
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 17, 1995                   TAG: 9502170014
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HURRAH FOR THE HOME TEAM

Provided you can figure out who that is. The Roanoke Valley suffers from sports schizophrenia. In pro football, we tend to root for either Washington or the new Charlotte team - logical enough choices geographically. But when it comes to other sports, we choose our favorite teams on a game-by-game basis.

Here's who diehard sports fans said their favorite teams were:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Ted Turner's super-station has made almost half of us fans of a team three states away.

Atlanta Braves 46%

Baltimore Orioles 14%

New York Yankees 13%

Boston Red Sox 4%

Others 23%

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

Michael Jordan turned the whole country into Chicago Bulls fans, just as Larry Bird and Magic Johnson once made us Celtics fans or Lakers fans - and the residue of those winning years remains. But when it comes to regional loyalities, the Charlotte Hornets slam-dunk the Washington Bullets, who come in at only 3 percent. Should Redskins fans take note?

Chicago Bulls 38%

Charlotte Hornets 22%

Boston Celtics 14%

Los Angeles Lakers 10%

New York Knicks 5%

Others 11%

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

Only 19 of the 400 people surveyed could name their favorite NHL team, a sample so small it probably doesn't mean much. Just in case you're curious, though, the New York Rangers topped the Boston Bruins 4-3. No other team was mentioned more than twice.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The Hokies have the home-field advantage in the Roanoke Valley..

Virginia Tech 49%

Virginia 21%

Notre Dame 6%

North Carolina State 3%

Florida 3%

Others 18%

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Atlantic Coast Conference hoops put the slam dunk on Tech's home-court advantage.

Virginia 32%

Virginia Tech 26%

Duke 11%

North Carolina 9%

Georgetown 5%

Others 17%

The Roanoke Valley Poll was conducted by Roanoke College's Center for Community Research. The poll surveyed 400 Roanoke Valley residents and has a margin of error of 5 percentage points. Among demographic subgroups, the margin may be higher.

Memo: ***CORRECTION***

by CNB