Let's Have Dinner at Elway's Tonight!
My wife Glenda and I were having a disagreement last night. We were talking about why we aren't interested in following professional sports, and I asserted that the obnoxious and ubiquitous Broncos worship in Denver was the biggest turn-off for me, and that most other cities aren't quite as obsessed with their local pro sports teams. Glenda disagreed, saying that any city that has a recent Super Bowl victory is as ga-ga over their football teams as Denver is.
Of course, I realize that cities like Chicago and Dallas are probably even worse than Denver in this regard. And Green Bay, but that's more of a municipal pride thing there, from what I understand, being that the team is owned by the city. And also, please understand that my assertion is purely empirical; I don't know jack shite about pro football. I couldn't even tell you who played in the last Super Bowl.
So if you've lived in Denver and another city, or you have an appreciation for this sort of thing, tell me, is it true? Is Denver inordinately, unusually obsessed with its football squadron?
Coming from being raised in California where people hardly know there are sports teams, Denver is a pretty darn good sports town. But Denver has nothing compared to living in Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide fanbase. I have never seen anything like that. People schedule weddings around Alabama games, yell chants across Wal-Mart speakers, and trash the historic campus.
- R'k October 01, 2007 16:37Go Rockies!
- R'k'l October 02, 2007 07:53I will never understand the appeal of watching grown sweaty men in tight pants running around fighting over a ball.
- Bruce October 02, 2007 09:05But then again, I'm not gay.
Fuck Pro sports and their corporate welfare funded stadiums, spoiled rich steroid cheater assholes the whole lot of em. They dont deserve one fucking thin dime of your money people, starve em out.
Here in Amerikkka Soccer should be called Futbol and the NFL should be renamed to be the ARRL American Rules Rugby League.
And fuck the NCAA too. Millionaire coaches exploiting poor kids for their own gain, welcome to the machine, and if you arent one of the 1 in 10,000 to make it to the pros, back to the ghetto with your unfinnished "communications" degree, oh and sorry about that life debilitated body we left you with, we had to win that game, you should have done more roids and been tougher I guess kid.
- Seatown Stetson October 10, 2007 15:37Over here in Michigan, Detroit fans are staunch fanatics despite the fact that our teams have major periods of suckage. Right now, the Wings and Pistons are good; the Lions, not so much. But it's a matter of pride that we don't let the lack of a winning record deter us from fanaticism. Like everything else in Detroit, we're hard fucking core. We despise bandwagoneers. And if you're a Michigan State fan, as I am, you are doubly hard core.
We also don't have the same feelings as, say, Seattle Stetson. Attending sporting events is some of the best fun you can have around here. We love our pro sports teams, dammit!
- Fantasy Football Queen October 11, 2007 13:49FYI, Stets, re: NCAA sports. Here in Michigan, there are a lot of former college stars who never made it to the pros that not only finished their degrees, but have gone on to be very successful business owners, among other things. I think your depiction of "back to the ghetto with you" is a little oversimplified. The fact is, a lot of these kids get college degrees who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford them. Just my humble opinion.
- Fantasy Football Queen October 11, 2007 13:53Now I haven't been in Old Missoula much in past few years, but when I've been there I've noticed that our hometown is downright Griz crazy. As in, kuh-RAY-zee. You can't swing a dead (bob)cat in the MSO without smacking it into an XXL "Go Griz!" sweatshirt. Our grizzlies have come a long way since the days that me and my buddies spent football games throwing rocks at each other under the bleachers of Dornblaser Field, which rarely held more that about 1500 asses. Nowadays, every time you go to Missoula, they've stacked another several hundred seats onto that campus stadium and are bragging about new attendance records. Someone (ok, it was my dad) told me that U of M is the only non-Division I (top-tier) NCAA school to land in the top fifty in revenue from licensed merch. And looking around in Missoula last time I was there, I'm not surprised. The Griz are literally the only game in town.
- mhaze October 14, 2007 20:17