Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
WouldLoveTo, have you been following the results in previous tournaments? I know you've been a regular participant for a while! There has been huge discussions about New Haven's performances in a number of previous tournament threads.
To summarize this all in short: The MEDIA often portrays New Haven and other CT cities as dumps, places with high crime, not nice, etc. However, the Media is very bias at the same time.
I feel all CT cities are underrated by the media, but especially New Haven. New Haven really is an amazing small city with lots of beautiful architecture, great food, Yale University (one of the most prestigious universities in the country), Long Wharf, and a bunch of other activities.
In general cities will always have their good and bad areas, but really New Haven doesn't have many bad areas. Newhallville/Dixwell is the only area I say to always avoid. Fair Haven can be rough at times, but in the day it's not too terrible. Then a few other areas like The Hill, and Fair Haven Heights are alright. They can have their rough patches in certain neighborhoods, but they're not too bad.
There are also some really nice areas with great housing in New Haven: East Rock and Prospect Hills are one of them. Downtown is AMAZING with so much nightlife. Then for areas with a bit more space and a slight suburban feel, you've got West Rock / Westville & East Shore / Morris Cove area. I honestly could see myself living in one of those areas of the city to be honest.
Now don't get me wrong, New Haven is NO NYC, Chicago, or LA, but it's like a much smaller version / fraction of those major cities.
All that to say, New Haven is a serious contender to win the whole tournament!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveM85
Relax, breathe, have a seat.
Where have you been? NH is a regular Final Four here along with Fairfield, Milford and then one of the following wildcards - Old Saybrook, Guilford, Madison, Stonington, or Essex, whichever one gets hot near the end.
That isn't going to change.
Seasoned ad exec Stylo has run an incredible decades long campiagn promoting Milford and NH on City Data since day one. The impact he/they has made cannot be understated.
To me, of those 3, only Fairfield is a true Final Four, but that's just me, it is what it is as they like to say these days.
I think I've done every tournament except the first but I really don't review past ones.
For me, I pick each match as if I've never seen it before.
You will notice I never vote for a city unless it's two cities against each other and then I'll pick one. Maybe. I think I had to vote for New Haven once this year because it was up against something like Waterbury or Bridgeport.
So I figure there has to be towns New Haven would lose to at some point but I guess not. And of course there are different combinations each time so one would think certain towns would get knocked out and others would rise to the top.
In my world a city is always below a town. Always. I mean, that whole "CT is between the two greatest cities in the world"??? pffffftttt Cities are loud and chaotic, it's nature that energizes me. I will never vote for a town in FFC if it's against a town in another county (unless it's against a city, then I have to think about it). FFC is just too close to NYC. Chaos. Turbulence. My BP is rising just thinking about it.
Did I say "always" yet?
Glastonbury is highly touted on the forum (as is West Hartford) so I figured it would easily beat New Haven.
I think I've done every tournament except the first but I really don't review past ones.
For me, I pick each match as if I've never seen it before.
You will notice I never vote for a city unless it's two cities against each other and then I'll pick one. Maybe. I think I had to vote for New Haven once this year because it was up against something like Waterbury or Bridgeport.
So I figure there has to be towns New Haven would lose to at some point but I guess not. And of course there are different combinations each time so one would think certain towns would get knocked out and others would rise to the top.
In my world a city is always below a town. Always. I mean, that whole "CT is between the two greatest cities in the world"??? pffffftttt Cities are loud and chaotic, it's nature that energizes me. I will never vote for a town in FFC if it's against a town in another county (unless it's against a city, then I have to think about it). FFC is just too close to NYC. Chaos. Turbulence. My BP is rising just thinking about it.
Did I say "always" yet?
Glastonbury is highly touted on the forum (as is West Hartford) so I figured it would easily beat New Haven.
My world is rocked.
Your personal tastes won't jive with everyone, it's all subjective
Are you talking about the shops at Farmington Valley? Why is that ruining it? Great place to go shopping in my opinion, and it's quite a nice area of shops if you ask me. Why is that a bad thing?
Yes... they plowed over a golf course for it. As a rule, large shopping areas and big box stores are bad things for a town. They look ugly and create traffic. I wouldn't want to live in a town that has areas like that.
Haddam vs Groton - wow, how on Earth did Groton make it this far? Is it just because a sliver of Mystic is in it? I know zero about Haddam, but it has to be better than Groton.
Yes... they plowed over a golf course for it. As a rule, large shopping areas and big box stores are bad things for a town. They look ugly and create traffic. I wouldn't want to live in a town that has areas like that.
Um, so so. I mean sometimes that is true, but I've never seen any serious traffic around Canton. And the ones in Canton really does not look ugly at all. I agree that some definitely can, but it is very subjective.
But wait, they plowed over a golf course to build that? I never knew about that. Interesting.
Fairfield vs Stonington - This is a tough choice but I’ve got to go with my hometown and two time winner. Southport is certainly as charming as Stonington Borough. Then you have Greenfield Hill, Sasco Hill, Brooklawn Park, Jennings Beach, Fairfield Beach, Sasco Beach, Southport Beach, Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, the Community Theater, the list goes on and on. Hard to beat all this.
Milford vs Madison - Another tough call. A very well rounded small city verses an affluent Shoreline East beach town. Madison has The Surf Club and the great R.J. Julia Bookstore. There’s Hammonasset State Park and Lenny & Joe’s. So much for such a small town.
Guilford vs Litchfield - The battle of the picturesque town greens. Litchfield is the classic New England town, known around the world for its charm and beauty. Guilford is an affluent Shoreline East town that is almost as pretty but less known.
New Haven vs Old Saybrook - A great city verses a classic beach own. Tough call but I’m not a city guy so I’ve got to go with the beach town. Beaches, seafood, The Kate, Fenwick.
Losers Bracket:
Haddam vs Groton - For the Subbase, Electric Boat, Mystic, Noank and Groton Long Point
Oxford vs Portland - Three great golf courses, Brownstone Adventure Park and St. Clement Castle.
East Haddam vs Monroe - No brainer, Goodspeed Opera House and Gillette Castle.
Canton vs Cheshire - Collinsville
Durham vs Southington - Classic farm town
Darien vs Wethersfield - Dozens of beautiful old historic homes and buildings.
New Milford vs Colchester - Battle of the Town Greens 2. Tough one but Harry’s is great.
Washington vs New London - Ocean Beach Park
Bethel vs Middlebury
Waterford vs Shelton
Clinton vs Roxbury
Salisbury vs Cromwell - River Highlands Tournament Players Club
Deep River vs North Stonington
Lyme vs Hartford - Our underrated Capitol City. So much that is overlooked.
Woodstock vs Bridgewater
Westbrook vs New Canaan - “Next Station to Heaven”, so true.
I think I've done every tournament except the first but I really don't review past ones.
For me, I pick each match as if I've never seen it before.
You will notice I never vote for a city unless it's two cities against each other and then I'll pick one. Maybe. I think I had to vote for New Haven once this year because it was up against something like Waterbury or Bridgeport.
So I figure there has to be towns New Haven would lose to at some point but I guess not. And of course there are different combinations each time so one would think certain towns would get knocked out and others would rise to the top.
In my world a city is always below a town. Always. I mean, that whole "CT is between the two greatest cities in the world"??? pffffftttt Cities are loud and chaotic, it's nature that energizes me. I will never vote for a town in FFC if it's against a town in another county (unless it's against a city, then I have to think about it). FFC is just too close to NYC. Chaos. Turbulence. My BP is rising just thinking about it.
Did I say "always" yet?
Glastonbury is highly touted on the forum (as is West Hartford) so I figured it would easily beat New Haven.
My world is rocked.
SILENT MAJORITY RULES!!!!!! Proven time and time again! I mean, much of Greater Hartford is really touted highly on the forum: Glastonbury, West Hartford, Avon, Farmington, and Simsbury. But they rarely ever make it past the Last 16. Trumbull is also highly touted, but it is a Last 32 or even Last 64 town. There's always a silent majority!!!
Anyways, I think the main reason that the towns that often get highly touted on the forum do not match the Tournament results is because anytime a town is highly touted on most threads, there is CONTEXT behind it. Like usually it is someone trying to relocate or move to CT or to another place in CT asking for advice on towns in close proximity to where they work. Believe it or not most work locations are in major cities or around major cities. This would mostly be Fairfield County and Greater Hartford where the market of jobs is located. Sometimes New Haven.
Therefore in those cases, people are looking for great towns that are in commute distance from where their job is. Most people have budgets as well as special requests like proximity, good schools for kids, etc. You see, there is a very specific context here.
That is one of the reasons we have the Tournaments. Because the Tournament reflects general preference of towns with ZERO context. Just which town you appreciate and prefer more in general if you had the option.
For example, let's look at a fixture with Glastonbury vs Madison. In general, Madison would be easy favorites going off of previous tournament results. However, if someone got a job in Greater Hartford area or Hartford proper and was looking for a nice town with good schools to live in, Nobody would recommend Madison. Because it is NOWHERE NEAR work. Glastonbury would be a much more logical choice due to commute distance, etc. Does that make sense?
Another example is Nobody would recommend Old Saybrook or Stonington as a place to live if work was in Fairfield County. Old Saybrook / Stonington would likely be favorites against most of FFC with the exception of maybe Fairfield itself, but if someone was looking to relocate due to work somewhere in FFC, Old Saybrook or Stonington would not be a logical choice at all.
As for beating New Haven, the only towns that would be slight favorites vs New Haven are Fairfield & Guilford. Milford & Madison would be 50-50 against New Haven. Stonington or Old Saybrook would likely have a 40% chance of beating New Haven. New Haven would be favorites against those two, but it'd be close. Other than that, I can affirm that no other town will likely come close to knocking out NH! It would be a huge upset if any other town even came close.
WOW, the PASSION, FIGHTS, and COMPETITIVENESS is STARTING!!!!! Always LOVE those moments of the Tournament!!!! Love how passionate people are about their favorite towns, and when it starts to get tough, it sometimes goes really crazy! Keep it up Folks!!!!
This is part of what the Tournament is all about!!!!
Your personal tastes won't jive with everyone, it's all subjective
Yep, and New Haven is really popular these days.
How boring would the world be if we only had upscale suburbs?
New Haven has world class museums, art, music, entertainment, architecture, a diverse and abundant food scene, nightlife, quirky/unique retail, etc.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Cities are loud and chaotic, it's nature that energizes me. I will never vote for a town in FFC if it's against a town in another county (unless it's against a city, then I have to think about it). FFC is just too close to NYC. Chaos. Turbulence. My BP is rising just thinking about it.
