starrsville

I think Regis gave Kelly one of those gold helmets to wear in a race!

GoTravel

snowrooster, you've completely lost me.

A pro team doesn't have to be in the same city to have fans.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

starrsville, we have nothing else but Clemson and South Carolina football. We haven't figured out who the Carolina Panther fans are.

snowrooster

Evidently. The point being discussed was that most of the big time college teams with huge fan bases are not in the same city as professional teams. You cited a bunch of college teams & pro teams in different cities (hours away from each other in fact) so your follow up didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

GoTravel

snowrooster, college and pro football and geography are not related. Whether or not a pro team is close by has nothing to do with whether or not people follow pro or college football.

For me, I think pro football is tacky (just my opinion mind you) and college ball is much better.

It isn't a case of one being better than the other, it is a preference. I can't tell you how many times we've been given box seats to Panthers and Falcons Games (the Panthers are three hours away and Falcons six) and we've turned them down.

However, we jump on Atlanta Braves tickets all the time.

It isn't that there isn't a pro team to cheer for, it is that a lot of people don't care for pro ball.

Same with basketball.

snowrooster

I love college ball - never said one was better than the other, just made an observation. You are welcome to disagree with me - you have disagreed w/me regularly for years ever since I mentioned I've heard Myrtle Beach referred to as the "redneck riviera." Some people find pro ball tacky, for others it's Myrtle Beach. To each his own.

snowrooster

And again, my point was not in relation to college versus pro ball - my example was Kentucky Basketball. I think it holds true for the most part for anything. You have a town with only one restaurant, that's where everyone goes if they want to go out to eat in town. It's everyone's favorite restaurant in town 'cause it's the only one. A new restaurant opens and people start going there. While many people will stick with the tried & true old restaurant, some will name the new restaurant as their favorite. When you have options, people choose between them. When there aren't, they go with what they've got. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but I don't think it's really that controversial of a point to make.

GoTravel

snowrooster, when you said Myrtle Beach was tacky and the 'redneck riviera', you admitted you had never been to Myrtle Beach before.

snowrooster

Exactly, and yet you still take issue. I merely said I'd heard people refer to it as such.

SAnParis

I will be the first to admit that I avoid MB like the plague... there is nothing there I like, or that even closely resembles a vacation spot. Hordes of kids hanging out of cars, traffic at a virtual standstill, too many people on the beach, strands of tacky gift shops, chain restaurants & hotels. I work w/people that spend half the summer there...I don't understand it, but I don't have to...

SAnParis

You may want to do this...if you take the top ten drawing college football teams I would guess the one thing they have in common is that there is no pro team sharing the city w/them. Not just football either, any other pro team.

SAnParis

http://www.ncaa.org/stats/football/a...ttendance' Check it out. Only USC & UCLA would qualify as 'sharing' w/a pro team.

Kal

You mean sharing with the LA Rams and LA Raiders? :-?

Myrtle Beach?? I used to date her sister Sandy.

starrsville

SAnParis, it had been 20 years since I'd been to MB and my impressions were not positive. Because of a job change, I've found myself there at least once every 2 months for the last year. I'm beginning to really like MB. There are some stretches of "tacky" but there are some places there I really, really like.

There are plenty of beaches to try out, but MB may be worth another look-see.

I still have the same old impressions of Panama City, but my Buckhead friend swears there is a very nice regeneration going on. I'm not in a hurry to find out for myself though.

mrsd2fan

BKELLY- Iknow exactly where Utica is, we'd always have to go through there to get to Old Forge. I never thought I'd ever be so homesick, but I am.
BTW, We almost moved to Charlotte, but loved the small town atmosphere of Athens.

SAnParis

Been traveling to that area since I was a child 40+ years and MB has only gotten worse. Back in my youth we used to go there every once in awhile, off season now is OK if it isn't 'Bike Week' or something. Unless you like to golf or shop, there is little reason to go there (for me anyway). Maybe because I am more used to (& prefer) quiet, sedate beaches w/nothing but single family homes & a smattering of people (in season). The crowds of MB are not endearing, at all.

LT

As a die-hard Buckeye fan, I've been to 2 Rose Bowls and Memphis for the Liberty Bowl. Now that I am exiled on the east coast, I fly back for at least 1 or 2 home games a year. My sister & b-i-l are flying to Austin next month to watch the Bucks beat the longhorns!

In 2003, when the Bucks won the National Championship, there were almost as many Buckeye fans outside the stadium as inside -- just so they could be near the action.

I've often joked that if Ohio State played an exhibition game in New Zealand, the stadium would probably be filled with scarlet and gray!

GO BUCKS!!!!

P.S. Agree with some of the others here -- pro ball is crap . . . overpaid, spoiled players who don't give a damn, arrogant owners, and you have to get a 2nd mortgage to pay for the tickets and a beer & dog.

mooselywild

College players (and fans) are all heart!

Go Vandals!

LLindaC

yeah, and I don't want to P*** you off cause you know i love you, but are you kidding when you say all that's going on in KY is UK basketball? Are you kidding? Where is your head- get it our of your ...Petrino ( U of L) has brought great football back to our state, thank you very much!

hoopstraveler15

Buffalo Bills Baby! I love the Bills and would go to Pluto and back to watch the Bills play in the big game. In the meantime however ill just pray my heart out and hope for the best!

JJBhoy

You did say football, right? ;-)

In May 2003 my team, Celtic (from Glasgow in Scotland) qualified for the UEFA Cup Final against Portugese club FC Porto which was held in Seville, Spain.

The Olympic Stadium in which the game was to be played had a capacity of 52,000 and Celtic's allocation of tickets was around the 23,000 mark.

The official estimate is that 80,000 Celtic fans were in Seville that day although some estimates go as high as 100,000. Obviously the bulk of the fans came from Scotland, Ireland and the rest of the UK, but we also saw Celtic fans there from all over North America as well as from Hong Kong, Australia & South Africa.

The vast majority (including myself) knew that we didn't have a hope in hell of actually getting into see the game but that didn't really matter to us - we just wanted to be there to support our team.

As it turned out I was one of around 10,000 or so who watched the game on big TV screens set up in one of the city's parks. Similar crowds watched at other venues in the city and of course just about every bar & cafe in Seville was packed with Celtic fans.

Unfortunately the game didn't go our way & we lost 3-2 to a late goal scored in extra time. Despite the disappointing result and the generally poor reputation of British football fans there was only 1 arrrest and that was when a fight broke out between 2 brothers!

If anyone is interested here's a link to the picture I have on my desktop as a permanent reminder of a wonderful day;

http://www.celticsupporterassoc.co.uk/sevfansb1.jpg

Jim