Sports

Best Sports City of All Time Is ... Detroit?

When you've got the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox, any talk of greatest sports city should end with Chicago — not those Detroit turkeys. (And, um, let's just not mention the Cubs, OK?)

 

On Thanksgiving Day, the football team from the Best Sports City of All Time will take to the field.

What?! The Bears are playing?

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Um, no. It seems the readers of the Sporting News voted Detroit the Best Sports City of All Time in a series of city vs. city votes, with Detroit notching a huge victory over Chicago, securing 81 percent of the vote to Chicago's 19 percent.

We say Jerry Coglianese of Orland Park put it best in a comment on aol.SportingNews.com:

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"Detroit ahead of Chicago? I don't think so. I say there was some ballot box hanky panky. If Chicago wanted to win, there's no way any other city could could come up with the votes like Chicago could. All you have to do is look at some the past political elections!"

The Lions may have the field on Thanksgiving Day, and the Red Wings may have more Stanley Cup championships than any other U.S. team, but the City of Broad Shoulders carries a hefty legacy of beating down Detroit.

Here are just five reasons why Chicago beats Detroit in any argument about the Best Sports City of All Time.

1. The Bears lead the all-time series with the Lions, 88-63-4, dating back to 1934, according to The Football Database.

2. Bears vs. Lions on Thanksgiving Day 1980 was a classic. The Bears rallied from a 17-3 deficit to force overtime and won when Dave Williams returned the opening overtime kickoff for a touchdown.

3. Bulls vs. Pistons, 1991: The Bulls swept the two-time defending NBA champion Pistons 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals (and went on to win the first of six NBA titles). Several of Detroit's "Bad Boys" — most notably Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and Mark Aguirre — headed to the locker room with 7.9 seconds on the clock in Game 4 to avoid congratulating the Bulls on their breakthrough victory.

4. In 1985, Wilbur Marshall leveled Detroit quarterback Joe Ferguson. We think poor Joe still might be laying there.

5. Sure, we've heard of Motown, but nothing compares to The Super Bowl Shuffle!

Please share your favorite memory of Chicago triumph over a Detroit team. Baseball, basketball, hockey, football ... even checkers.


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