NFL 2014 - 2015 Season Thread

Famm_sl said:

Top ten best fanbases.

Basis: Hometown crowd reach, defined as the percentage of the metropolitan area that watched, attended, or listened to a game in the last year.
Three years' worth of television ratings.
Three years of stadium attendance based on the percentage of capacity reached.
Three years of merchandise sales, according to NFLShop.com.
Social media reach, using a combination of Facebook and Twitter followers based on the team's metro population

Starting with #1:

#1 Green Bay Packers - In Photos: The NFL's Best Fans - Forbes

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I read that list yesterday, and was a bit surprised KC wasn't on there, but not overly so once I realized they didn't include tailgating.

Alex_sl said:

Steelers fans are also fucking everywhere. I probably see a Steelers hat or shirt everyday. And this is in just about every city across the states.

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Also bandwagon fanbase. The number of Steeler items I saw last year compared to previous years took a nosedive. They also had issues getting asses to the stadium last year despite them always talking about their massively loyal fanbase.

Axlrose_sl said:

Interesting that six of the ten teams mentioned: Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Green Bay, New England, and Pittsburgh are open stadiums and have been known to host some brutally cold and wicked weather games in the past.

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Also, none of those teams have good college football to compete with.

Cant disagree with the pack @ #1. Good people, good city.

Doesn't hurt going from Favre to Rodgers as the team's QB.

Tenks_sl said:

Also bandwagon fanbase. The number of Steeler items I saw last year compared to previous years took a nosedive. They also had issues getting asses to the stadium last year despite them always talking about their massively loyal fanbase.

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Fans gravitate towards teams that generally win a lot, shrug. Happens in all sports -- I dont remember seeing many Heat fans before LeBron, or Seahawks jersies that I see everywhere now. Its especially bad here in Florida, since all the teams in this state suck balls. I asked some guy how he got to be a fan the other day and he said "I just picked them because they have the most Super Bowls"....wanted to punch him.

Tenks_sl said:

Also bandwagon fanbase. The number of Steeler items I saw last year compared to previous years took a nosedive. They also had issues getting asses to the stadium last year despite them always talking about their massively loyal fanbase.

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Pretty much, Pittsburgh, GB, Dallas. All massively bandwagoned nationwide. The thing that really grinds my gears is all the TV broadcasts where they talk about how well GB or Steelers fans "travel". Motherfucker they aren't traveling, those are all shitbags who live there.

I don't even like madden, but ima buy it.

Rengak_sl said:

Also, none of those teams have good college football to compete with.

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That definitely can be a part of it. I was just talking to a friend recently in St Louis(I'm in KC) and we were discussing how it's pretty interesting that neither the Chiefs nor the Rams stadiums have anywhere close to the rabid atmosphere that they did back in the 90s(early 90s for the Chiefs, late 90s for the Rams), even though both franchises have had some decent years here and there, they haven't been total dumpster fires since then or anything. I honestly think some of it can be contributed to Mizzou rising to a decent level of prominence in the past decade. I have a lot of friends(myself included) who used to go to Chiefs games regularly. Now we go to Mizzou games on Saturday, and after spending all day tailgating 2 hours from home, we basically spend Sunday laying on the couch recovering, watching the NFL. Just can't do 2 straight days of 12-hour drinking & football. Saturday/Mizzou used to not even be an option in the 90s, they were horrid, so everyone in the state focused on the NFL more.

And for some of the newer expansion/NFL teams, you'll never see a fanbase for the Jags that compares to the Gators or Florida St, or a fanbase for the Texans that compares to Texas A&M, or Titans stadium being anywhere near the atmosphere that Neyland stadium(Vols) is on Saturdays. Even the rise of the Seahawks fanbase in recent years has conveniently coincided with possibly the worst stretch of Washington/Wash St football in decades. No one card about the Seahawks back in the 80s/early 90s when the Washington Huskies were great.

I guess one of the few exceptions I can think of would be the Steelers and Penn St, neither has waned in popularity(Penn St still packs in 100K every Saturday despite all the recent problems). They've both been going strong for decades without fail. College football isn't big in New England, Jets/Giants/Pats have that region locked down.

joeboo_sl said:

neither the Chiefs nor the Rams stadiums have anywhere close to the rabid atmosphere that they did back in the 90s(early 90s for the Chiefs, late 90s for the Rams), even though both franchises have had some decent years here and there, they haven't been total dumpster fires since then or anything

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Yeah, real mystery here...fans aren't as rabid even for their not-quite dumpster fire teams. Totally baffling.

Penn St. fans are pretty notoriously fucking retarded. Bags of urine and shit routinely.

Grimmlokk_sl said:

Yeah, real mystery here...fans aren't as rabid even for their not-quite dumpster fire teams. Totally baffling.

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I still remember the night game from when I was 10 when the Cowboys beat the Redskins the year they went 1-15 but football in my family has always been a reason to get together and have an awesome time that still continues to this day. Our get togethers for football rival what most people would consider thanksgiving, between the men women and children we average on a bad day low 20's and I think the highest count was in the 70's and that has been going on in my family since the 60's and the tradition isn't dying anytime soon as all the kids are die hard football fans, we're worse than religion with indoctrination!

BrutulTM_sl said:

On a nice note, I was at a preseason game at Candlestick a few years ago when the Raiders were visiting so there were tons of Raiders fans there and everybody was yelling and having a good time. There was a family in front of us that had everyone in 49ers gear except one 13ish year old kid wearing a Raiders jersey. Every time th Raiders made a first down he would stand up and do this little dance move and some drunk guy 10 rows down started yelling at him. Finally the drunk guy stood up, turned around, and yelled "I'm gonna kick your ass in front of your mother!". Immediately some bodybuilder looking dude stood up, pointed at the drunk guy and yelled "SIT DOWN". The guy dropped like a sack of potatoes and didn't say another word for the rest of the game. It was pretty damn funny.

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I actually like that, it's fun, until someone takes it too far. I remember before the game I went to, Saints fans would run up to us and start talking trash, then we would talk trash back at them, then we all laughed and wished each other good luck, was fun.

I was at a Dallas/Washington game in DC and there were two drunk fans from each team pointing and cussing each other out, each with what looked like an 8 year old in tow. Like it wasn't even funny trash talk or some kind of good natured rivalry craziness...this was just two guys acting like assholes.

It's the alcohol (although getting drunk on $9/bottle Budweiser swill is...yeah) and the fact that pro teams attract people who end up letting their team mean *way* too much to their lives. I love watching college football in person...NFL is best in the comfort of the home and a big TV.

BurnemWizfyre_sl said:

I still remember the night game from when I was 10 when the Cowboys beat the Redskins the year they went 1-15 but football in my family has always been a reason to get together and have an awesome time that still continues to this day. Our get togethers for football rival what most people would consider thanksgiving, between the men women and children we average on a bad day low 20's and I think the highest count was in the 70's and that has been going on in my family since the 60's and the tradition isn't dying anytime soon as all the kids are die hard football fans, we're worse than religion with indoctrination!

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Our hardcore group of Bengals bar regulars are becoming like family. I've spent Christmas with them every year I've lived here. We've spent some Thanksgivings together too, but that's the holiday most people choose to go back to Cincy. We have Skyline chili cookouts and everything. It's a great atmosphere.

Is it just me or is Geno Smith not a dumpster fire, speaking of dumpster fires, when Eli and the OC for the giants said they wanted Eli to complete 70% this season did they mean 70% incompletion %?

BurnemWizfyre_sl said:

Is it just me or is Geno Smith not a dumpster fire, speaking of dumpster fires, when Eli and the OC for the giants said they wanted Eli to complete 70% this season did they mean 70% incompletion %?

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I think if Eli tries hard enough he could hit 70% ints.

I'm proud of all of Eli's records, okay?

Itlan_sl said:

I'm proud of all of Eli's records, okay?

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Me too, he has done a lot of for the people out there with down syndrome no doubt.