Who really is America's team

[BigDmoney]

I'm really sick of cowboy fans referrering to themselves and the cowboys as america's team. When was this distinction made? i hate how they take something that one idiotic writer said probably 25 years ago and made it official somehow. So i ask the question...who really is america's team?
Packers?.....Steelers?.........Cowboys?......49ers ?.....who deserves it?

[The Leaper]

I think the guys over in Germany right now for the World Cup are America's Team.

No single professional league team in the United States is "America's Team". That is one of the dumbest phrases in professional sports.

[red]

i don't know if there is an americas team. the teams are pretty well spread out around the country, so you don't have to look far to find a local team to root for.

i think americas team is whoever is the best at that time. in the 80's everyone had 49ers gear, then the cowboys, then everyone jumped on our bandwagon, then denvers, then that pats and now the steelers have a huge national following

[BigDmoney]

if it were determined by national following then I would say the steelers are the team. They have the natiional following from the 70's when football was exploding and those fans have moved accross the country created steeler fans everywhere.

[Rastak]

if it were determined by national following then I would say the steelers are the team. They have the natiional following from the 70's when football was exploding and those fans have moved accross the country created steeler fans everywhere.

They were EVERYWHERE in downtown mpls the day of the Vikes-Steelers game last year.

[red]

if it were determined by national following then I would say the steelers are the team. They have the natiional following from the 70's when football was exploding and those fans have moved accross the country created steeler fans everywhere.

They were EVERYWHERE in downtown mpls the day of the Vikes-Steelers game last year.

they had a huge crowd at green bay last season too. you know a team has a huge national following when theres almost as many steelers fans at lambeau as packer fans

[Tony Oday]

I think Big D is talking about America's team in the NFL.

I would think there are two: the Packers, most loyal fan base in the NFL year in and year out its a family and a culture rolled into one.

THe Raiders---I know I know everyone hates them but man you ALWAYS see silver and black no matter if they are good or bad in every city.

[Rastak]

if it were determined by national following then I would say the steelers are the team. They have the natiional following from the 70's when football was exploding and those fans have moved accross the country created steeler fans everywhere.

They were EVERYWHERE in downtown mpls the day of the Vikes-Steelers game last year.

they had a huge crowd at green bay last season too. you know a team has a huge national following when theres almost as many steelers fans at lambeau as packer fans

Yea, that was amazing (the lambeau thing that is). I went to the Vike Steelers game and there were about 25 of them in the brewpub I was in before the game. After the game I stopped back down there and there were a table full of them next to me and they got carded. These guys all had Pennslynannia IDs so they were traveling. Amazing.

[HarveyWallbangers]

"if it were determined by national following then I would say the steelers are the team. They have the natiional following from the 70's when football was exploding and those fans have moved accross the country created steeler fans everywhere."

Well, the NFL actually started taking off in the 60s. That's when TV coverage came around, and the Packers have benefitted to this day from that. It's really hard to say. I'm biased, I'd say that there are three teams that would battle for the title: Dallas, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh.

[HarveyWallbangers]

they had a huge crowd at green bay last season too. you know a team has a huge national following when theres almost as many steelers fans at lambeau as packer fans

I was at this game. It was slightly more Steelers fans than the Bears usually bring. My best guesstimates are there were around 7,000-8,000 Steeler fans--which is a ton in Lambeau. I'm guessing some of that had to do with the Packers record. I'd venture to say you'd get as many or more than that in Pittsburgh if the Steelers were 1-7 and the Packers were 7-1 (or whatever their records were).

I've been to a couple of Viking games and Bear games at Lambeau. Generally, the Bears "travel" about 5,000-7,000 fans. The Vikings "travel" about 3,000-5,000 fans. The Steelers were slightly more than the Bears usually bring. Other teams don't normally bring in that many fans.

[BigDmoney]

i have season tickets to the vikings and i have never seen a crowd that full with the opposing team as the steelers game last year. Packer games alway bring in lots of traveling fans, but the steeler game was insane. Even one of the guys that we took to the game was a steeler fan. We had an understanding that he was not allowed to cheer for the steelers that day. Packer fans are VERY loyal, but i would say the most wide-spread fans are steeler fans.

[CaptainKickass]

It's well documented and I can personally attest to the fact that Packer fans are literally everywhere. There is a "Packer bar" in every major metropolitan city in the US as well as many more in Canada, Europe etc.

I read somewhere that the Pack were first named "Americas Team" by a sports writer/journalist in the 60's and then it somehow was bestowed upon the Cowboys in the late 80's.

Regardless, I don't really care. The Pack are certainly the most original in the entire league and probably most of professional sports with the small market and publicly owned status, not to mention one of the oldest franchises. Win or lose - these things are what makes the organization great in my opinion.

[b bulldog]

The Packers are the closest thing to a National team in the NFL with the boys #2.

[HarveyWallbangers]

i have season tickets to the vikings and i have never seen a crowd that full with the opposing team as the steelers game last year. Packer games alway bring in lots of traveling fans, but the steeler game was insane. Even one of the guys that we took to the game was a steeler fan. We had an understanding that he was not allowed to cheer for the steelers that day. Packer fans are VERY loyal, but i would say the most wide-spread fans are steeler fans.

I'm thinking you are really overstating. I've been to three Packers-Vikings games, and there were always at least 25,000 Packer fans. My buddy, who is a Steelers fan, went to the Steelers-Vikings game last year. He estimated that there were about 20,000-25,000 Steeler fans.

I've been to Seattle when there were over 20,000 Packer fans. The only game the Cardinals sold out in the last five years or so was their game against the Packers. Me thinks you don't want to give the Packers their proper due. Like I said, the Packers, Steelers, and Cowboys have the biggest followings, and it would be damn near impossible to determine which is the most popular. Dallas probably gets the best TV ratings with the Packers and Steelers not far behind. The Packers and Cowboys probably, on average, do the best in memoribilia sales. I'm sure the Steelers are currently #1 because they won a Super Bowl, but Green Bay always ranks high even when they are crappy.

[Charles Woodson]

I dont think u can have a americas team. the only way u could do it is by decade. i mean cause every team has its run. pats-2000 so far