Is NY a Baseball or Basketball Town?

NY is New York! Well represented on all fronts when it comes to Sports! Come on man! I guess he don’t know since he is asking somebody! I’m not mad at him. He must be starving to play. I hope he uses his time wisely trying to be in Melo’s ear! Hahaha!

Slow news day, huh? Anyways I voted basketball.

I think he wants motivation from the fans. He knows the Yankees have been put on a pedestal from the city for so long (Met fan here). Championships run this town and the Knicks haven’t done that since 1973.

Needless to say, I love how Amar’e gets the fans involved. That’s all that matters in my mind.

Overall I think what makes the Knicks stronger in the long run than the Yankees is that compete with the Mets for fans. On the other hand, the orange and blue are “New York’s Team.”

For Knicks fans, the Nets don’t even exist on the map and that’s what makes the Knicks so marketable to all of the Empire State.

I do worry though, the Knicks better convince all of Brooklyn that they are a legitimate contender before the New Nets move there. Then we will only be potentially four out of five boroughs strong.

Baseball was invented in NYC. The first game was between the New York Knickerbockers and the New York Nine in 1845. It was played on a cheap lot that they could afford to rent, which happened to be in Hoboken.

Basketball is an important part of New York, but it is a relative newcomer.

NFL .. Not even close IMO ..

It is basketball.Even though alot of people will say baseball(Yankees)if the knicks were actually a winning team you would see that it is basketball.

It depends who is winning. Right now its is a baseball city, no question. If the Knicks get good again, things could change. Doesn’t really make a difference though. All the true fans support the team no matter what. I don’t really care about the bandwagon fans that jump on when everything is running smoothly, and jump off when things are shaky.

It’s baseball by a wide margin. Baseball in NY is a year round sport, pretty much regardless of which team you root for. Pitchers and catchers report in early February, so basically Feb-Oct is actual baseball, then you have the GM meetings, winter meetings and hot stove league kicks off, so the winter becomes about trades and free agents. Before you know it, you’re counting down the days until spring training.

Basketball, while certainly more relevant when the knicks are doing well, doesn’t dominate year round (and probably not even the entire basketball season). From June-Nov, basketball matters here during draft week and this year, FA, and you can argue that even during the season when the knicks are good, the end of the NFL season gets more attention.

Point is basketball is the center of attention for maybe 1-2 months a year (april, may), when the knicks are good, but overall its baseball and its not even close.

NY is definitely a baseball town. The Yankees are by far the most popular team in the city now. And let’s face it, when the Mets are bad (which is often), people are still talking about them. When the Knicks are bad, they are considered by most to be irrelevant. That being said, when the Knicks are good, they are definitely a big deal in NY, but they need to be good.

It’s a good question. When the Knicks were good, NY was all over them. But the Knicks have never had a prolonged championship run like the Yankees, so it’s tough to really compare.

Baseball or basketball, NY definitely has some of the greatest, most passionate fan bases.

Baseball to most. Football to some. Basketball to me.

Become a watchable team with good attitude and effort, and it will be a basketball city once again.

I agree

It’s impossible to tell, it really all depends who’s winning. In 94 it felt like a basketball and hockey town. It was a baseball town through the Yankees dynasty, especially during the subway series. It was all about the Giants in 07. The Yankees took it back last year but Jets might steal the thunder this year.

NYC is such a diverse yet dedicated sports town that all franchises get their moment in the sun if they win.

The difference is that baseball and football have 2 teams (Hockey too if you count the Islanders but they haven’t been relevant in a while) so it’s rare when the Jets, Giants, Yankees and Mets are all doing poorly in the same year.

What really? Not even close? There has to be 3:1 Yankee cap to person ratio in this city. 12:1 if you count the Chinatown knockoff hats that vaguely look like the Yankees “NY” symbol.

It’s a baseball town. Not only the Yankees and Mets, but the Dodgers and Giants.

Easily baseball. Even when the Mets are losing they still are the talk of the town.

According to “sources” Melo would rather join the Rockets than the Knicks. Owners son met with him recently.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-anthonykroenke082410

Don’t believe it

Me neither it makes no sense whatsoever. Two people from NYC would rather go farther away from their hometown? To Texas?

PG- Brooks
SG- Martin
SF- Melo
PF- Scola
C- Yao

That’s a pretty solid starting five.

I agree but Yao? Who knows how he’ll come back.

2. Still in the Western Conference. Lineup still isn’t better than Lakers, Thunder etc.

3. They most likely would have to add in Brooks to make the cash work out.

4. Doesn’t help his wife’s career, it’s no closer to the east coast. When your from NY (Lala) Texas is a HUGE culture change.

I don’t doubt that Rockets are probably on Melo’s shortlist but Yao has only a couple years left, if any at all. Would Melo really sign an extension with them? If Yao goes down can Melo win with Brad Miller as his center? Martin is injury prone himself.

On paper yea but…….

1.Yao is a real injury concern

2.Martin is good when HEALTHY!!!!

Honestly like brookdon said it makes no sense in the case of what I just mentioned with those 2 players and houston being a smaller market.

Houston wouldn’t have to add Brooks as Denver has Billups and Lawson at PG.

They could offer the Knicks 1st picks in 2011 and 2012 plus rookie contract guys; Courtney Lee, Jordan Hill, and Patrick Patterson, then throw in Battier or Jeffries expiring to make it work money wise.

You can’t add C h a s e B u d i n g e r into the blog as it causes moderation, but he could be traded as well.

You actually couldn’t be more wrong. Baseball is NOT a year round sport in new york city. If ANY of the main sports are year round its basketball. How many indoor baseball fields do you know? Basketball is a year round.

Here is the TRUE indicator…what kind of athletes does NYC produce? I think we produce more/better basketball players than any other sport. Why? Because more people play basketball in NYC than any of the other major sports.

You can’t compare the knicks to the Mets. The Mets stink but they are at least “competitive”. Any team that is at the bottom of their sport for a whole decade will become irrelevant for the time being. That ain’t the Mets of the last decade.

It’s this close and the Knicks haven’t won squat for the last 10 years plus and not a Championship since 1973. Not bad in my book. The Knicks can then take over by simply make the Eastern Conference Championships. We got that in a year or two.

I guess my perspective is a little different being a Mets, Jets and Knicks fan. Misery loves company.

I can’t believe that more people voted baseball, even though this is the _Knicks_ blog. Jeez.

I voted BB all the way!

NY is a winner town…just like everywhere else…
whoever the good team is that year will be the team everyone likes. Yankees continued success gives them the edge, but what if NY only had the Mets…this would def. not be a baseball town then…sorry met fans

There hasn’t been a Knicks parade in… that could be influencing the numbers.

Maybe the Liberty will do it this year.

I can’t believe it was even that close. Anyone who has lived in NYC for some time knows it’s a baseball town by far. It’s not even close actually. It’s baseball and then basketball a distant second with football periodically rising to second…

Your joking right. NYC proper five boroughs is a baseball town by far…

I picked Basketball. When I go by parks and playgrounds in most of the boroughs I see kids and adults playing Basketball and not Baseball.

So the Nuggs wouldn’t want Martin, Brooks or Scola? Nah now way man…

The press also totally forgets Knicks have Amare now. Amare is better than any player currently on Rockets or Clips. So who do you think would attract Melo more?

It’s a lot easier to just put a rim somewhere, especially in a dense enviroment like the city. Also you can play ball with just a few people. But in terms of media coverage, fan passion, etc, it’s not even close really. The knicks have a small hardcore fanbase, the Nets an even smaller fan base. Heck I would argue since the Knicks have sucked that b-ball has slipped to third…

you’re taking into account only a small portion of the nyc population (ie. those who could and choose to play either basketball or baseball). I think you are also overestimating the number of basketball players from nyc. Overall there are far less professional basketball players, so the % from NYC is probably higher than baseball, but numberswise, i’m certain there are more baseball players overall.

anyway, the point is not who plays the sport (because you pretty much are talking about males 14-35 years old at that point only, not nyc in general), but fans and who they are interested in, who they buy read about online all year around and talk about with their friends. My point is that Mets or Yankees, people are excited in the offseason about baseball, and who will be on the team. Obviously this year is the extreme with the 3 queens, but typcially people aren’t getting excited in July about the Knicks 6th man, even when they are good, because it basketball, it doesnt matter until April.

New York is a baseball town, having served as the sport’s capital since Babe Ruth.

Basketball’s excellence is spread all over, from NYC playgrounds to North Carolina colleges to pro teams in Los Angeles and Boston.

The Knicks will take center stage when they make their next title run, though. When the Giants and Jets pack up shop, an the Yankees and Mets haven’t yet played meaningful games, the Knicks will again take over those back pages.

I think you have to differentiate NY and Manhattan.
I think overall NY (all 5 boroughs) is baseball.
But, Manhattan (when the team is doing well) is all Knicks

why isn’t “BOTH” an option? What the Hell?

Summer- baseball. Winter- basketball. THE END.

also, there are no NFL teams in NYC, just Jeresey and Buffalo.

Clearly where we stand right now it is a baseball town. I mean this is a basketball blog and basketball still lost.

It’s kind of hard to call it a basketball town when basketball has been nonexistent for 10 years and the yankees are the lakers of the MLB.

A lot of young adults from the NY area lost faith in basketball after all the absurd events of the last 10 years. They think the sport is a bunch of selfish ballhogs, etc… they don’t realize that their opinion is such because of their home team, not because of the sport. If they were from SA i reckon they would still be huge b-ball fans.

I’m from Midtown and to me Knicks basketball is def as Manhattan as it gets. Basketball is the epitome of a city game.

Exactly.

You don’t see stickball anymore though either.

“The knicks have a small hardcore fanbase”

I wouldn’t say the Knicks fanbase is small. It swells when they do well and the bandwagoneers appear but I don’t think it’s small, especially by basketball standards.

I think the fact the Garden still sells out despite a decade of irrelevance is a testament to basketball’s popularity in this city.

I would say this is a baseball town right now, but that’s because the Yankees are defending champions again. It depends who wins. In 07 it felt like the Giants owned the city. Same thing with the Rangers in 94.

You said there are a lot of bandwagon fans. True hardcore blue and orange bleeding Knick fans are rare. A lot of people follow basketball in NYC but jump teams like crazy. The garden sells out because it’s the garden…

Nah even when the Giants won never felt to me like it was a football city. New Yorkers, like city 5 borough new yorkers are very casual about football. Many even follow both teams. For about one year the city was basketball/hockey crazy 94, but when the Yankees won the world series that was over quickly…

Yeah I would agree with that…

Hell I remember when the Knicks were really good in the 90′s, it wasn’t even popular to be a Knicks fan there here in NYC. In school us Knick fans got hated on and made fun of. The popular teams were the Bulls, Hornets, Suns, and then a little later Magic with Shaq and Penny…

Baseball has the most hardcore loyal fans. By comparison the NYC fans in the other sports are flaky and casual…

There are a lot of wagoners in every sport. 75% of Yankees fans are wagoners. They just hopped on the wagon in different decades and are on again now that they’re winning again. I bet half of Yankee fans can’t name a Yankee from the 80′s outside Mattingly and Winfield.

I dunno, I remember a lot of kids in Ewing and Starks jerseys.

Again it depends who’s winning. The Yankees do a lot of winning.

Really? I remember a lot Giants fans around that time, mostly because they were obnoxious as all hell. Like, more obnoxious than Red Sox and Philly fans.

We could go back and forth but it seems to be all about perception. I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer.

It really is hard to say, its so split, this city just loves its teams. I personally love the Giants the most, but my love for the knicks yanks rangers and syracuse basketball is absolutely endless and committed, to the point that its almost impossible to distinguish any type of order of preference. When a sport’s season is in session, that sports respective team feels as if its my favorite. If your truly a committed sports fan, I think that’s just how things are.

cool… I was the 3,000th vote.

* Baseball (49%, 1,476 Votes)
* Basketball (36%, 1,090 Votes)
* Impossible to tell (9%, 280 Votes)
* Neither. NFL or NHL rules. (5%, 154 Votes)

Total Voters: 3,000