Comments on: Who is Portland’s football team of choice?

By: isis9352

isis9352 — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 00:46:05 +0000

I have to vote for the Raiders as well… and I went to Linfield. Dallas doesn’t even belong on the list. It’s mere presence dates you to the late-70’s cheerleader obsession, and wondering if Tom Landry ever took off his hat. Dallas has been getting a pass for years as being “America’s Team”. What a crock.

Raiders all the way, since I was a kid back when Kenny Stabler was QB. They play for real.

Second place has to go to the Packers. Anyone who has an outdoor stadium in Wisconsin, filled to the rafters with people wearing cheese on thier heads gets my vote. Plus, they play some awesome football.

So happy to see Denver isn’t on your list. Talk about overrated.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:00:10 +0000

And, yet, here you are, reading AND commenting…

By: Kai Jones

Kai Jones — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:16:41 +0000

Who cares? I don’t follow professional sports at all, nor does my husband. The last time I cared was when the Blazers won in 1977 and school closed so we could go to the parade. Even then I only cared because school closed.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 15:22:44 +0000

Good comments so far. A couple of thoughts. . . First, I thought of including Linfield, but honestly, despite their impressive level of success, they simply don’t seem to matter to most Portlanders. And this list is designed not so much to gain concensus on who should be Portland’s teams, but on who ARE Portland’s teams. Second, as a Minnesota transplant myself, I know a few Vikings fans around town. But I don’t know if I know enough of them to call Portland a Vikings town. Finally, I would argue that Portland-in-general, having no home-grown NFL franchise, is swayed toward the teams with greater media exposure: Seattle for sure, and to a lesser extent Oakland; Dallas, San Francisco, Green Bay and Pittsburgh due to their success-driven media dominance in the last ten years. The regional network influence is eroding as cable and satellite spread, but for now I think the behavior is engrained. Oh, and while I’ll throw the Cougs some love, I’ll never acknowledge the Huskies. Eff them.

By: TKrueg

TKrueg — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 14:55:20 +0000

Sorry, Linfield is always a nice story, but let’s get real… they’re not in Division I-A and the talent level is several notches below. ‘Doing Better’ than UO or OSU is always relative… plus there’s so much more on the line for UO or OSU. Linfield is rightly placed below the fold.

PSU? Does anyone care? No commuter school is ever going to have a fan base to speak of. Plus, they’re still navigating the transition to I-A, which has been a bumpy ride.

By: dieselboi

dieselboi — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 14:24:18 +0000

I have to agree with the Linfield statement, yet they always get relegated to the lower page even though they consistently do better than OSU or UO or PSU. Did you know Linfield holds the national record at all league levels for most consecutive winning seasons? Something like 58 or 60. (disclaimer – i’m an alumn.)

For NFL, I’m a Steelers fan. I work with a bunch of Steelers fans also, so I’m gonna say that Portland Loves the Steelers.

By: TKrueg

TKrueg — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 14:23:28 +0000

I’m not a Packers or Vikings fan, but there are a lot of WI and MN transplants here in the Portland area… I believe there are multiple bars that declare allegience to one or the other. Honestly, besides the Seahawks, these two teams are in the top 3 to 5 for Portland. The 49ers used to be in this club back when they were worth following.

Like a lot of Portlanders, I grew up resenting the SeaChickens, simply because their sh*tty games were forced upon this TV market. The only team I cared about was the Buffalo Bills… BRRRUUUUUUCE!!

Go Ducks

By: jonashpdx

jonashpdx — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 13:47:35 +0000

all seahawks all the time for me. tho’ i grew up in seattle, so i’m biased. having them be successful finally does make me feel a bit weird tho. when i lived back east and the seahawks really really sucked, i adopted the eagles for a while too, so kind of follow them. and the falcons — wait, there’s a theme here, let me see if i can figure it out…

but really, i just want good football, and there are certain teams/players that are fun to watch. but i just can’t get interested in college football for some reason.

By: valkraider

valkraider — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 13:22:53 +0000

The Oakland Raiders. Definitately.

They are a blue collar team. They are gritty and personify what Football is all about. Art Shell is a fantastic coach, and they have a great storied past…

Drop the Cowboys. They are not doing any better than the Raiders and they have the annoying moniker of “America’s Team” when most people outside fo Texas could care less about them. Oh yeah, they are Texan.

I would stick to the AFC West – Raiders, Broncos, Chargers, and Cheifs. Good solid teams with great rivalry.

Of course the NFC West is OK, with the 49ers and Seattle…

Forget about Dallas though… Seriously. They have no place in Portland. How did you even come up with them on a Portland list? I never see Dallas fans at the sports bars… Raiders and 49ers fans mostly, after Seattle of course.

Other teams that have earned respect: Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, Cincinatti Bengals, and the Philidalphia Eagles.

Dallas? Come on…

By: Russ

Russ — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 12:36:30 +0000

In lower reaches I would place University of Washington and Washington State- plenty of alums in this area..not only on Washington side of the river but ours, too. Plus don’t forget WSU-Vancouver.

Linfield College, too, nat’l NCAA III champs just two years ago. Probably even above PSU.