When you look at these kinds of comparisons, you have to take into account ALL other factors.
How many male high school students in Minnesota, compared to Florida, play football, compared to the population.
See, if the average town in Florida has 25,000 people, and that town has 1 high school, whereas
the average town in the state of Mn has 12,500 people, and that town has 1 high school
The town in Florida should produce TWICE as many Div 1 quality athletes, IF ALL FACTORS WERE EQUAL.
So, if you added up how many HOCKEY players the average Mn town of 12,500 produced, combined with the # of fb, bb, Bb, track, golf, WRESTLING, and all other sports, and THEN compared it with that town in Florida that had 25,000 people.
That would give us a more educated understanding of the real difference between the 2 states.
Most Minnesotans know that the state of Minnesota is the #1 supplier of college hockey players to the hockey schools throughout the country. My guess Florida ranks somewhere near the bottom in this regard.
But not alot of Minnesotans know that the state of Minnesota is also close to being the #1 supplier of college wrestlers to the wrestling schools throughout the country, at least when looking per capita. I'd be interested to know where all of the men's gymnastics come from?!
Now once you establish these more accurate #s, then you can continue the discussion by factoring in the OTHER factors, such as ACADEMIC opportunities, community priorities, opportunities in the Arts, etc..
The same can be said with any northern state basically.
Another factor is economics. Find me an extremely affluent city with little to no poverty and I don't think you will find the people of that city to be overly obsessed with football. Football is a sport where the poor can rise above the rich, where they are on an even playing field. It's a sport that an uneducated idiot can succeed and make millions. Not too many geniuses play football. Now there are always exceptions, but in general, am I way off here?!
My guess is that far more Minnesota kids grow up being encouraged to participate in a variety of sports than they do just one. I know things have changed in the last 20-30 years, but when I went to high school in the early 80's, the majority of athletes competed in 3 sports every year, a fall sport, a winter sport and a spring sport. I did CC, Wr and Golf. I had a couple good friends who played Fb, BB and Bb. Just about all of the bb players played fb, and almost all of the wrestlers played football as well. The CC guys ran track in the spring, and a couple of them played bb or wrestled in the winter, but a few of them just took the winter off. Most of the bb players played Bb in the spring, though some did track and some did golf. There wasn't alot of hockey, gym or soccer teams out where I was from, most of the towns near by were small towns, 500-5000 people.
Now another factor that I have 2 examples I draw from, I have a nephew and a close friend with a son about the same age, both were athletes and started out playing multiple sports. My nephew played football, hockey and baseball, my friends son played fb, bb and baseball and also bowled during the summer. Both ended up being on the smaller side, and so neither seemed bound for glory in the NFL. Also, neither my brother-in-law nor my friend really hoped that their sons would excel in fb, for both saw too many negatives with football. My 80 yr old father tells me now how many of his aches and pains that he suffers now, are from old fb injuries he suffered while playing hs and college fb back in the 50s. But my nephew eventually quit fb to concentrate on hockey. My friends kid played all 3 sports all the way through to graduation but only ended up a starter in bb and Bb. Neither are now playing college sports. But it was the diversity of sports played and the desire of those fathers that their boys NOT end up playing fb that seem to me to be indicative of what Minnesotans are far more often like.
Now finally, doesn't is say something that within the last decade, Minnesota based schools or schools very near Mn, have competed for and on occasion won, Div 1AA Natl Titles, Div 2 Natl Titles, and Div 3 Natl Titles?! NDSU, UM-Duluth & St Johns coming immediately to mind.
