Well, it turns out you can feel much safer visiting that friend during basketball season.
Boston Celtics fandom extends deep into New England’s southernmost state, almost all the way to Danbury, Conn., and even into parts of New York state, according to an interactive map put together by The New York Times. The Upshot blog used the same Facebook “like” methodology it used for its Major League Baseball map, which showed that Red Sox and Yankees loyalty was essentially evenly divided in Connecticut.
The Upshot cleverly calls the basketball division “The Red Line,” in honor of the Celtics and Knicks’ most famed respective coaches, Red Auerbach and Red Holzman.
What the basketball and baseball maps together tell us is that, not surprisingly, fans love winning. The Celtics and Yankees have combined for 44 championships, with each holding the record for most titles in their leagues. Apparently, Connecticut fans simply hop on the bandwagon of whichever team has the most trophies.
