With the nearest NFL team located some 180+ miles to the north, Portland is still very much a football town – just not a professional football town. Ducks and Beavers cloud the average Portlanders brains every fall but without a pro franchise we’re left with pretty much nothing at stake on Superbowl Sunday every year. Sure, a lot of the local bars advertise the big game and offer drink specials and various other yawn-inducing promotions – but NFL football just doesn’t pack ‘em in here.
As we are what The Oregonian calls “a top 30 city”, you have to wonder why we’re so indifferent to pro sports. There are more than 30 pro football teams after all – yet all we got was this lousy basketball team. Maybe it’s out “keep Portland weird” mentality? Maybe NFL football is just too mainstream for the likes of us? Maybe we’re too white and affluent to “get” the point of non-collegiate football. Sports for money? Dear God! That’s not liberal thinking!
Whatever the case, I get just a little bit depressed every Superbowl Sunday here in Portland. Lesser cities have something that we don’t (can you say “Detroit”?) and while we’re busily striving to be the next Seattle or San Francisco and justify our place on the map, it feels like we’re missing out on one of the fundamental needs of any big city….. pro sports teams.
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it was actually a good game for a change though but i’d love to have a football team in our city.