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Message: [QUOTE="Kemba Time, post: 4188221, member: 2962"] And that’s exactly what defacto means. Nobody here actually calls UConn Connecticut’s pro team, and there are many other pro teams our fans root for, but in attendance, interest, coverage and reach, UConn basketball functions as the state’s defacto pro team just as Nebraska football, Kentucky basketball, Alabama football and Kansas basketball do in their respective markets. I think you are taking it as a negative in terms of amateurism, but it’s really a positive in terms of just how much fans across this state care about the program. You can go to any corner of the state and the basketball teams are likely leading the sports page year-round, you can wear a UConn shirt anywhere in the state knowing you are in UConn country and fans in every part of the state feel connected when UConn wins. It’s why this state went fanatical for UConn basketball when both programs started winning big. I also grew up outside of the Northeast and would 100% agree that people in those places view their teams in more of a high school sports way than we do in New England, but that goes so far beyond this convo. Fans very rarely boo their actual professional teams, let alone college players, in place like Milwaukee, Kansas City or Denver whereas in Boston or New York, you will get booed for one bad at-bat or half. I was in Milwaukee when the Brewers went to the NLCS and described it as Milwaukee’s high school team is going to state — signs on windows, pep rallies at schools, free burgers at local restaurants — it’s just different outside of this area and it trickles from pro to college without a doubt. As they say in Always Sunny in Philadelphia “We’re a very passionate fan base” [/QUOTE]

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