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I'd say St. Louis and Chicago probably have one of the oldest sports rivalries ever. The Cardinals-Cubs rivalry goes back close to or over 100 years. Not to mention the Blues and Blackhawks have a rivalry that's existed since 1967.
The Lakers/Celtics rivalry from the 1980's immediately came to my mind. Totally different cities on opposite coasts. Couldn't get any better than that!
I remember when Houston had the Oilers football team in the AFC Central with the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Because it was it was such a change of pace and different city then the other 3 cities it made more intriguing and interesting especially when Houston had to come up north in the winter snow to play or the Steelers, Bengals and Browns had to go down and play in the Astrodome. On top of that the Houston Astros baseball team was in the NL central with the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, St Louis Cardinals, and Pittsburgh Pirates. When all the cities are kinda similar and close proximity to each other you kinda need a change a pace to keep things lively and interesting. I kind of miss that rivalry. Sort of similar to the Dallas Cowboys being in the NFC East.
Yup, it's and oddball that should be repeated in the AFC, as well as other sports. It throws off the NFC East because it's an outsider that doesn't belong.
Other good one I thought of was the Buffalo Bill and Miami Dolphins. Can't really get much different than Buffalo and Miami, but the hate between teams is definitely there.
Most Bruins fans were born in 2011 after their Cup, that's why.
There is a huge bandwagon element to Boston sports nobody ever talks about.
We wouldn't be seeing half the Boston fans we do now without their success.
That's true everywhere, it was not long ago that the Blackhawks were averaging under 12,000 fans/game. The TD Garden never had more than 2,000 empty seats.
Or the Yankees and Phillies playing to half empty stadiums?
Boston and Buffalo historically have been the best TV markets for the NHL going back decades.
1) MLB should not have built all these stadiums with all these seats in the first place. Over 40,000 seats is ridiculous. More than half of MLB teams don't even fill half capacity whereas the NBA and NHL have 90% of teams selling out, at least these days.
2) For such a "great" hockey town, the Bruins have a very wonky attendance history going back decades, and yes, I have followed hockey since the 90's and I am aware of seating capacities and arenas. Boston underwhelmed up until 2011. I have friends who live there that are self-proclaimed fans because of 2011.
That may be a good thing now to attract fans, but before? The Bruins simply didn't sell out.
3) While I don't give the Blackhawks or Bruins a pass for their attendance woes (especially since they're O6 teams) the Blackhawks had a terrible owner named Dollar Bill Wirtz who traded away all their popular stars, increased ticket prices and did not broadcast the team locally. The Blackhawks weren't broadcasted locally until the 2007 season for the first time in their long history, which is mind-boggling and shocking. Instead, the fans went to the Chicago Wolves AHL team instead and folllowed them in protest. I do agree to an extent, neither is acceptable.
But things for Boston teams aren't as peachy keen as you make them out to be.
The local tv ratings for the Bruins and Celtics were embarrassing until they won titles and there are a number of articles from players calling out Celtics fans for being fairweather fans like Mike Bibby, local talk radio discussing the Patriots and Red Sox 90% of the time while the other two are an afterthought.
The whole "when cities I like have bad attendance its a protest" meme is dumb.
The Bruins have one 1 title since 1974. They have consistently been paying into profit sharing since it started.
The Blackhawks, Penguins, and Islanders at some point in the last 15 years were dead last in attendance in the NHL, nobody calls Chicago or Pittsburgh or NYC a "bandwagon sports town." In fact the Bruins weathered their downturn better than any those teams.
You just don't like either Boston or its sports teams or both.
There is a reason that Boston is home to 3/4 Best Rivalries in American Sports (Habs/Bs, Yanks/Red Sox, Celtics/Lakers)
Last edited by btownboss4; 07-28-2016 at 09:15 AM..
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