"Atlanta Is The Worst Sports Town In America" (Auburn: live in, arena)
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Some schools with elite academics have big time football programs. UCLA, Cal, and Michigan to name a few.
The reasons for lackluster performance in the northeast for college football are mainly talent pool and lack of fan support, which feed upon each other. Lack of talent pool is largely a function of fan support and resources put into football at the high school level, although demographics play a role as well (to preempt certain comments, it's not all about African American population; New York has a more or less equivalent AA population to Georgia, but has only 16 recruits signed to D1-A schools compared to Georgia's 124 so far this season).
There are several schools in the northeast that ought to compete with SEC schools, but simply don't (Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, etc). There just isn't the level of energy and resources put into the sport at the college and high schools levels that there is down here. The answer isn't a different academic attitude or anything; it's apathy among fans. Fans only have so much attention, and up there all the attention is on pro sports. Down here, it's much more slanted to college.
Actually there are countless roles that demographics could have. For one, the number of school-aged children is higher in states with higher fertility rates, which tend to be southern. In addition, different income groups may be more or less likely to devote time and resources to sports and recreation (wealthier kids tend to play tennis and swim, poorer kids play basketball). Those are just two of many potential factors.
So basically what your saying is that because kids in the south are so stupid, the only shot they have at getting into college is playing sports and getting a full ride. Which in turn makes them work their butts off from rec league ball all the way to HS, because they know that's their only shot to get into college. Is that what you're trying to say?
How about kids down south are just faster and physically stronger from growing up in a more rural society where you have to do things like cutting wood or chase wild game thru the woods. As opposed to a kid growing up in the more urban NE where the most physical thing he would do is take the garbage can down the steps on trash collection day. Also maybe because we have warmer weather, and kids can practice outside 9 months out of the year, whereas kids in the north only have a small window to do so.
Brains have nothing to do with it. And I love how people from the northeast like to crap on college football, but yet they still love the NFL so much. Look at college basketball, a sport that people in the NE are actually good at, it has no shortage of fans in that section of the country. The only difference is they can actually compete in basketball so they enjoy it. I will say it again, people in the NE would be more into college football if they were actually good at it. If you had a chance to see a kid from your HS alma mater or a kid that grew up in your neighborhood succeed and compete on that level at a local Univ. they would be into it just as much into it as we are. But when you have teams that are chock full of kids from the NE like Boston College and they suck, or teams like West Virgina who are good but full of players from the south, that turns people off.
And you guys don't even have basketball on lock anymore. Most of the top AAU teams in the country the last 10 years have been from GA, Texas, Cali, and Maryland. Look at last year's NCAA Tourny winner UCONN, one of the best players on the team is from right here in the metro- Jermey Lamb.
I never said "kids in the south are stupid" so don't put effin words in my mouth. What I will say, and you can debate it if you want, is that there is a whole hell of lot more poverty in the south. New England is a pretty white and pretty middle to upper middle class region.
Given that large amount of poverty in the poorest states in the union (the south), more people look to sports as a means to get an education. That's not bad or something I'm putting down, but it's fact.
OK...not going to debate you over this one. I'll just quit while I'm behind.
Are you seriously...with a straight face, going to equate UCLA or Michigan with Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, etc?
Take a deep breath and reread my post. It's not the elite schools in the southeast that have the biggest programs; it's the big state schools. There's nothing preventing Syracuse or Rutgers from performing on the SEC's level.
I see no reason why the existence of a bunch of Ivy League schools would prevent the non-Ivy League schools from running good football programs with wide fan support. But they don't. There are four BCS-conference schools northeast of Pennsylvania. None have spectacular academics (none are better than the schools I mentioned), and they all have medium to large student bodies. Yet they all are bad at football, and have small fanbases.
I never said "kids in the south are stupid" so don't put effin words in my mouth. What I will say, and you can debate it if you want, is that there is a whole hell of lot more poverty in the south. New England is a pretty white and pretty middle to upper middle class region.
Given that large amount of poverty in the poorest states in the union (the south), more people look to sports as a means to get an education. That's not bad or something I'm putting down, but it's fact.
What does the "whiteness" of the region have to do with the topic?.....
So basically what your saying is that because kids in the south are so stupid, the only shot they have at getting into college is playing sports and getting a full ride. Which in turn makes them work their butts off from rec league ball all the way to HS, because they know that's their only shot to get into college. Is that what you're trying to say?............
I was almost taken back by this almost rant... WOW. You couldn't have NOT listened to his post more.
Before I go into this, know that I'm no pro-NE booster. I'm a southern boy, "Georgia born, Georgia bred, & when I die I'm gone be Georgia dead..." I've never lived anywhere north of Brooklyn, and actually have only set foot north of the Bronx twice (in Boston & HATED IT! What a miserable place...).
But anyway, national high school test scores clearly show that lots of southern states are near the bottom (but maybe not the worst region) on education while many New England states are riding at the top. States like Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama... Now, the South DOES also have some of the BEST schools as well... Fairfax County, VA is the nation's #1 school district, but that's only 1 state.
Southern states are avg. around 20% of residents 25 & older w/ a bachelor or better, whild those New England states are avg. like 35% and 38%.
The top 10 states for Education (in order in 2011) are:
New York
New Jersey Connecticut Massachusetts Vermont Virginia New Hampshire
Pennsylvania Maine
Minnesota
While the BOTTOM 10 are:
Alaska
Oklahoma Tennessee Alabama
Idaho
Utah South Carolina Mississippi
Arizona
Nevada
(Looks like the Mountain timezone has it worst)
The poster wasn't saying Southern kids are dumb. Listen (or read) better... He's just saying that the South doesn't put the same focus on education that New England does. And we DO put a LOT higher focus on athletics. We have better weather and we get out and like to play sports more.
And not all kids growing up in the south are rural, and a LOT of New England is also rural as well...
As a matter of fact, MANY of the best High School teams in GA are from urban areas ( ML King, Norcross, S. Cobb, SW Dekalb, Marietta, Dunwoody, Lassiter, Stephenson, Tucker, Tri-Cities, LoveJoy, Sandy Creek, St Pius X, etc...). "Them is some city kids there..."
I'm from GA but I wasn't raised rural either... Football is just important in Georgia (INCLUDING THE ATLANTA URBAN AREA), it's not a country thing in Georgia... It's a Georgia thing period.
GA ranks in the top 5 amongst states to produce the most professional football players (the top 5 are California, Florida, Texas, Georgia and Louisiana, NOT in order).
Quote:
Originally Posted by northwinds
Yep, they found that out by beating Virginia Tech in 2010 in the opening game......and this year on September 3rd by dominating all those "four and five star" UGA BooDawgs in the Dome on opening day.....they love to come "East".....unfortunately for Boise State no SEC or ACC school will sign to do a "home and home" and go "West" to play Boise on the smurf turf.....LOL.....SEC scared of big old bad ole Boise....who knew? Boise ends up with one one point loss and falls to 7th in the nation....and ends up in a Dec. 22nd Las Vegas Bowl....LOL. The SEC, ESPN, BCS BS continues.....
WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!!!! *GASP* *GASP*
FIRST OFF! The SEC is scared of NO-ONE sir... Don't be so quick to jump all on that Boise bandwagon... They haven't been good always and just like the rest, they'll come and go, so bite your tongue. Everybody knows that SEC is the premier conference in College and if you disagree, then you probably haven't been paying attention. SEC and Big 12 are the real deals... That's REAL Football going on down there... Yes, Boise is GREAT and can probably beat every SEC team once, but likewise I can name off at least 8 SEC teams that CAN beat Boise as well. Ofcourse, EVERYBODY loses, but the level of ball in SEC far exceeds the other conferences. ACC is a joke. Big 10 is good, but they aren't SEC good. Big East and Pac 12 are decent. Then there are sorry conferences like Conference USA and Mountain West, that can produce a couple of pretty good teams, but that's about it. Those sorry schools just sit around getting beat up by maybe 2 dominant schools like in Big 10 football.
And SEC produces the most NFL talent as well...
AND 4 of the top 5 states to produce NFL talent are southern. It's natural.
Boise is a good team in a weak conference with a middle of the field athletic PROGRAM (not team). SEC is full of top notch PROGRAMS, great teams in the NCAA's premier conference... Boise and SEC teams aren't even in the same world. Not saying they aren't good. Just saying don't be so quick to get arrogant about them. They are still in a sorry conference, so they are still JUST Boise St... TCU won't even be there next season (they're smart, or a glutton for punishment going into Big 12... LOL. Nah, they'll do alright).
So, they show up and win when they play these big name schools maybe twice a year... Whooptie do... That just means they understood the value of that 1 game. Try playing teams like LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, South Carolina all in ONE season REGULARLY and still coming away either undefeated or only 1-2 loses... THEN you can talk...
UGA's 2013 schedule is going to include:
CLEMSON, FLORIDA, GEORGIA TECH, APPALACHIAN STATE, LSU, ALABAMA, AUBURN, SOUTH CAROLINA, TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY and possibly ARKANSAS... ALL in one year...
Boise State plays a bunch of nobodies all year... So, it's a LOT easier to take your whole off season focusing and preparing for one or 2 big matchups against TCU (which is gone to a real conference) and like this year UGA, than to have to try to watch film and study and practice to prepare for 10 big matchups out of your 12 game season... Boise State is SUPPOSED to be prepared for that game (like the UGA game), while I promise you, UGA was not as focused on preparing for Boise State when they look at the schedule and see Florida, South Carolina, Auburn and GA Tech on there... Ya'll are 2nd rate...
Quote:
Originally Posted by northwinds
What does the "whiteness" of the region have to do with the topic?.....
I'm also not so sure why this was even brought up...
Last edited by Psykomonkee; 01-13-2012 at 12:14 PM..
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oldschoolChevy
And I'm not saying that's the reason, that's just a theory I've heard. I do think that's part of it, but most of it I think is just weather plain and simple. Kids in the south have more time to practice and get better at their craft than kids in the north. Cali too. Warm weather just means you get more time on the practice field.
There are more sports competing for an athlete's time in some parts of the country due to the weather, also. In smaller towns in northern Minnesota, and even for some schools in the Twin Cities, the main high school sport is hockey, not football. The fact that you can play pond hockey some years from November through March or even later gives a lot of kids a free ice surface. That's why there have been 216 NHL players born in the state of MN, for example, while there have only been 3 from Georgia.
There are more sports competing for an athlete's time in some parts of the country due to the weather, also. In smaller towns in northern Minnesota, and even for some schools in the Twin Cities, the main high school sport is hockey, not football. The fact that you can play pond hockey some years from November through March or even later gives a lot of kids a free ice surface. That's why there have been 216 NHL players born in the state of MN, for example, while there have only been 3 from Georgia.
Eric Chouinard was born in Atlanta while his father, also a hockey player, was playing for the then-Atlanta Flames, before they because the Calgary Flames. Jean-Marc Pelletier was born in Atlanta, but moved to Quebec and grew up there. Mark Mowers was born in Decatur, and went to high school and upstate New York. None of them stayed in Georgia. There is one more hockey player born in Georgia, Francis Spain. He was born in Brooks County,GA, but moved to Massachusetts. One thing I've noticed is that the Canadians I've met went back to Canada after a few years of being in the Atlanta area. Alot of Canadians(specifically from Quebec) go to Miami during the winter and go back to Quebec once the weather up there warms up.
Atlanta has lost two hockey teams in a row. I like hockey, so this is disturbing considering I live in the Atlanta area.
What is ironic is that Tampa and Miami are much warmer than Atlanta and they manage to maintain their hockey teams.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
9,858 posts, read 10,751,629 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by green_mariner
Eric Chouinard was born in Atlanta while his father, also a hockey player, was playing for the then-Atlanta Flames, before they because the Calgary Flames. Jean-Marc Pelletier was born in Atlanta, but moved to Quebec and grew up there. Mark Mowers was born in Decatur, and went to high school and upstate New York. None of them stayed in Georgia. There is one more hockey player born in Georgia, Francis Spain. He was born in Brooks County,GA, but moved to Massachusetts. One thing I've noticed is that the Canadians I've met went back to Canada after a few years of being in the Atlanta area. Alot of Canadians(specifically from Quebec) go to Miami during the winter and go back to Quebec once the weather up there warms up.
Atlanta has lost two hockey teams in a row. I like hockey, so this is disturbing considering I live in the Atlanta area.
What is ironic is that Tampa and Miami are much warmer than Atlanta and they manage to maintain their hockey teams.
Yeah, the numbers seem a little weird in that every site seems to vary. It's weird.
Since this pic from Wikipedia is legal, I'll post it. High school hockey tourney in 2009 in Minnesota. People take it seriously...
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*GASP*
