Sorry to kind of invade your forum. Hope you don't mind my questions, which were inspired by this thread about Rentschler Field in Hartford: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60897 I'm curious. If there was a team in the city of Boston, and a team in Hartford, but no team in Foxboro ... which team would the Rhode Island fans support? Also, if Providence had a suitable stadium, do they have a fan base comparable to Hartford? Better/worse? It looks like they both have metro populations of about 1 million. This whole "New England" thing in Foxboro lumps everyone together, but I suspect that Boston, Providence, and Hartford are all distinct in their own ways when it comes to supporting soccer. Are people generally happy with the "New England" set up, or is there sentiment (realistic or not) to have a team in one or more of these urban centers? - Paul
I'm curious. If there was a team in the city of Boston, and a team in Hartford, but no team in Foxboro ... which team would the Rhode Island fans support? Foxboro is in MA so am I missing something here? I for one don't care about Foxboro representing New England. But I do have a problem with people thinking the Revs play in Boston or are from Boston when they actually aren't. The Sox, Bruins, and Celtics are from Boston, Pats and Revs are from Foxboro.
Yeah, I know, but it is closer to Providence than Boston, and maybe Foxboro doesn't resonate in terms of a rivalry as much as Boston would for Rhode Island fans. I honestly have no clue, though, as I've never been to the area and know nothing about it. That's why I came into this forum and humbly asked about it. I'd like to learn more about your exotic land. - Paul
I think I can best respond to this thread with a little song I wrote early this year. Hit it, maestro: http://home.comcast.net/~jlw28129/stand4.wav "We Stand for New England" We stand for New England. We raise our arms and cheer. For our Revolution. ‘til Victory is here. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maine. Vermont and New Hampshire, all gathered once again .... To cheer for New England We stand in harmony. For our Revolution The goal is victory. For our Revolution Will bring us victory!
Let's get real here, people from Massachusetts (like myself) are not the people to be asking this question of. To us, New England is OUR land. It's our backyard and our playground. It's everything to the northeast of New York, which is a hated rival. To other people from "New England" things aren't exactly like that. They might consider our money good, but I've got it from a good source that some people (especially from New Hampshire and Maine) don't like people from Massachusetts. I expect it may be the same in Rhode Island, the other notorious summer destination for our badly behaved rich. There is a history there somewhere, but most people from MA aren't totally aware of it (Roger Williams...hm, was that John Williams's lesser known twin brother?) Same with the places to the north. Ask someone from Providence if Providence could host a rivalry with Boston. At the moment, I'm pretty sure the only rivalry they've won was who could have more strip clubs. Otherwise, they're just a place for our minor league affiliates to play.
Well, I'm from RI and I like people in general, and those from Mass no less than anyone else. I know I'm in the minority of Rhode Islanders in that I don't particularly care for Boston teams. Most that has to do with the fact that I don't particularly care for other sports. As has been mentioned, Rhode Island is part of New England, so I do consider the Revs my hometown team. I just don't consider Boston teams hometown teams because is not my hometown and people from there consider our state a place that just has strip clubs and their minor league teams. But honestly if I got into other sports I would probably feel differently, because I would want to support the team I could see the most often. I'm just glad I'm not a Red Sox fan. But to answer the initial question, if there were teams in Hartford and Boston and none in Foxboro, RI's would pick Boston to support. It may be out of habit from the Red Sox and Celtics traditions, but I know loads of people who are Bruins fans and I can't think of anybody who was a Hartford Whalers fan. I know more Montreal fans than Hartford fans (when they existed). Boy, that was a long answer...
Providence fans probably consider Boston College to be their chief rival. Especially in hockey. On a side note, as someone who's lived in both Massachusetts and Connecticut, I've noticed that Connecticut doesn't have the same sense of identity that Massachusetts has. Or any of the other New England states, for that matter. Overall, that's what leads me to believe that Connecticut isn't the place for a major pro-sports team.
Having grown up in Hartford and supsequently living in Providence for the past 12 years, I gots this to say: Providence is a suburb of Boston for professional sporting purposes. EXCEPT for baseball, where the New York Yankees are very popular due to the high Italian-American population and its love affair with Joe Dimaggio. Neither Providence or Hartford can really support a professional team. But Hartford did have a decent run with the NHL Hartford Whalers. Of the two, the greater Hartford area is more populous than Providence, and would have the better chacne of being able to support a professional team, especially if the team name was Huskies. CT itself is only 60% New England, hence its identity problem, refered to by Khansingh. East of New Haven is very NY orientated. The whole state is made up of UConn Huskie clones. Kids are born with UConn men's and women basketball sweatshirts on. WHen it comes to soccer, there really aren't enough soccer fans to debate whether RI and CT fans are happy with the New England set-up.
The old "Patriarca-Angiulo" alliance stands as an example of the bond that Providence has with Boston. Interesting questions, but it is important to keep in mind that in NE, the heart of the population lives in suburbs and mid-sized cities. MA, RI and CT are among the most densely populated states in the country, yet none of their cities rank among the country's largest. So, I suspect relatively few Rev fans come from either Boston or Providence itself.
The Revolution would normally be playing in Boston but in Boston it is extremely extremely difficult to get stadiums built because of the local politicans thats why the Revs and Patriots were "banished" to Foxboro. In Providence they dont even have a minor league baseball stadium so very doubtfull they could get a nice soccer stadium built.
That's true, but there is one in the neighboring city, Pawtucket: http://www.PAWSOX.COM/stadium/ I agree, though, that there is pretty much no chance of a soccer stadium in Providence or anywhere near it.
Everything? Keep US out of your 'New England'. Would that we could set two big ramps up on 91 in Enfield, one directed towards Brattleboro and one towards, say, Concord; hitting it at the right speed, we could fly right over ************ Mass drivers and stick-up-the-arse state troopers and be right up in the mountains in no time. If only.
Likewise when I'm on my way to Pennsylvania, only replace Mass with Conn. You know how those white kids who wear the backwards baggy jeans call people "their ************" all the time look really stupid/silly/offensive? That's how I feel about wannabe New Yorkers Not that there's anything wrong with appreciating urban/hip hop culture, but there's a difference between enjoying it and being stupid. You wanna work in New York / shop in New York, I can understand, it's close by, but decency demands some limits.
So when did Darien float off into the Sound? Fairfield County: very pretty, but the traffic is a killer, and nobody with less than a Kennedy's money can afford to live there. Demographics dictate that all of NE is lumped together for purposes of professional sporting endeavours. Our total population is only 14 million (less than the NYC metro area). Boston proper is a mere 600,000 (not the metro area, which is nearly 3 of our 14 million).
I live in Central Rhode Island, and even from here, Foxboro's a much easier reach than Hartford. 45 minutes. Whereas Hartford takes 80 minutes--via back roads on Route 6--or longer if you take 95 and the coast route, which is out of the way. Psychologically, too, there's less draw toward CT, probably because the bulk of RI's population is lined up along the Mass. border. Lots of people work in Mass. but live in RI, and vice versa I suppose.
providence has a great venue to watch great socccer in Pierce Memorial Field. This is where the RI Stingrays of the PDL play. It seats around 9,000 people. I went to see the Sporting vs. Stingrays game and the atmosphere was electric!. Im telling you, throw in a few thousand more seats and it would easily be one of the best places to watch soccer in the country!
9,000 seats? Have they thought about moving up to the A-League? What can you tell us about the venue?
Odd, isn't it: they are on the border so they have that NY sports team prediliction, yet the physical landscape is so much more quintessentially New England than most of Maine and New Hampshire for example. It's a conundrum. I never understood the animosity for our Massachusetts cousins. I mean, the New Yorkers are much more obnoxious.
I went to Pierce Field about 10 years ago to watch the state high school soccer championships and I wasn't too impressed with the stadium. I think it's the biggest football/soccer stadium in the state now because the capacity of the stadium where URI football plays was reduced when they built the arena right next door.
Plus most people that live in fairfield county think of themselves as new yorkers, and support NY teams..
What part of CT are you in? My house? Someone once told me (a newspaper reporter) that UConn Women fans were usually non-athletic types. "The girls won again" and they just jumped on the bandwagon back in the Lobo days. I'm not from CT - so I really don't care. I sort of follow UConn football because they are such underdogs and they wasted that money on the stadium (only 6,000 chairbacks for $91,000,000).