Northern Louisiana sports allegiance (New Orleans, Shreveport: home, law, store)

[Mr. Black]

Hello, I'm just curious as to what professional sports teams folks in Northern Louisiana tend to follow, is it more of the Texas teams, or do people prefer the NOLA sports market. I'm genuinely interested in relocating to Northern Louisiana, so just want to get a feel for the culture down there, as far as sports goes, due to the fact that I'm an avid sports fan. Thanks in advance for all replies to my first post, and I appreciate all opinions!

[hdwell]

People up here like the Saints and the Cowboys; I used to thing it was all Cowboys but it is almost a draw now. Baseball is a mixed bag with no one team dominating. Basketball the same although there seems to be a Mavs and Spurs constituency locally in Shreveport. I guess there are a few Hornet fans, but really many poeple followed around Shaq.

[wastinaway]

Over the past 10 or so years, it seems to have shifted a lot more towards the WHO DAT nation!!

[Mr. Black]

People in this area aren't bandwagoners, are they? As people still liked the Saints circa 2006, and the number of Hornets fans won't considerably change during Davis' prime?

[Mwahfromtheheart]

Originally Posted by Mr. Black

People in this area aren't bandwagoners, are they? As people still liked the Saints circa 2006, and the number of Hornets fans won't considerably change during Davis' prime?

I don't think the bandwagon stuff is as big as everyone blows it up to be. The Saints are losing but I still see more Saints fans than Cowboy fans. Honestly I think there has always been more Saints fans but a lot of them were in the closet until Katrina hit and they felt like they wanted to support New Orleans. People in Shreveport are mostly proud to be Louisianians.

[BeenThereDunThat]

In NW La. the Dallas Cowboys were the NW La. fans choice historically, especially during the Landry & Jimmy Johnson years. After Katrina, the Saints became the focus more-so as they represented the city / state coming back from the "Storm". I also think a lot of the Cowboy's appeal was lost due to Jerry Jones' overmanagement of the team and him becoming more the focus than the coaches or players, so I think it turned a lot of people off. Can't speak for NOLA fanbase, I think in northern La. the fans will switch between Saints and Cowboys based on which team is doing better. Personally I couldn't care less as I don't really follow sports all that much except at parties and water-cooler chat.

If you understand anything about Shreveport history, the area has always been more E. Texas than Louisiana. Look at the names of the streets downtown and you'll get that ( Main Street is named Texas St. with Crockett, Travis, Milam, Fannin, etc. all heroes of the Alamo ). The main reason folks from Shreveport may claim any Louisiana cutural heritage came from back during the mid-1980's when the oil bust killed the local economy and local CofC got behind the Mardi Gras parades as an effort to promote the area for tourism and cash in on "Louisiana Cultural Heritage" as an economic tool. Up until the mid 1980's Louisiana was more "Tex-Mex" than "Bayou Cajun". Some say it still is. Politically and culturally...the state pretty much is divided North & South... with Alexandria / Pineville as the demarcation point.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by Mwahfromtheheart

I don't think the bandwagon stuff is as big as everyone blows it up to be. The Saints are losing but I still see more Saints fans than Cowboy fans. Honestly I think there has always been more Saints fans but a lot of them were in the closet until Katrina hit and they felt like they wanted to support New Orleans. People in Shreveport are mostly proud to be Louisianians.

Then why was there a Dallas Cowboys store in the Bossier City mall?

[Mr. Black]

Originally Posted by BeenThereDunThat

In NW La. the Dallas Cowboys were the NW La. fans choice historically, especially during the Landry & Jimmy Johnson years. After Katrina, the Saints became the focus more-so as they represented the city / state coming back from the "Storm". I also think a lot of the Cowboy's appeal was lost due to Jerry Jones' overmanagement of the team and him becoming more the focus than the coaches or players, so I think it turned a lot of people off. Can't speak for NOLA fanbase, I think in northern La. the fans will switch between Saints and Cowboys based on which team is doing better. Personally I couldn't care less as I don't really follow sports all that much except at parties and water-cooler chat.

If you understand anything about Shreveport history, the area has always been more E. Texas than Louisiana. Look at the names of the streets downtown and you'll get that ( Main Street is named Texas St. with Crockett, Travis, Milam, Fannin, etc. all heroes of the Alamo ). The main reason folks from Shreveport may claim any Louisiana cutural heritage came from back during the mid-1980's when the oil bust killed the local economy and local CofC got behind the Mardi Gras parades as an effort to promote the area for tourism and cash in on "Louisiana Cultural Heritage" as an economic tool. Up until the mid 1980's Louisiana was more "Tex-Mex" than "Bayou Cajun". Some say it still is. Politically and culturally...the state pretty much is divided North & South... with Alexandria / Pineville as the demarcation point.

I'm aware that East Texas isn't Louisiana, but from what I can gather, East Texas is as Deep Southern as any place, so I'm not understanding the potential negative connotations with associating NW Louisiana with East Texas, if these connotations are to say this area of Louisiana isn't AS or IS Southern as Central Louisiana. Now, if Shreveport is to be associated with Dallas, then that's another story...

[BeenThereDunThat]

Really no negative connotations about NW La. being more E. Texas, it's just a geographical & cultural fact.

Shreveport was the "jumping off" place during frontier times as it was once the western most city of any size
before Spanish territory. E. Texas cotton was floated from Jefferson TX (which was once thriving) via Caddo Lake
to Red River for shipment to New Orleans. The E.Texas land was considered the next big thing in those days with
Shreveport as the business hub to support the expansion. Oil booms in the early 1900's (Caddo Lake, Oil City, etc.) really
made Shreveport an O&G town, as Oil Barons like H.L. Hunt of Placid Oil established businesses here. Shreveport
was already focusing on "Texas Tea" and downtown was full of speculators, many from Texas, Oklahoma. Before
the O&G Bust of the mid-1980's you had many O&G businesses calling Shreveport home doing business with their
international counter-parts in Dallas & Houston. P&O Falco which was based in Bossier became part of what became
ENRON, just one example. So biz-wise, the Oil & Gas business culture had a lot to do with local cultural identity.

Back in those days, bank lobbies, law offices, petroleum offices, etc. had duck-stamp portraits and Dallas Cowboy
or Houston Oilers memorabilia and LSU Tigers. There was hardly a Mardi Gras poster or New Orleans Saints pic to be
found anywhere in the 1980's in NW La. Mike Barber who played at La. Tech played for Houston so there was that connection.

So Shreveport was more an East Texas / River-delta redneck / Urban Cowboy vibe than Cajun / Creole - BR-Nola vibe. Today it's a mix.

[Mr. Black]

Originally Posted by BeenThereDunThat

Really no negative connotations about NW La. being more E. Texas, it's just a geographical & cultural fact.

Shreveport was the "jumping off" place during frontier times as it was once the western most city of any size
before Spanish territory. E. Texas cotton was floated from Jefferson TX (which was once thriving) via Caddo Lake
to Red River for shipment to New Orleans. The E.Texas land was considered the next big thing in those days with
Shreveport as the business hub to support the expansion. Oil booms in the early 1900's (Caddo Lake, Oil City, etc.) really
made Shreveport an O&G town, as Oil Barons like H.L. Hunt of Placid Oil established businesses here. Shreveport
was already focusing on "Texas Tea" and downtown was full of speculators, many from Texas, Oklahoma. Before
the O&G Bust of the mid-1980's you had many O&G businesses calling Shreveport home doing business with their
international counter-parts in Dallas & Houston. P&O Falco which was based in Bossier became part of what became
ENRON, just one example. So biz-wise, the Oil & Gas business culture had a lot to do with local cultural identity.

Back in those days, bank lobbies, law offices, petroleum offices, etc. had duck-stamp portraits and Dallas Cowboy
or Houston Oilers memorabilia and LSU Tigers. There was hardly a Mardi Gras poster or New Orleans Saints pic to be
found anywhere in the 1980's in NW La. Mike Barber who played at La. Tech played for Houston so there was that connection.

So Shreveport was more an East Texas / River-delta redneck / Urban Cowboy vibe than Cajun / Creole - BR-Nola vibe. Today it's a mix.

Wow, that's bad... Sounds like the boundaries of Texas need to be expanded