(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Memphis is a basketball town.
That has been a statement made as long as any Memphian can remember. It's a lie. It's false...propaganda by fans and professionals alike to give an excuse as to why the University of Memphis can't field a football team that people will support.
It's an untruth that has become so prevalent and so repeated that all who hear it accept it as fact. It's time to stop perpetuating this view point and deal with the real truth.
The truth is that Memphis is a sports town, but they only support winners.
Isn't that how it is in other towns? Doesn't everyone love a winner? Memphis has struggled to know what that feels like with a litany of failed sports teams, but when we do get a winner we go all out. Just ask those associated with Memphis' basketball program.
Memphis being seen as a basketball town isn't by accident. It is based on a simple assumption. Memphians support the basketball program with great enthusiasm so Memphis must be a basketball town.
Well, if that is true then answer this... why are the Grizzlies hiring an over-the-hill point guard, at $3.5 million, who cares more about starting than winning? Because they can't sell tickets and those that do buy tickets don't come to the games. Does that sound like a basketball town to you? Of course not.
Here is another question for you... what do the Memphis Riverkings, Memphis Showboats, Memphis Redbirds, and others like them all have in common? They all had great support and led the country in attendance when they were winners.
Memphis supports winners.
If Memphis is a basketball town, then why do people go to Memphis Tiger football games when they play Ole Miss or Tennessee? Why? Are they hoping to get a glimpse of Anfernee Hardaway? No. They are there to see what they hope will be a great football game. They hope for an upset. And usually those hopes are dashed.
Memphians love sports...all sports. Have you been to the Memphis Motorsports Park lately? Did you go to the Fed Ex golf tournament this year and see the record number of people there? Memphis loves sports.
Have you been to a "professional" wrestling match and seen the sellout crowds? Memphis even likes fake sports. They vote for an aging wrestler for Mayor because of how he put Memphis wrestling on the national map.
Memphians loves winners, but you have to give them a product worth buying...and can you blame them?
The Memphis Tigers football program, for as long as anyone in town can recall, has been a disappointment... a letdown. Every year it's the same thing. It doesn't matter who the coach is or who the AD or President of the University has been. Fans hear promising comments and predictions.
They are looking for great things. Exciting ads are run. Season tickets are bought. And then...agony. The pain of watching hopes and dreams smashed happens within a matter of a couple weeks and reality once again sets in.
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