Comment by joshmlewis | Hacker News Reader

Comment by joshmlewis | Hacker News Reader

I live about 30 minutes from Clemson (the football town mentioned.) Football is huge in the south. I'm not used to it, and have, in fact, never been to a football game. Except maybe once, but that was for the girls.

It's quite crazy though how much these football towns rely on a sport. The rivalries, the competition, and the booze. I always said if you wanted to rob a house, a friday night would be ideal because literally 50% of the town is at a football game. I really think it's just something everyone can relate to. In these towns where textiles and industry are prominent and there isn't much innovation, looking forward to that friday night football game with the guys is something that gives peoples lives meaning. I'm not sure my point, but I figured I should but in and say that there are such things as these towns and football is very real in the south and without it I would be very interested to see what people cling to next.

Basketball is big-ish, but most schools either have one or the other. I'm a big fan of Kentucky basketball, but everyone knows their football team sucks. That's usually how it goes. So maybe it would go like the article said and basketball just gets huge and more rounded in all towns.

I was just about to say the same thing about Basketball here. I'm in KY and our local high school team always does well, and our college team, while never great, had a good season last year, as well, and has a few bright stars amongst its roster. March is crazy here. It's nothing but basketball, basketball, basketball, and my Facebook and Twitter feeds fill up with commentary every time there's a game. The local community gets behind it, even at the high school level. The school district closes school for the day if the team has an out-of-town game in the state tournament, so people can attend, etc. (As a parent, I don't agree with this action, but none the less, it is interesting from a social perspective).

I'm not a huge fan of the sport, but even I find it hard not to get sucked in.

I go to school at Mississippi State, and I've been to a lot of at-home football games. It's definitely tightly ingrained in the culture down here, and not just for the lower classes- game days are major social events for a large portion of the students and alumni. Some people spend thousands of dollars a season to drive up every weekend, socialize with friends and family, grill out, and tailgate (more like a picnic, actually.) Some of my friends' families don't bat an eyelash at dropping upwards of $500 a weekend if you add in the cost of tickets, gas, food, and alcohol.

I think the big draw of football, though, especially among low-income people, is that it's an accessible way for your average fan to engage in analysis without actually being responsible for failure.

Of course in the north, you get places like Michigan/Michigan State, where they have hugely successful football, basketball, hockey, and baseball teams.

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