great years with deep playoff runs.

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stinkweed Whistle-Stop

stinkweed

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I was just pointing out the obvious flaw in the Philly dominance theory.    -_-

btw- BC over Penn  ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm sorry but I can't see how a town can have any affect on the winning percentage of it's teams. Maybe the winning in Boston lately has gotten to the cities head a bit.

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