Honest to god, they should just clear all professional sports out of Florida. With apologies to Tampa Bay (the Buccaneers do pretty well and a lot of the fans the Lightning attracted after 2004 have stuck), and the Magic. But the Jaguars, Dolphins, Panthers, Marlins, Devil Rays, and Heat are all embarrassments.
The Dolphins have great fans?! They don't even sell out playoff games down there!
Buffalo and Philadelphia have wonderful fans.
The vast majority of the South is terrible for professional sports.
All the Miami and Atlanta teams should go, their fans are terrible. The Bucs and Lightning are fine. The Jags should go, not sure about the Magic. Both New Orleans teams fans sucked pre-Katrina, but it;s hard to move them post-Katrina. Not sure about the Panthers and Titans, but Bobcats, Predators, and Hurricanes fans blow loads.
Maybe the south and southwest sunbelt cities deserve some of the reputation but the poll may also reflect an age bias rewarding memories of old NE cities when range of sports and teams was more concentrated. For instance, if Boston and NY are such strong sports cities then where are the recent hockey trophies? And why has D.C. been excluded- talk about a perennial loser. I would take strong exception to Philly and Cleve being on this list.l
I would take strong exception to Philly and Cleve being on this list.
Why? Any list which doesn't put Cleveland as by far the most tortured sports city is just silly. Seattle and Philly are probably the closest seconds, but Cleveland gets this unwanted award hands-down.
They have zero major sports championships since 1964 (when the Browns last won a league championship, and they've never even been to the Super Bowl). The Cavs have never won the NBA Finals, and the Tribe hasn't won a WS since 1948 (even though they've been to a few recently). Combined, that's something like 0 for their last 140 attempts at a title. I can't think of any other city with three major sports franchises which has a streak like that. They've had some good teams lately, but at the end of the day, isn't winning it all what really counts?
Philly at least won an NBA Finals in 1983 and a Stanley Cup in 1975. The Sonics won the NBA Finals in 1979. It's not much, but still better than Cleveland.
Why? Any list which doesn't put Cleveland as by far the most tortured sports city is just silly. Seattle and Philly are probably the closest seconds, but Cleveland gets this unwanted award hands-down.
They have zero major sports championships since 1964 (when the Browns last won a league championship, and they've never even been to the Super Bowl). The Cavs have never won the NBA Finals, and the Tribe hasn't won a WS since 1948 (even though they've been to a few recently). Combined, that's something like 0 for their last 140 attempts at a title. I can't think of any other city with three major sports franchises which has a streak like that. They've had some good teams lately, but at the end of the day, isn't winning it all what really counts?
Philly at least won an NBA Finals in 1983 and a Stanley Cup in 1975. The Sonics won the NBA Finals in 1979. It's not much, but still better than Cleveland.
