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Rocks22 · Hall of Fame Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 9201

I’m sadly resigned to the fact that I am a HUGE college sports fan living in an awful college sports town. At the best of times, Boston is largely indifferent towards college sports. At the worst of times the media can be downright hostile towards college sports (especially the radio clowns). BC never gets the respect it deserves (did I just say that?). I’m willing to bet that no more than 5% of people on the streets of Boston would be able to name the ACC Basketball player of the year, even though he played in their own city. UMass, even when we’re successful in sports, can hardly get most people to drive a couple hours on the Pike to see a game. People can’t even identify with Your State U enough to make I-A football feasible. The only college sport that gets more attention in Boston than it does in most other cities is hockey, which is at best a niche sport on the national college sports scene.

Trying to think of other bad college sports cities, there don’t seem to be many worse than Boston. Orlando (not sure if you can think of it as a major city), shows little support for UCF, but there must be a lot of Gator and ‘Nole coverage. Ditto for Tampa. You think of Chicago as a pro sports town, but Northwestern, Illinois, and Notre Dame must garner interest in college sports. NYC isn’t a hotbed, but St John’s, Rutgers, and Syracuse must dominate sports pages when they’re hot. Denver is big into pro sports, but CU nearly competed with the Broncos for interest when I lived out that way. Not sure if it’s still like that (maybe Crooks can give his 2 cents on that one). San Francisco maybe?

So is Boston the worst college sports city in America. If not, who is?

ShadesOf96and98 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:57 pm Post subject:

all it takes is a little time spent outside of New England, especially in a college sports hotbed, to realize how little college sports mean to Beantown in comparison to the rest of the country

MassMan06 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:48 pm Post subject:

There simply isn't enough interest to go around. Boston has had four major sports teams since 1960. Show me a major college sports city/town and I'll show you one that doesn't have nearly the same amount of success and longevity from it's professional teams, if it even has any.

ShadesOf96and98 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:58 pm Post subject:

all the cities in Texas, Atlanta and Miami are exceptions, all college sports cities that have had pro success both recently and historically

Rocks22 · Hall of Fame Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 9201

Detroit has had pro championships in hoops and hockey recently, has one of the oldest baseball teams, and for whatever reason cares about the Lions. Yet, come September there are two words on everyone's mind.

Go Blue.

Hell, they even care about the nearby cow college in Detroit.

Seriously, for anyone who votes no, I'm interested in which cities are thought to be worse.

CrooksisRhyming

Rocks22 · Hall of Fame Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 9201

CrooksisRhyming · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:18 pm Post subject:

I'd say it goes like this nowaday... pretty similar:

Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos

(Three miles, and then...)

Avalanche
CU Football
Nuggets
Rockies
CU Basketball
DU Hockey
Air Force Basketball
CSU (when they play CU)

econalum · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:23 pm Post subject:

The littlest "big" city - with narrow interests and an overwhelming interest in revenge.

I am a native Bostonian - product of the school system, etc. It is just about the worst college sports town, except where the college has established itself as a local leader - BU in hockey, BC - Football plus good coverage if hockey or basketball doing well, UMASS - occasonally football and mostly basketball, Harvard vs. Yale in football.

The issue is so many colleges, plus a remarkably intense interest in Red Sox and lately Pats (last 5-6 years).

The WEEI incursion into Western Mass, as predicted, has done NOTHING to promote UMASS or college sports. It simply means "Mike from Westfield" gets to weigh in on the Red Sox.

It is what it is.c
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The ole' swayback · Junior Joined: 15 Nov 2004 Posts: 504

Doc Moonlight · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:55 am Post subject:

I can't say that Boston is any "worse" than Dallas or St Louis. Despite a loyal alumni base who consider it a presitge university, SMU can't sell out a football game and you are more likley to get coverage of UT or Texas A&M (4 or 5 hours away) than of SMU or TCU.

St Louis media do cover SLU, but not at the expense of the Cardinals.
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Kosty · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:14 am Post subject:

Rocks22 · Hall of Fame Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 9201