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Nothing annoys me more being an NY sports fan when someone assumes I'm a Buffalo fan, or when people say Upstate NY's sports teams are Buffalo teams.
How you gonna say Buffalo represents Upstate NY when Albany is two hours closer to NYC?
People in Western New York do not measure themselves in relation to New York City. We are Western New Yorkers. We are not "upstate" - but I do consider most other parts of the state "downstate" from us.
When I hear someone from NY say they are from "upstate" then I assume they support the New Jersey teams (Jets and Giants). Western NYers support the NY team, the Bills.
Western NY is *IN* Upstate NY! Drives me crazy when people refuse to believe that a location can be in more than one region simultaneously.
Just because people outside NYS believe it to be doesn't mean it is.
Like most Europeans learn the 6 Continent Model with America being a single continent. However, basically nobody in the Americas believe that. Doesn't mean that North America isn't a continent because the French say its not.
Same here just cause a Marylander thinks Buffalo is in Upstate doesn't mean it actually is.
People in Western New York do not measure themselves in relation to New York City. We are Western New Yorkers. We are not "upstate" - but I do consider most other parts of the state "downstate" from us.
When I hear someone from NY say they are from "upstate" then I assume they support the New Jersey teams (Jets and Giants). Western NYers support the NY team, the Bills.
Interesting...I and some others take it that Upstate means anything in the state outside/north of the NYC metro portion of the state, with local sub regions like WNY, CNY, North Country, Finger Lakes, Southern Tier, Capital Region/District, Hudson Valley, Mohawk Valley, Catskills, Adirondacks, etc. People in many of those regions like/follow the Bills, Sabres, Syracuse University sports, etc. Some may like the NYC area teams or if you follow hockey, you may like the Montreal Canadiens or Ottawa Senators if you are from the North Country portion of Upstate due to proximity.
Utica area is mostly Italian American ancestry, and there's a particular alignment with NY teams among them (Yankees, Rangers, Giants), which follows the typical stereotype for downstate.
I don’t know, as any NY State metro will have a lot of Italians and team allegiance will vary. Some of this depends on age. In the Syracuse area, older people say above 55 tend to like the Giants, but younger people tend to like the Bills. You also have your share of Steelers fans. You also get others that like other teams from adjacent states.
Another way to look at this is the location of Upstate based grocery stores. For instance, only the Syracuse and Binghamton areas have both Wegmans(based in Rochester) and Price Chopper(based in Schenectady). Syracuse is the only Upstate area with those 2 and Buffalo based Tops. So, in terms of an area that has parts of various parts/regions of Upstate, Syracuse has a wide range of attributes.
Syracuse feels familiar across upstate. It has the industrial great lakes connection with Rochester/Buffalo while also having the hilly interior NE that will feel familiar to people from Utica, Binghamton, Schenectady, Albany. Syracuse is also about the point where the outer NYC region feels fades out. SU sports has fans across the state, unlike the Bills.
For those who don't know, I'm a former resident of both Elmira and Albany, with longtime ties to New York State, its a place I love very much and hold very close to my heart...
As a couple people previously mentioned, there is no one consensus on what constitutes "upstate"---->however because that is the case, you can't really proclaim someone as being wrong on the topic...
Also, native New Yorkers aren't the best people to answer this question, same with natives in similar threads, as the way natives and the larger American conscience view a state are gonna be different virtually anywhere...
For me, Upstate New York is all of NYS that isnt in metro NYC. This is NOT an unpopular opinion amongst NYers, again I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "consensus" opinion, but this isn't a perspective so unique that its shared by no one. And as a non-native of the state, I can tell you, regardless of mentions to the contrary in here, the poll results are pretty accurate---->Buffalo is most associated with Upstate by non-NYers...
No one who isn't from NY really cares about the different subregions or how NYers wanna argue about who is where. If you say "Upstate NY" the first city that jumps in most people's minds is Buffalo. The second city would be Syracuse...
Outside of the Northeast, few people know that Rochester, Albany, Utica exist, and couldn't tell you anything specific to those cities if you offered them a quick $1000. This isn't the case for Buffalo or Syracuse, which both just have larger brands as cities on a national scale, someone could at the very least identify them by their sports cultures and snowy climates, as those are the two main NY cities you see on national broadcasts like Weather Channel when discussing NYS weather...
Note, nothing is absolute, this isn't an all or nothing thing, but yes, most non-NYers associate Buffalo more with NY than anywhere else by a pretty substantial margin...
Now, within NYS, you're not gonna have a consensus answer because as seen within this thread, you'll have native NYers arguing about who is Upstate and who isn't. Buffalo has the biggest brand and name recognition nationally, outside of NY, but within NY, I think there's an almost equal sphere of influence Rochester and Albany have with Buff, with Cuse slightly behind those three: Rochester is the major city for the entire Finger Lakes region (which is kind of a Central/Western NY transition region), its the major city for most of the Southern Tier between Hornell and Binghamton, where most of the Southern Tier population lies (and the Southern Tier is also a Western/Central transition area that can side with both), and while Syracuse is large enough to support itself, it can definitely be argued that Roc is Syracuse's big brother city and lightweight the city Cuse views as the city in a way it doesn't look at anyone besides NYC...
I've also seen Rochester's influence extend downstate to Poughkeepsie and Newburgh--->it isnt "the city" down there but it is mentioned in a number of fashions that no other city west of Albany is, its pretty unique in that regard...
Albany is basically the major city to the entire Capital District, and most of the North Country and Mohawk Valley, the Southern Tier east of Binghamton, and the Hudson Valley from Poughkeepsie northwards...
So in NY State, I'd argue Rochester or Albany are more indicative or associated with general "Upstate" culture, its just outside of NY those two cities register minimally in the minds of most people, particulat once you leave the Northeast!
For those who don't know, I'm a former resident of both Elmira and Albany, with longtime ties to New York State, its a place I love very much and hold very close to my heart...
As a couple people previously mentioned, there is no one consensus on what constitutes "upstate"---->however because that is the case, you can't really proclaim someone as being wrong on the topic...
Also, native New Yorkers aren't the best people to answer this question, same with natives in similar threads, as the way natives and the larger American conscience view a state are gonna be different virtually anywhere...
For me, Upstate New York is all of NYS that isnt in metro NYC. This is NOT an unpopular opinion amongst NYers, again I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "consensus" opinion, but this isn't a perspective so unique that its shared by no one. And as a non-native of the state, I can tell you, regardless of mentions to the contrary in here, the poll results are pretty accurate---->Buffalo is most associated with Upstate by non-NYers...
No one who isn't from NY really cares about the different subregions or how NYers wanna argue about who is where. If you say "Upstate NY" the first city that jumps in most people's minds is Buffalo. The second city would be Syracuse...
Outside of the Northeast, few people know that Rochester, Albany, Utica exist, and couldn't tell you anything specific to those cities if you offered them a quick $1000. This isn't the case for Buffalo or Syracuse, which both just have larger brands as cities on a national scale, someone could at the very least identify them by their sports cultures and snowy climates, as those are the two main NY cities you see on national broadcasts like Weather Channel when discussing NYS weather...
Note, nothing is absolute, this isn't an all or nothing thing, but yes, most non-NYers associate Buffalo more with NY than anywhere else by a pretty substantial margin...
Now, within NYS, you're not gonna have a consensus answer because as seen within this thread, you'll have native NYers arguing about who is Upstate and who isn't. Buffalo has the biggest brand and name recognition nationally, outside of NY, but within NY, I think there's an almost equal sphere of influence Rochester and Albany have with Buff, with Cuse slightly behind those three: Rochester is the major city for the entire Finger Lakes region (which is kind of a Central/Western NY transition region), its the major city for most of the Southern Tier between Hornell and Binghamton, where most of the Southern Tier population lies (and the Southern Tier is also a Western/Central transition area that can side with both), and while Syracuse is large enough to support itself, it can definitely be argued that Roc is Syracuse's big brother city and lightweight the city Cuse views as the city in a way it doesn't look at anyone besides NYC...
I've also seen Rochester's influence extend downstate to Poughkeepsie and Newburgh--->it isnt "the city" down there but it is mentioned in a number of fashions that no other city west of Albany is, its pretty unique in that regard...
Albany is basically the major city to the entire Capital District, and most of the North Country and Mohawk Valley, the Southern Tier east of Binghamton, and the Hudson Valley from Poughkeepsie northwards...
So in NY State, I'd argue Rochester or Albany are more indicative or associated with general "Upstate" culture, its just outside of NY those two cities register minimally in the minds of most people, particulat once you leave the Northeast!
This has a lot of good points. You may have hit on something with your last point, as out of the bigger Upstate areas, Albany and Rochester both have a history of steady population growth. So, people from other parts of Upstate may consider those 2 more than say Buffalo or Syracuse, in spite of their more well known branding.
Syracuse feels familiar across upstate. It has the industrial great lakes connection with Rochester/Buffalo while also having the hilly interior NE that will feel familiar to people from Utica, Binghamton, Schenectady, Albany. Syracuse is also about the point where the outer NYC region feels fades out. SU sports has fans across the state, unlike the Bills.
Yes and being that it has 2 interstates that intersect the area, that allows for easy access to or from the city/area to other areas, lakes, mountains, etc. in that portion of the state.
Syracuse. Buffalo and Rochester are western New York not upstate New York.
I don’t think I knew this, but I definitely hear “Upstate NY” and don’t think Buffalo. I do wonder if it’s because people from Buffalo say they are from Buffalo. People from Syracuse, Albany, Binghamton, what have you, say Upstate NY.
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