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So please don't act like people in Cali are somehow superior athletes to those in the NE.
Football is very much enjoyed as a spectator sport in the NE, but the fact is that on HS level it's not nearly as big of a deal. Kids go into all kinds of sports.
It's not exactly rocket science. HS football is biggest in rural areas and in the south. In the NE if you're not in high school and you don't have a kid in hs, there's basically no reason to care about HS football. There are bigger tickets in town. Better things to do.
That's why Texas is such a huge producer of Talent, HS football is like a religion there. HS football just isn't as big of a deal in urban areas. You talked about how PA produces a lot NFL talent compared to other NE states. For the most part these kids are not coming from Philly or Pittsburgh, they're coming from the middle of the state where football is huge and it's about as rural as anywhere in America.
The bigger football is, the more money it brings it, the better likelihood that HS teams will have good work-out facilities, be willing to pay money to hire high quality coaches ext. In the northeast football just isn't as big of a deal. In Texas, practically every HS has a multimillion dollar football stadium... in the northeast, that money is more likely to go towards... idk, actually educating children. My HS football team didn't even have a true home field.
Also kids in the northeast tend to be a lot more diverse in their extracurricular activities. Football reigns supreme in rural areas, and they also play baseball and basketball and have track and field... in many cases that's about it though. In the NE kids who might have excelled at football are instead playing lacrosse, ice hockey, soccer, golf, tennis etc.
Most NFL football players came from rural areas and the south... this isn't exactly groundbreaking news.
Now as for actual NFL teams NE:8, CA:3
Miami, Houston, LA, and alot of urban areas in the South and West-coast produce NFL talent. It's far from exclusively rural. The number 1 HS football team in the nation a couple of years ago was Miami Northwestern, a school in the middle of the urban ghetto Liberty City neighborhood in Miami. Long Beach Poly on the Eastside of Long Beach also produces alot of NFL talent.
Miami, Houston, LA, and alot of urban areas in the South and West-coast produce NFL talent. It's far from exclusively rural. The number 1 HS football team in the nation a couple of years ago was Miami Northwestern, a school in the middle of the urban ghetto Liberty City neighborhood in Miami. Long Beach Poly on the Eastside of Long Beach also produces alot of NFL talent.
There are of course exceptions. But notice I didn't just say, rural, but also in the south. Miami isn't exactly southern in a lot of ways, but they sure love their HS football like most southern communities.
HS football in general is just not a big deal in the NE like it is in other parts of the country. That's the point I'm making.
There are of course exceptions. But notice I didn't just say, rural, but also in the south. Miami isn't exactly southern in a lot of ways, but they sure love their HS football like most southern communities.
HS football in general is just not a big deal in the NE like it is in other parts of the country. That's the point I'm making.
I agree. I'll give the North credit in sports like Hockey. They are far more superior athletes than the South or West-coast in Hockey. And states like PA do pretty damn good in producing HS Football talent. PA is a hot-bed for HS football. I'm a Phins fan, so I'm forever in debt to PA for Dan Marino.
So please don't act like people in Cali are somehow superior athletes to those in the NE.
Football is very much enjoyed as a spectator sport in the NE, but the fact is that on HS level it's not nearly as big of a deal. Kids go into all kinds of sports.
California also produce the NBA players. Although NY, MI and Il can make a strong per capita case. However, they can’t both of the other two major sports.
Most in Major League Soccer, even per capita.
Hockey? Whatever. Their attendance is less than MLS.
This is despite intense competition by other sports vying for participants. The place also generates huge numbers in volleyball, golf, tennis and swimming, and routinely sends the most athletes to the Olympics, by a huge margin.
All these other sports don't prevent CA from providing the NFL with a player pool (and the NE's 8 NFL teams) at 2:1 per capita rate relative to the NE.
However, those are other subjects for other threads. Calling this thread dumb sounds like avoidance.
California also produce the NBA players. Although NY, MI and Il can make a strong per capita case. However, they can’t both of the other two major sports.
Most in Major League Soccer, even per capita.
Hockey? Whatever. Their attendance is less than MLS.
This is despite intense competition by other sports vying for participants. The place also generates huge numbers in volleyball, golf, tennis and swimming, and routinely sends the most athletes to the Olympics, by a huge margin.
All these other sports don't prevent CA from providing the NFL with a player pool (and the NE's 8 NFL teams) at 2:1 per capita rate relative to the NE.
However, those are other subjects for other threads. Calling this thread dumb sounds like avoidance.
It wasn't conspicuous. My point was to point out that there are sports that the NE bests California. Baseball is not one of those sports so I left it out. You seem to be boasting about the amount of people that play in the NFL that are from California, as though it proves that people in California are somehow athletically superior to those in the NE. I was simply pointing out that there are other sports where this is not the case.
Also as far as NHL vs MLS attendance, the MLS absolutely does not outdraw the NHL. The MLS has a higher average attendance than the NHL... but it has a higher average attendance than the NBA as well, this is simply due to the fact that MLS teams on average play in large stadiums, whereas NBA and NHL teams play in considerably smaller arenas. If you actually compare each league ticket to ticket, it's not even close.
The MLS draws about 5.5 million fans a year. Whereas the NHL sold over 21 million tickets. Obviously the NHL has more games, but the demand is there to buy tickets for those games, a demand that doesn't exist for the MLS. The difference in popularity between the two leagues is further demonstrated in nielsen ratings where the NHL had a peak of 7.8 viewers in Game 1 of last year's Stanley Cup Finals, whereas the highest rated MLS game this past season was the MLS cup game the Galaxy won that drew less than a million viewers and was actually outdrawn by a rebroadcast of EPL game on another channel. The MLS can't even get soccer fans to watch the MLS, much less regular people. The MLS broadcast on ESPN has lower average ratings than ESPNs broadcasts of WNBA games.
To act as though the MLS is even remotely as popular as the NHL in the country is absurd.
Telling though that you pushed aside the NHL and tried to act like it didn't matter. Makes it clear you are the one avoiding things.
California has a lot of people, a lot of good HS sports programs, and produces a lot of athletes. But to act as though people in California are athletically superior to those is the NE is A) simply not true B) a really dumb topic for a thread.
Why were Rhode Island and CT left out? I know their small but ME, NH, and VT were there.
For the record I counted them in my counts, I just copied the state abbreviations nslander posted in his initial post. I didn't actually read through them, apparently he forgot them, they're certainly a part of the NE.
First of all, it is questionable that MD and DE are in the northeast. Second, many places in the Northeast vary in terms of sports interest. For instance, NY is huge for Lacrosse players and many HS Football players play that sport. It is easier to get a Lacrosse scholarship than a Football scholarship at a major school. Same for Hockey as well. So, top sports in Northeastern HS's are more spread out. Basketball is huge in urban Northeastern areas as well.
Then, you have NYC, which isn't laid out for Football to be very popular at the HS level. In fact, some of the best HS Football in NY State is on Long Island and Upstate, as well as the Downstate/NYC Catholic League. Here's an example of the HS Football teams in NY State: calpreps.com
Also, like another poster stated, the Northeast has other options in terms of sports and is very pro sports oriented, with some exceptions.
To make a correction, Western Pennsylvania has great football in and around Pittsburgh. Especially the blue collar cities/towns. Some NE PA schools are pretty good as well: calpreps.com
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