Philadelphia-a baseball or a football town?

There's been some controversy over whether Philadelphia is a "baseball town" or a "football town". Some guy named "guapo", in a Baseball Think Factory discusion of whether Boston is a baseball town (you have to be a true helmet-head to think otherwise), does a nice job in looking at various cities' loyalties.


This is how guapo sees it:

Anaheim: Disney town

Atlanta: Football town

Phoenix: Basketball town

Baltimore: Football town

Boston: Baseball town

Chicago: Basketball town

Cincinnati: Baseball town

Cleveland: Football town

Dallas: Football town

Denver: Football town

Detroit: Hockey town

Miami: Football town

Houston: Football town

Kansas City: Football town

Los Angeles: Basketball town

Milwaukee: Baseball town

Minneapolis: Hockey town

New York: Basketball town

Oakland: Football town

Philadelphia: Football town

Pittsburgh: Football town

San Diego: Baseball town

San Francisco: Football town

Seattle: Football town

St. Louis: Baseball town

Tampa: Football town

Toronto: Hockey town

Washington: Football town


Now, being Philadelphia born and bred, I can only weigh in on my city, although I think SF is more of a baseball town than guapo would claim. As to whether we're more partial to baseball or football, I can honestly say: Nether.

Philadelphia's favorite sport, a (well-informed) cynic would say, is to dump on the athletes it claims to love. It is sick, I tell you. Sick, sick, sick! An awful lot of fans seem to have a better time dumping on the "bums" when they lose than they have fun with winning teams, which, in all honesty, have been all too rare here. And there always has to be a scapegoat: Think, Von Hayes, Tom Bladon, and Norm Snead, for the Phillies, Flyers, and Eagles respectively.

And the guys who get it the worst are those from Philly themselves, like Del Ennis, who was a hell of a player for the Phils in the fifties. And Dick Allen, not from here but a guy with HOF talent, was essentially booed out of town.


For the region overall I guess the Eagles are number one-these are dumb, violent times and people enjoy their dumb, violent sport. Where I live, in Delaware County, I think the Phillies (and maybe the Flyers too) are bigger than the Eagles. I'm basing this on bumper stickers, clothes, etc. seen on the denizens of my fair county, or their vehicles.

My personal preference is for Australian Rules Football, or, in a pinch, New Zealand RF. No, of course baseball's my first love. It is the great American sport. The NFL, as I've written elsewhere, isn't a sport at all.