All this talk about how Blazers fans are so rabid, dedicated, blah, blah, blah has me thinking. Obviously we're crazy for the Blazers because we're a one horse town. No biggie. But what about other cities with multiple teams? Can we estimate which team is the most important to any given metropolis? Just a few examples below - this could be a fun game: Los Angeles: Lakers are definitely #1. New York: I'd say the Yankees are #1. Chicago: Tough one. Probably the Bears. Disputable. Could be the Cubs or Bulls. Dallas: Definitely the 'Boys. Boston: Sox for sure. Seattle: I'm a Seattle guy, and I'd have to say Seahawks. But the M's and Husky football are close Cleveland: This one is really tough. I think it would have been the Browns hands down had they not left Cleveland for a period of time. This City is rabid over the Indians, but they also have LeBron. I have no idea. This is probably the hardest one. Miami: Probably the Hurricanes. San Francisco: 9ers I think. Giants close. Who else? Can you dispute my predictions?
Here in Minneapolis I'd say its probably the Vikings, although the new Twins stadium is giving all sorts of boners to people.
Yeah, I would have said the Vikes for Minneapolis, but Target Field looks pretty nice! That and the Mauer contract probably have the good people of the Twin Cities boning out over the Twins. But I'd still go Vikes.
up until 95 it was Sonics 1, 2, 3 and 4, with Husky football 5. Then the M's 6-year run started selling out Kingdome (and SafeCo), followed by their putridity during the Bavasi era (which coincided well with the Seahawks finally becoming relevant). On the day the Sonics left, it was probably 1. 'Hawks, 2. Sonics, 3. M's, 4. Huskies. Now, Sounders might be #2, until the M's start actually living up to the hype.
I think a better way of figure this out is: Which franchise leaving would cause cities to have month long riots.
I allways thught Chicago was a Cubbie town. All you here is Wriggly this, and Wriggly that. 12 months out of the year you can bitch to someone about the Lions in Detroit. As soon as the other sports season is over, no one cares about them. But The Lions are allways talked about.
Bob Whitsitt left in 1994. The Sonics held together with his players for awhile, but Wally Walker (for even more years than Pritchard) made no trades, so the Sonics lost favor in Seattle.
