Connecticut vs New England- w/ a Ray Allen twist

[sammydabiz]

Offseason sux, let's hope NFL gets going quickly. However I ran across an article about Ray Allen leaving the Celts for the Heat. It caught my attention because it accurately depicted (atleast imo) the view of Ct and New England.

http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2012/07/09/screw-ray-allen/

Personally, I grew up in Fairfield County, so my view may be slightly skewed from someone in Hartford, but I always thought CT has been like a guy who has two girlfriends. One being New England, and the other New York. Eventhough CT is and has always been a part of New England, I feel our state is very different than the remaining five states in NE in respect to way of life, culture, accents, but it can easily be seen in Sports teams one roots for.

Sure I have friends who are Sox and Pats fans, but in southern CT they are far and few between. In fact it's almost taboo, to root for a New England team when it takes you twice as long to reach Hartford than NYC. I made list of the most popular teams to root for (atleast from my area of CT) I tried to be as honest as possible considering, that with the exception of UConn and the Yanks, I'm not real fan of any of these teams.

#1- New York Yankees
#2- New York Giants
#3- New York Jets
#4- UConn
#5- New York Mets
#6- New England Pats (where we're all these fans when they had a center on their helmet?!?)
#7- Boston Red Sox
#8- New York Knicks (def would have been higher during the Starks, Ewing, Oakley era)
#9- New York Rangers
#10-Boston Celts(never been a huge NBA guy, but have found myself drifting towards the C's, mostly due to Rondo)

Personally, I've never felt like a New Englander, and always considered CT to be apart of the Tri-State area more so than a member of New England.

What do you guys think? Agree or Disagree? and where did you grow up in CT? For those of you who grew up outside the Nutmeg State what are the prevalent thoughts of those from where you grew up with respect to CT.

 

[Adios]

Having been into the Pats since the mid-80s, you are WAY off in putting the Jets ahead of the Pats, even in Fairfield County. The Jets are a Long Island team. It is NOT taboo to root for NE teams in Fairfield County.

 

[mauconnfan]

Grew up in Meriden and live in WesMass now..... I see it as:

Yanks
Red Sox
Giants
Celts
Rangers
Bruins

Thats the 60s70s.............now the Pats are actualy way up there Im sure.....especially here...lol

 

[johnhuskies95]

I live in Fairfield County currently, and towards the bottom half of the county at that.

I'll say that I think that Patriots are the second most rooted for team down here behind the Giants and the Red Sox are right behind the Yankees.

There is definitely a split IMO, but a lot of people here do identify themselves with New England. I've seen a LOT more UConn gear in the last two years than I've seen in awhile.

Bostoners are just pissed that UConn has become a national power over the last 15 years, leaving UMass and BC in the dust.

 

[sammydabiz]

Having been into the Pats since the mid-80s, you are WAY off in putting the Jets ahead of the Pats, even in Fairfield County. The Jets are a Long Island team. It is NOT taboo to root for NE teams in Fairfield County.

I find that interesting, for a minute I was going to put the Jets ahead of the G-men, but decided against it. But I can't tell you how many Jet fans I grew up with, even today in the limelight of Patriot history, it would be very tough for me to think of more pats fans I grew up with, than Jet fans. Ya I know the LI connection, but the gang green disease has definately spread to CT.....quite possibly the most onbnoxious fans in all of sports, but they're loyal and aren't flipfloppers, so I begrudgingly give them respect.

 

[Robertelamin]

I live in the Hartford area and the list could change every year almost every year.

Yankees/Sox and Patriots/Giants are split really evenly. Celtics are probably the more popular NBA team but I think the 90's Knicks teams were pretty popular. The Mets have a good sized fan base. There are hardly any Jets fans at all and I feel like there were more Bruins/Rangers fans back when the Whalers were still in Hartford.

Yankees
Red Sox
Patriots
Giants
Celtics
Mets
Knicks
Bruins
Rangers
Jets

 

[sammydabiz]

Also I forgot to mention, but it may be different now.

When I was living in CT sure there were Sox fans, but the numbers never came close to that of the Yanks and Mets. Perfect example, you were able to watch every Yankee game (ch 9, YES) and Mets game (SNY). But would only see the Sox on TV if they were on ESPN or some channel like that. It may be different now, but I never had a cable/sat service that carried NESN which played the Sox. My tv programming was centered around Tri-State news & sports (NY, NJ, CT) as opposed to news/sports centered around New Engand/Boston

 

[johnhuskies95]

Also I forgot to mention, but it may be different now.

When I was living in CT sure there were Sox fans, but the numbers never came close to that of the Yanks and Mets. Perfect example, you were able to watch every Yankee game (ch 9, YES) and Mets game (SNY). But would only see the Sox on TV if they were on ESPN or some channel like that. It may be different now, but I never had a cable/sat service that carried NESN which played the Sox. My tv programming was centered around Tri-State news & sports (NY, NJ, CT) as opposed to news/sports centered around New Engand/Boston

Yeah, Cablevision still doesn't carry NESN, but there are a large number of Red Sox fans.

 

[HeGotGame]

I grew up in Hartford and would say Uconn was the only common team.

Red sox/yanks are split and giants have more fans it seems then the pats and I know 1 jets fan. Knicks/celts are split too.

Of course you get the random fair weather who is a cowboy or 49er fan.

Personally I root for all Boston teams EXCEPT for the Pats who I despise and am a Giants fan. I live in Boston now so football season is rough unless the giants are playing the pats because we all know how great that has been recently for a giants fan.

I do feel like and consider myself a new englander but I agree that CT is different then the rest of new England.

 

[kibblesnbits]

In Eastern Fairfield County, the Yankees and Giants lead comfortably, but the Red Sox and Pats also lead the Mets and Jets by a significant margin. Winter sports are pretty much Rangers and Knicks, with all the rest, including Bruins, Celtics, Islanders, Nets, Devils, etc. lumped together far behind. Frankly that group also trails far behind UConn BB, which is up there with the MSG teams.

 

[kibblesnbits]

Yeah, Cablevision still doesn't carry NESN, but there are a large number of Red Sox fans.

That's not because teams like the Mets are more popular. It's due to the fact that lower Fairfield County is in the NYC market exclusivity zone. NESN is not permitted due to league rules.

That really used to anger me when I wanted to buy the MLB package. Here in Trumbull we couldn't get NESN but because our cable "head end" (the central office which receives satellite signals) is in Newtown, and that's in a NESN eligible territory, we also couldn't buy the Sox games. Now that MLB.tv is on the Internet that's no longer an issue.

 

[auggie22]

Offseason sux, let's hope NFL gets going quickly. However I ran across an article about Ray Allen leaving the Celts for the Heat. It caught my attention because it accurately depicted (atleast imo) the view of Ct and New England.

http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2012/07/09/screw-ray-allen/

Personally, I grew up in Fairfield County, so my view may be slightly skewed from someone in Hartford, but I always thought CT has been like a guy who has two girlfriends. One being New England, and the other New York. Eventhough CT is and has always been a part of New England, I feel our state is very different than the remaining five states in NE in respect to way of life, culture, accents, but it can easily be seen in Sports teams one roots for.

Sure I have friends who are Sox and Pats fans, but in southern CT they are far and few between. In fact it's almost taboo, to root for a New England team when it takes you twice as long to reach Hartford than NYC. I made list of the most popular teams to root for (atleast from my area of CT) I tried to be as honest as possible considering, that with the exception of UConn and the Yanks, I'm not real fan of any of these teams.

#1- New York Yankees
#2- New York Giants
#3- New York Jets
#4- UConn
#5- New York Mets
#6- New England Pats (where we're all these fans when they had a center on their helmet?!?)
#7- Boston Red Sox
#8- New York Knicks (def would have been higher during the Starks, Ewing, Oakley era)
#9- New York Rangers
#10-Boston Celts(never been a huge NBA guy, but have found myself drifting towards the C's, mostly due to Rondo)

Personally, I've never felt like a New Englander, and always considered CT to be apart of the Tri-State area more so than a member of New England.

What do you guys think? Agree or Disagree? and where did you grow up in CT? For those of you who grew up outside the Nutmeg State what are the prevalent thoughts of those from where you grew up with respect to CT.

couldn't agree more. nyc is the city. new jersey is our rival. and massholes are massholes.

 

[alexrgct]

Didn't move to CT until January 2008. Live in Tolland County. More fans of Boston-area teams up here. My impression is that as you move south and west, the NYC teams have a larger following for obvious reasons. And there are also ethnic splits; more Italian Yankees fans, more Irish Sox fans. May not be true, but that's been my experience.

 

[Ts5034]

Im from the New Haven area and have lived in CT my whole life. My teams from day 1 have been the Yankees, Giants, and UConn basketball...never was a hockey fan. Even though im from CT, i dont relate to the Patriots at all even though i live in New England. I never considered them the "home team". One thing i have noticed is there are not that many NBA fans in this state. Sure people follow it including myself, but i never had a favorite NBA team. I think the reason is because CT is all about UConn when it comes to basketball for men and women. By the way the CT Sun did a great job bringing in all the UConn girls. If the Sun didnt have any UConn alumni the attendance would be pretty poor.

 

[Cassius Klaiber]

I've lived in CT all my life, and from my experience, the Connecticut River is basically the dividing line for the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry. Almost everyone I know who grew up east of the river (like myself) are Sox fans, while those on the west side are pretty much all Yankees fans. There are exceptions here and there, sure, but that's what I've seen...

 

[Waquoit]

Fairfield County people are funny. I knew a guy in school who would tell people he was from NY. I called him on it once and he said that was the way he felt. After all, what had Connecticut ever done for him? I dunno, college for $2,500. a year maybe?

 

[uconndoit]

I spent my high school years and beyond in Westport - nobody I knew cared about sports teams.

 

[upstater]

I think your point of view is skewed by Fairfield Cty. When you say Southern ct., you have to include everything, from New London to New Haven all the way to Bridgeport before thinking it's Fairfield Cty. More Mets fans than Sox fans? Hard to believe. Where I grew up in S. Conn., it was evenly split between Yanks and Sox.

The Giants will always have a lot of fans because they are very successful and because they played in the Yale Bowl one season. Also remember, cable TV has a huge influence. It used to be that for decades, 30 NBC carried the Patriots games, while all of Fairfield Cty received WNBC Channel 4 out of NY (i.e. Jets). That meant Fairfield people never even watched Patriots games. In New Haven, we got both channels.

As for where were the Pats fans in the old days, the Foxboro fanbase has always been 15% season ticket holders from Connecticut. In the old days, prior to the three year Kiam-Orthwein debacle, the Patriots used to sell out the stadium and it was always jam-packed. As far back as I can remember, mid-70s, the Patriots have had solid support except for 1990-1993, when the owner team of Kiam-Orthwein was superseded in ineptitude by the management team headed by Jankovich which was superseded by the ineptitude of coaching legends like MacPherson and Rod Rust which was superseded by great QBs such as Tommy Hodson and Marc Wilson.

Finally, the Celtics--I have to believe--have a huge amount of fans from Conn. not only because of their success, but because they used to play games each year at the Hartford Civic Center, so--in terms of Ray Allen--I think they probably have more support of Ct. people as a % of NBA fans than any other Boston team. Bruins are probably in last place because of the Whalers. Next is either the Giants or Yankees.

1. Celtics
2a. Yankees
2b. Giants
4. Red Sox
5. Patriots

 

[Waquoit]

In the old days, prior to the three year Kiam-Orthwein debacle

It was just the Kiam debacle. Orthwein hired Parcells and Parcells turned the franchise around, taking them to the Super Bowl. Without Parcells, Kraft probably doesn't get the idea to hire Belechick, who got the team back on track. After Kraft's 1st choice failed miserably.

 

[tykurez]

Fairfield County people are funny. I knew a guy in school who would tell people he was from NY. I called him on it once and he said that was the way he felt. After all, what had Connecticut ever done for him? I dunno, college for $2,500. a year maybe?

It's the 6th borough of NY. I live down here now and generally find that people from this area are unaware that the rest of the state exists. Growing up outside of the county, we would travel all over the state and I think at one point I could tell you where almost every town was located. But it seems people from FC have no need to head north and thus have little clue about the rest of the state.

I grew up in Tolland ... and grew up a Yankees, Giants, Celtics fan. It's a strange combo and gets a lot of weird looks, but I often have to explain how much of CT is the Mason-Dixon line for NY/NE sports.

 

[billythekid]

I grew up in Stamford in the 70's/80's and I can't really recall anyone being or admitting to being Boston fans. Yankees/Giants/Knicks fans were followed by Mets/Jets/Nets fans. You might see some crossover, especially since the Nets always kinda sucked, but I don't remember seeing many Red Sox hats or Patriots gear out there.

 

[upstater]

It was just the Kiam debacle. Orthwein hired Parcells and Parcells turned the franchise around, taking them to the Super Bowl. Without Parcells, Kraft probably doesn't get the idea to hire Belechick, who got the team back on track. After Kraft's 1st choice failed miserably.

It was a debacle because Orthwein wanted to do what Kiam didn't, and that was to move the team to St. Louis. Once people knew that was his intention, fans didn't show up (1992). Orthwein actually owned the team for a year prior to Parcells joining.