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So Cal residents are pretty crazy about their sports too. Maybe not as die hard as a New Yorker is for the Yankees, but here are some examples:
- USC Alumni are fanatic about their team, I mean it is one of the best in the country so why wouldn't they. They live and breath USC football.
-UCLA fans live and breath for UCLA basketball.
-Dodger fans are rampant and a major part of the culture.
-And finally, virtually everyone in LA loves the Lakers.
-The Angeles in Anaheim I would admit are more of an "entertainment team" though it does have some die hard fans.
-Also, many So Cal residents really love soccer, and the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA are gaining momentum and presence. They have a pretty loyal following.
So, sports are huge in So Cal and a major part of the culture. I think it is very unfair to blow the area off as superficial people that would only think of it as "entertainment." Honestly, people love their teams here.
Well, my experience in six years is there are some people who are passionate, as there is anywhere. But when the Ducks won the Stanley Cup... the Lakers won the NBA Finals... the Angels won the World Series... USC won the national title.... it wasn't really a city-wide, everything stops, no cars are on the road, 80%+ of the city is watching the game type of thing as it would be in so many other cities. Some of the fans who watch are passionate (even there, it's a lower percent than other places I've lived, a higher percent here are casual fans), but that's not what I'm looking for -- I'm looking for a place where that passion is the rule among virtually all of the city, not a place where a handful or smaller portion are passionate.
I'm also a big soccer fan and attend all Galaxy and Chivas USA games. They are the best fan bases in SoCal, in my opinion. Yet I know more people who do not watch these teams than do watch them -- so I wouldn't say it's at the heart of SoCal culture.
The heart of SoCal culture to me is the weather, the beach, where you live, what you drive, In-N-Out, "California casual", campfires at the beach. From what I have experienced, sports is something that's just entertainment to most people, as opposed to a passion of the masses.
Good discussion -- the answers are interesting, and pretty much in tune with what I expected.
The only thing I find odd... a lot of people say places like Atlanta can't be sports towns because of the percentage of people born out of state. Yet only 30-35% (I forget the exact number) of Coloradans are born in Colorado -- the transplants adopt the local teams when they move there, as it is part of becoming a Denverite or a Coloradan. It's expected -- you can still cheer for your old city's team, but only when they don't play the locals -- the locals need to come first! I wonder why this does not happen elsewhere?
Maybe professional sports, but this place gets crazy during college football season.
I wouldn't say that. College Football is boring, in my opinion. What is odd, however, is that there are more locals who support the Georgia Bulldogs as opposed to Georgia Tech. Very odd, considering that the Bulldogs are from Athens, not Atlanta.
Good discussion -- the answers are interesting, and pretty much in tune with what I expected.
The only thing I find odd... a lot of people say places like Atlanta can't be sports towns because of the percentage of people born out of state. Yet only 30-35% (I forget the exact number) of Coloradans are born in Colorado -- the transplants adopt the local teams when they move there, as it is part of becoming a Denverite or a Coloradan. It's expected -- you can still cheer for your old city's team, but only when they don't play the locals -- the locals need to come first! I wonder why this does not happen elsewhere?
& roughly 45-50% of metro Atlantans are Georgians.
Good discussion -- the answers are interesting, and pretty much in tune with what I expected.
The only thing I find odd... a lot of people say places like Atlanta can't be sports towns because of the percentage of people born out of state. Yet only 30-35% (I forget the exact number) of Coloradans are born in Colorado -- the transplants adopt the local teams when they move there, as it is part of becoming a Denverite or a Coloradan. It's expected -- you can still cheer for your old city's team, but only when they don't play the locals -- the locals need to come first! I wonder why this does not happen elsewhere?
17.4% of Denver residents are foreign-born. About 50% of the US born residents were born in Colorado. This includes children born to non-native parents. Of the adults I know, very few were born here. Yet we cheer our Broncos, Rockies, Avs, Nuggets, Rapids, etc. After being here so long, I've actually become a Broncos fan. I went to the Steelers-Broncos game, and decided some time during the game I was for the Broncos. DH, the big U of Nebraska fan who always said he didn't like pro football, was also for the Broncos. Who knows why? Maybe we've lost too many brain cells b/c of the altitude to know any better!
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Originally Posted by StuckPA
So who are the ones who flip over cars and set fires over the games,college or pro fans?
Good discussion -- the answers are interesting, and pretty much in tune with what I expected.
The only thing I find odd... a lot of people say places like Atlanta can't be sports towns because of the percentage of people born out of state. Yet only 30-35% (I forget the exact number) of Coloradans are born in Colorado -- the transplants adopt the local teams when they move there, as it is part of becoming a Denverite or a Coloradan. It's expected -- you can still cheer for your old city's team, but only when they don't play the locals -- the locals need to come first! I wonder why this does not happen elsewhere?
When the Red Wings come to Washington there are usualy more fans in Red Jerseys than in Capitals jerseys. The same thing happens in many other cities. I could have sworn seeing it happen at the Pepsi center earlier this season. I wonder what it will be like tonight since the Avs are down 0-2 and looking bad doing it.
Whatever. I'm not the one spending money on obscenely overpriced sports attire AND obscenely overpriced game tickets, rooting for a bunch of overpaid jocks who will retire in comfort while the 'fan' has to scrape by in his or her later years.
And how is that any different than the people who support overpaid singers by going to their concerts and buying their albums, or support overpaid artists by buying their obscenely overpriced paintings? Everybody has things they are passionate about, and usually that does mean those passions are making someone else very rich. But sports fanatics- even to the level you described- are not unique to Pittsburgh or even the US, there are very, very loyal sports fans all over the world- look at how soccer fans are in much of the rest of the world- those stadiums are madhouses during games.
Caps jersies (home) are red, too. Are you sure you werent seeing the Caps fans?
I know what a Red Wings Jersey with names like Yzerman, Fedorov, or Howe on the back looks like. I'm aware of the new Caps jerseys as well. However, the last time the Wings played in DC, the Caps hadn't started using those jerseys yet. Further, the cheers were louder when the Wings scored. Does that answer your question?
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