Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Atlanta vs. Boston

Sports and food can make a city great. In most cases Boston has Atlanta beat. Better Italian, Chinese, pizza, seafood, donuts. Boston has better fine dining and greasy spoons. The passion for the Red Sox and Patriots dwarfs anything Atlantans feel towards the Braves and Birds. But Atlanta’s two equalizers in the debate over which is the better city are barbeque and the passion for college football.


Exhibit A



I took this picture at the Pig-N-Chik. This is my favorite barbeque place and is less than two miles from my house. It is 1090 miles from BC and there is Boston College pennant hanging in the restaurant! In Boston, you’d be hard pressed to find anything BC-related two miles away from campus. (Yet every Dunkin Donuts north of Hartford has a Red Sox sticker or trinket on display.)


The southern traditions of the SEC and ACC mixed with the Big Ten and Big XII transplants has made Atlanta the melting pot of college football. On weekends it seems like anyone who is not at a game is in a sports bar watching one. School flags hang on front porches or whip out of car windows. The passion is contagious. I am pumped up about the season just thinking about it.


I miss going to games at Alumni, but living in Atlanta and watching the game via satellite with a nice pulled pork sandwich is not a bad tradeoff.

3 comments:

Mutryn's non-throwing arm said...

I am very down with the way Johnny Reb handles CFB. In the NorthEast, the networks have this thing stuck in their head that the NFL rules the airwaves, but they don't acknowledge the fact that it's grip is stronger in some districts than others. That, and I like staring at belles more than middle-aged, half-naked men in dog hats.

Eric said...

Thanks for pointing out that you can be a good sports town without salivating over the NFL or MLB.

Most importantly...I'm with you on the Pig-N-Chik...that place is one of the best in Atlanta.

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