'Sorry, NFL: Baseball Is Still America's Pastime'

Atlanta is way more of a college sports town -- specifically the Dogs and SEC football -- than a pro sports town.

 

Atlanta is one of the worst sports towns in the country.

 

Never said the Giants weren't huge... But they're not the Niners...

 

They probably are, though, now. You said "the only time the interest in the Giants was anything close to the 49ers" was when the 49ers sucked. That's just not correct anymore. Interest in the Giants is insane.

I'd wager that if both teams went on the market right now, the Giants would sell for more.

 

How do the Raiders and A's fit into that? Are they the White Sox/Mets/Angels/Nets of that area?

 

They are that to the extreme.

The Raiders had trouble selling out (and even had a few games blacked out) when they were winning division championships and going to the Super Bowl. The A's ... we've gone over that, but their owner doesn't even want them to be successful because he wants to move. Stadium is the worst in both leagues.

I'd guess city of Oakland itself identifies more with Raiders, but that's such a small part of the population anyway.

 

My wife and I went to an A's game a few years ago and couldn't believe how terrible the experience was. They can't do anything about the weather, but the Coliseum is ugly, first of all. And the food is terrible. Baseball is like sex or pizza, so we survived. But, yeah, relatively speaking, terrible stadium.

And we're White Sox regulars, if that tells you anything.

 

With the ballpark, you're probably right... I wonder if that will change when the Niners move into the new stadium...

 

"You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me. ... Hell, I can get you a toe by 3 o'clock this afternoon... with nail polish. These fucking amateurs ..."

 

There are diehards in every city, with every team. But the casual fan --- and the media -- tend to jump on the bandwagon of whatever team is winning at the time. In the 90s, the Mariners were winning and the Seahawks stunk, so Seattle was a baseball town. Now it's the opposite.

In some eastern and Midwestern cities, baseball has far deeper roots. The Yankees and Red Sox, Cardinals and Cubs have been going at it for a century, so the older generation might migrate to them.

Another factor.... in the days before television (and long before cable television), fans followed games on the radio. Baseball seems to be easier to follow on the radio because there is typically only one ---or maybe two --- things happening at a time. In football, you may have 5 or 6 things happening on any given play: the quarterback drops back and looks downfield, the offensive and defensive linemen are waging a fierce war along the line of scrimmage, the receiver is trying to get open and catch a pass, while the defender is trying to prevent the same. The trainer is tending to the star running back who just got his bell rung. The cheerleaders are doing their thing. So much going on at the same time and that's easier to follow on television.

 

When football's been outlawed in 45 years, we won't have this petty fight anymore.

 

Minneapolis-St. Paul is interesting. It's certainly a good hockey market, college or pro. But it seems to shift with whomever is winning. When the Twins were going well, the Metrodome was rocking and they were the toast of the town. Ditto for the Vikings or Timberwolves. Been a while since the hockey team has been a serious contender for a league championship, but they still sell out regularly and have a good following.

I suppose all things being equal --- and it seems they never are --- I'd would probably be Vikings first, then Twins/Wild and then Timberwolves. But the Twins are the only team to win anything in my lifetime.