Best sports city in Tennessee? (Memphis, Knoxville: home, university, live in)

[JMT]

On the Knoxville forum a couple of us have briefly debated whether Knoxville or Nashville is the best sports city in Tennessee. So I figured, hey, let's make it a poll for everyone to enjoy.

I'm keeping it to just the four big cities: Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. Try not to let your personal likes/dislikes of certain teams taint your choice (in other words, don't NOT vote for Knoxville just because you don't like the Vols).

And be sure to tell us why you voted for a particular city.

[jabogitlu]

Anyone who doesn't vote for Knoxville hasn't been to Neyland Stadium.

[Steve_TN]

Wouldn't that depend on how loyal of a UT or Titans fan you are?

[JoeCartpath]

Which sport?

Basketball would have to be Memphis since the University of Memphis has a top notch program, and the city has the only NBA team in the state. But then Knoxville has the Lady Vols...and the men's team has been top notch the last several years.

Football...gee, do you vote for Nashville for it's NFL team, or Knoxville because it has the Vols. I'd have to go with Knoxville...simply because the Vols are more of a statewide obsession, they can almost double the population of the city for a home game, and they have more history. But then Memphis has the Liberty Bowl and the Southern Heritage Classic. Do we lose points because of the Tigers?

Baseball? Not to slight the other minor league cities, but Memphis has the best stadium....and a history that goes all the way back to the Chicks. And I believe the Redbirds are in the next level below the majors (but I could be wrong....I'm not a big basball fan).

Golf? Memphis has the only PGA tournament, but Nashville has hosted both the Champions Tour and the LPGA. I know Chattanooga has a Nationwide Tour event...and I think Knoxville does. Nashville probably has the most really nice courses.

Tennis? Memphis has a big league pro event...do any of the other cities host one?

Auto racing? Both Memphis and Nashville have NASCAR events, although neither is a first tier event. Doesn't Nashville host either an IRL or CART event? Several small tracks around...plus drag strips - and Memphis hosts a NHRA event. SCCA pretty much avoids Tennessee due to lack of good tracks, but they do visit Memphis occasionally. I heard Oak Ridge was getting a first class road course, but I haven't heard anything about it lately. Oh, I forgot about Bristol - the only NASCAR Sprint Cup race....but is the track in TN or VA?

Hockey? Who cares....this is the South! Anyway, Nashville gets the nod on that one.

Skiing? I suppose Gatlinburg wins that one by default...

Even though Memphis is mentioned most often above, and Memphis and Nashville have the only top level professonal teams, I think I still have to vote for Knoxville. The fact that college football is king in this part of the country, and UT has the biggest stadium - and routinely fills it up - is reason enough. Add to that the fact that the mens basketball team has improved to the point that they could beat the Lady Vols , and I have to vote for Knoxville.

[jabogitlu]

The Bristol Track is in Tennessee.

[TNRyan23]

Knoxville is a one horse town when it comes to sports.

Nashville ( Middle Tennessee ) has the NFL ( Titans ) NHL ( Predators ) MiLB ( Sounds ) as well as NCAA ( TSU, Belmont, MTSU, Austin Peay, Lipscomb, Vanderbilt, and TN Tech to a lesser extent. )

Am I leaving any teams out ?

[JMT]

Even though I live in Knoxville and my blood runs orange, I still voted for Nashville.

As an over-all sports city, Knoxville has U.T. and a minor league hockey team, and that's it. Knoxville doesn't even have baseball since the local AA team is actually in Sevier County.

For sheer numbers, Nashville has a heck of a lot more sports than Knoxville. Besides two professional sports teams, Nashville has four NCAA programs (Vanderbilt, TSU, Belmont, and Lipscomb) and AAA baseball.

If someone says that Knoxville should be able to claim Sevierville's AA baseball team (the Tennessee Smokies) then Nashville should be able to claim Murfreesboro's NCAA teams at MTSU, and Memphis should be able to claim the minor league hockey team in DeSoto County MS.

So here's how it stacks up (in my view) not including suburbs. The cities are listed in alphabetical order so as to not give the appearance of favoritism.

Chattanooga:

• UTC Mocs sports (15 sports teams)
• AA baseball
• water sports on Chickamauga Lake
• two public golf courses

Knoxville:

• UT sports (19 sports teams)
• minor league hockey
• water sports on Lake Loudon
• three public golf courses

Memphis:

• NBA
• AAA baseball
• U of Memphis sports (18 sports teams)
• PGA tournament
• major tennis tournament
• eight public golf courses

Nashville:

• NFL
• NHL
• AAA baseball
• Vanderbilt sports (15 sports teams)
• TSU sports (11 sports teams)
• Belmont sports (15 sports teams)
• Lipscomb sports (15 sports teams)
• water sports on Old Hickory Lake and Percy Priest Lake
• seven public golf courses

You can see why I think Nashville is the best sports city in the state.

[TNRyan23]

Nashville also has the Nashville Super Speedway !

Edit: Trevecca University also has 9 sports teams

[H10]

I'm reposting some of this from the Knoxville Forum:
I don't consider MTSU to be in Nashville, since it is in Murfreesboro... And as far as I'm concerned, you could assemble a "dream team" of the best athletes from Vandy, Lipscomb, Belmont and TSU and they couldn't hold a candle to the starting lineup of the Volunteers (this year may be a bad example, lol). Summit & Fulmer are the winningest coaches in their sports, Summit's actually the winningest coach of any sport. Bruce Pearl has a strong record too.

The, arguably, biggest female & male athletes of 2008 are Candice Parker (Olympic Gold Medalist) & Peyton Manning (NFL MVP & Superbowl Winner). Peyton was recently named the most bankable name in the NFL (again) & Candice was the highest ranked female on a recent poll of Olympians' popularity. Both also happen to be UT alumni.

Knoxville also has the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, which is more a prestige thing than anything else. Neyland Stadium (Vols Football) is the largest Football Stadium in the Southeast, 4th largest in America and 7th largest in the world (college, professional or otherwise, in terms of capacity).

Thompson-Boling Arena (Vols Basketball) was constructed as the largest Basketball facility ever built in the United States (college, professional or otherwise).

Originally Posted by TNRyan23

Knoxville is a one horse town when it comes to sports.

When that one horse is Secretariat, and the arena is the Kentucky_Derby, then I'm pretty sure his owners would take him over all of the Commodores in the world .

[JMT]

Originally Posted by H10

I'm reposting some of this from the Knoxville Forum:
I don't consider MTSU to be in Nashville, since it is in Murfreesboro... And as far as I'm concerned, you could assemble a "dream team" of the best athletes from Vandy, Lipscomb, Belmont and TSU and they couldn't hold a candle to the starting lineup of the Volunteers (this year may be a bad example, lol). Summit & Fulmer are the winningest coaches in their sports, Summit's actually the winningest coach of any sport. Bruce Pearl has a strong record too.

The, arguably, biggest female & male athletes of 2008 are Candice Parker (Olympic Gold Medalist) & Peyton Manning (NFL MVP & Superbowl Winner). Peyton was recently named the most bankable name in the NFL (again) & Candice was the highest ranked female on a recent poll of Olympians' popularity. Both also happen to be UT alumni.

Peyton Manning plays more in Nashville these days than in Knoxville.

And with the Titans, Predators and Sounds in Nashville there are a heck of a lot more excellent athletes playing in Nashville than in Knoxville.

Originally Posted by H10

Knoxville also has the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, which is more a prestige thing than anything else. Neyland Stadium (Vols Football) is the largest Football Stadium in the Southeast, 4th largest in America and 7th largest in the world (college, professional or otherwise, in terms of capacity).

Thompson-Boling Arena (Vols Basketball) was constructed as the largest Basketball facility ever built in the United States (college, professional or otherwise).

Yeah but how often is it sold out? Having 10,000 empty seats in an arena is embarrassing. And before the Vols started winning, it wasn't unusual to have 14,000 empty seats in that cavernous arena.

The atmosphere in a sold-out Vanderbilt basketball arena with 12,000 seats is much more intense than in a half-empty Thompson-Boling Arena with 12,000 fans. Granted, when Thompson-Boling is sold out it's electric. But U.T. fans are so fickle with supporting basketball that it won't take much to empty out the arena.

Originally Posted by H10

When that one horse is Secretariat, and the arena is the Kentucky_Derby, then I'm pretty sure his owners would take him over all of the Commodores in the world .

If we're talking about just football or women's basketball, then obviously Knoxville is the top spot in the state. But Vanderbilt and Memphis (especially Memphis) have fantastic basketball experiences, and Nashville has a heck of a lot more of just about every other sport than Knoxville.

If people would take off their orange-colored glasses and look at it objectively, there is absolutely no way that anyone could say that Knoxville is a better sports town than Nashville.