Glenn
08-01-2007, 04:17 PM
http://i.tsn.com//i/photos/20070801/81167.jpg
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=248801
Motown is the town for sports in 2007
Posted: August 1, 2007
Say this about your sports teams, Detroit: They reflect the show-up-for-work-every-day-and-punch-the-clock roots of your city. And in a Best Sports City year in which championship cities' "sportfolios" had gaps, Detroit's regular-season efforts and thisclose success in the playoffs pushed it to the top of our annual rankings, even sans title of any kind.
Visit Detroit these days and you'll see that this is a baseball city out of hibernation and filling Comerica Park. The Pistons and WNBA's Shock put a spring in a hoops fan's step. Yes, it's still Hockeytown, same as it was when Detroit was our Best Sports City in 1998. Yet on an unseasonably warm Saturday in April, with the Wings facing the Flames in the playoffs at The Joe, you were as likely to see an old English "D" on a cap in downtown Detroit (the Tigers were playing the White Sox) as you were a winged wheel on a red sweater.
Past No. 1s in the Best Sports City rankings
2006 Chicago
2005 Boston
2004 Boston
2003 Anaheim-Los Angeles
2002 Boston
2001 New York
2000 St. Louis
1999 New York
1998 Detroit
1997 Denver
1995 Denver
1994 Cleveland
1993 Chicago
This is a city immersed in its teams, living and dying with them -- mostly living, but there's even a hint of optimism about . . . the Lions?
So, pop the World Series bubbly, St. Lou.
Celebrate your Super season, Indy.
Drink from the Cup, Anaheim.
Parade an NBA title down the river, San Antonio.
You each deserve rich notice, same as Gainesville's historic collegiate double dip. But, if we're to believe the car ads, then life is as much about the journey as it is the destination, and Motown's sports scene was a trip these past 12 months. Three teams -- the Red Wings, Tigers and Pistons -- finished no worse than fourth-best in the workaday world of regular-season standings in their respective leagues.
In fact, even with the 3-13 Lions skewing the percentage, Detroit's major professional sports teams in their most recently completed full season won at a .588 clip. How's that for packin' your lunch every day?
How we arrive at our rankings
We take a 12-month snapshot, roughly July to July, of each city's sports, putting a heavy premium on regular-season won-lost records (from the most recently completed season); playoff berths, bowl appearances and tournament bids; championships; applicable power ratings; quality of competition; overall fan fervor as measured in part by attendance as percentage of venue capacity; abundance of teams, though we reward quality over quantity; stadium and arena quality; ticket availability and prices; franchise ownership; and marquee appeal of athletes.
Note: There was no Best Sports City in 1996, as the rating system was being expanded and refined.
The Mighty 99
1. Detroit + Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti
2. New York
3. Dallas-Fort Worth
4. Chicago + Evanston
5. Los Angeles
6. Boston
7. Denver + Boulder
8. Phoenix + Tempe
9. Philadelphia
10. Minneapolis-St. Paul
11. Houston
12. Gainesville, Fla.
13. Anaheim
14. Atlanta
15. Miami
16. Nashville
17. Oakland + Berkeley
18. San Diego
19. Indianapolis
20. St. Louis
21. Pittsburgh
22. Salt Lake City + Provo
23. Louisville, Ky.
24. Washington, D.C.
25. San Jose + Palo Alto, Santa Clara
26. Baton Rouge, La.
27. Toronto
28. Seattle
29. Cleveland
30. Cincinnati
31. San Antonio
32. Tampa-St. Petersburg
33. Baltimore
34. Buffalo
35. New Orleans
36. Knoxville, Tenn.
37. Charlotte
38. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.
39. Columbus
40. Madison, Wis.
41. Ottawa
42. San Francisco
43. Kansas City
44. Orlando
45. Oklahoma City + Norman
46. Vancouver
47. Milwaukee
48. Jacksonville
49. Calgary
50. South Bend, Ind.
51. Green Bay
52. Sacramento
53. Memphis
54. Montreal
55. Edmonton
56. Portland
57. Austin, Texas
58. Morgantown, W.Va.
59. Boise, Idaho
60. Tallahassee, Fla.
61. Fayetteville, Ark.
62. Lexington, Ky.
63. Blacksburg, Va.
64. Athens, Ga.
65. Auburn, Ala.
66. Eugene, Ore.
67. College Station, Texas
68. College Park, Md.
69. Winston-Salem, N.C.
70. Piscataway, N.J.
71. Tucson, Ariz.
72. Clemson, S.C.
73. West Lafayette, Ind.
74. Pullman, Wash.
75. Lawrence, Kan.
76. Lubbock, Texas
77. Honolulu
78. Columbia, S.C.
79. Lincoln, Neb.
80. Reno, Nev.
81. Tulsa, Okla.
82. Stillwater, Okla.
83. State College, Pa.
84. East Lansing, Mich.
85. Tuscaloosa, Ala.
86. Corvallis, Ore.
87. Charlottesville, Va.
88. Columbia, Mo.
89. Bloomington, Ind.
90. Iowa City, Iowa
91. Manhattan, Kan.
92. Syracuse, N.Y.
93. Oxford, Miss.
94. Storrs, Conn.
95. Las Vegas
96. Hattiesburg, Miss.
97. Colorado Springs, Colo.
98. Starkville, Miss.
99. Birmingham, Ala.
Best of the rest
100. Champaign, Ill.
101. Kalamazoo, Mich.
102. Waco, Texas
103. Laramie, Wyo.
104. Carbondale, Ill.
105. Athens, Ohio
106. Akron, Ohio
107. Albuquerque, N.M.
108. Mount Pleasant, Mich.
109. Fresno, Calif.
110. Omaha, Neb.
111. Fort Collins, Colo.
112. Annapolis, Md.
113. Spokane, Wash.
114. Las Cruces, N.M.
115. Ames, Iowa
116. Toledo, Ohio
117. Oxford, Ohio
118. Kent, Ohio
119. Davidson, N.C.
120. Murfreesboro, Tenn.
121. Troy, Ala.
122. El Paso, Texas
123. Corpus Christi, Texas
124. Wichita, Kan.
125. Worcester, Mass.
126. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
127. Dayton, Ohio
128. Huntington, W.V.
129. Logan, Utah
130. Denton, Texas
131. Des Moines, Iowa
132. Albany, N.Y.
133. Greenville, N.C.
134. De Kalb, Ill.
135. Muncie, Ind.
136. Jonesboro, Ark.
137. Niagara, N.Y.
138. Ogden, Utah
139. Richmond, Ky.
140. Monroe, La.
141. Norfolk, Va.
142. Bowling Green, Ohio
143. Dover, Del.
144. Pocatello, Idaho
145. West Point, N.Y.
146. Ruston, La.
147. Lafayette, La.
148. Jackson, Miss.
149. Moscow, Idaho
150. Chattanooga, Tenn.
Is your city missing from the list? Tell us what you think (or wait 'til next year).
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=248801
Motown is the town for sports in 2007
Posted: August 1, 2007
Say this about your sports teams, Detroit: They reflect the show-up-for-work-every-day-and-punch-the-clock roots of your city. And in a Best Sports City year in which championship cities' "sportfolios" had gaps, Detroit's regular-season efforts and thisclose success in the playoffs pushed it to the top of our annual rankings, even sans title of any kind.
Visit Detroit these days and you'll see that this is a baseball city out of hibernation and filling Comerica Park. The Pistons and WNBA's Shock put a spring in a hoops fan's step. Yes, it's still Hockeytown, same as it was when Detroit was our Best Sports City in 1998. Yet on an unseasonably warm Saturday in April, with the Wings facing the Flames in the playoffs at The Joe, you were as likely to see an old English "D" on a cap in downtown Detroit (the Tigers were playing the White Sox) as you were a winged wheel on a red sweater.
Past No. 1s in the Best Sports City rankings
2006 Chicago
2005 Boston
2004 Boston
2003 Anaheim-Los Angeles
2002 Boston
2001 New York
2000 St. Louis
1999 New York
1998 Detroit
1997 Denver
1995 Denver
1994 Cleveland
1993 Chicago
This is a city immersed in its teams, living and dying with them -- mostly living, but there's even a hint of optimism about . . . the Lions?
So, pop the World Series bubbly, St. Lou.
Celebrate your Super season, Indy.
Drink from the Cup, Anaheim.
Parade an NBA title down the river, San Antonio.
You each deserve rich notice, same as Gainesville's historic collegiate double dip. But, if we're to believe the car ads, then life is as much about the journey as it is the destination, and Motown's sports scene was a trip these past 12 months. Three teams -- the Red Wings, Tigers and Pistons -- finished no worse than fourth-best in the workaday world of regular-season standings in their respective leagues.
In fact, even with the 3-13 Lions skewing the percentage, Detroit's major professional sports teams in their most recently completed full season won at a .588 clip. How's that for packin' your lunch every day?
How we arrive at our rankings
We take a 12-month snapshot, roughly July to July, of each city's sports, putting a heavy premium on regular-season won-lost records (from the most recently completed season); playoff berths, bowl appearances and tournament bids; championships; applicable power ratings; quality of competition; overall fan fervor as measured in part by attendance as percentage of venue capacity; abundance of teams, though we reward quality over quantity; stadium and arena quality; ticket availability and prices; franchise ownership; and marquee appeal of athletes.
Note: There was no Best Sports City in 1996, as the rating system was being expanded and refined.
The Mighty 99
1. Detroit + Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti
2. New York
3. Dallas-Fort Worth
4. Chicago + Evanston
5. Los Angeles
6. Boston
7. Denver + Boulder
8. Phoenix + Tempe
9. Philadelphia
10. Minneapolis-St. Paul
11. Houston
12. Gainesville, Fla.
13. Anaheim
14. Atlanta
15. Miami
16. Nashville
17. Oakland + Berkeley
18. San Diego
19. Indianapolis
20. St. Louis
21. Pittsburgh
22. Salt Lake City + Provo
23. Louisville, Ky.
24. Washington, D.C.
25. San Jose + Palo Alto, Santa Clara
26. Baton Rouge, La.
27. Toronto
28. Seattle
29. Cleveland
30. Cincinnati
31. San Antonio
32. Tampa-St. Petersburg
33. Baltimore
34. Buffalo
35. New Orleans
36. Knoxville, Tenn.
37. Charlotte
38. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.
39. Columbus
40. Madison, Wis.
41. Ottawa
42. San Francisco
43. Kansas City
44. Orlando
45. Oklahoma City + Norman
46. Vancouver
47. Milwaukee
48. Jacksonville
49. Calgary
50. South Bend, Ind.
51. Green Bay
52. Sacramento
53. Memphis
54. Montreal
55. Edmonton
56. Portland
57. Austin, Texas
58. Morgantown, W.Va.
59. Boise, Idaho
60. Tallahassee, Fla.
61. Fayetteville, Ark.
62. Lexington, Ky.
63. Blacksburg, Va.
64. Athens, Ga.
65. Auburn, Ala.
66. Eugene, Ore.
67. College Station, Texas
68. College Park, Md.
69. Winston-Salem, N.C.
70. Piscataway, N.J.
71. Tucson, Ariz.
72. Clemson, S.C.
73. West Lafayette, Ind.
74. Pullman, Wash.
75. Lawrence, Kan.
76. Lubbock, Texas
77. Honolulu
78. Columbia, S.C.
79. Lincoln, Neb.
80. Reno, Nev.
81. Tulsa, Okla.
82. Stillwater, Okla.
83. State College, Pa.
84. East Lansing, Mich.
85. Tuscaloosa, Ala.
86. Corvallis, Ore.
87. Charlottesville, Va.
88. Columbia, Mo.
89. Bloomington, Ind.
90. Iowa City, Iowa
91. Manhattan, Kan.
92. Syracuse, N.Y.
93. Oxford, Miss.
94. Storrs, Conn.
95. Las Vegas
96. Hattiesburg, Miss.
97. Colorado Springs, Colo.
98. Starkville, Miss.
99. Birmingham, Ala.
Best of the rest
100. Champaign, Ill.
101. Kalamazoo, Mich.
102. Waco, Texas
103. Laramie, Wyo.
104. Carbondale, Ill.
105. Athens, Ohio
106. Akron, Ohio
107. Albuquerque, N.M.
108. Mount Pleasant, Mich.
109. Fresno, Calif.
110. Omaha, Neb.
111. Fort Collins, Colo.
112. Annapolis, Md.
113. Spokane, Wash.
114. Las Cruces, N.M.
115. Ames, Iowa
116. Toledo, Ohio
117. Oxford, Ohio
118. Kent, Ohio
119. Davidson, N.C.
120. Murfreesboro, Tenn.
121. Troy, Ala.
122. El Paso, Texas
123. Corpus Christi, Texas
124. Wichita, Kan.
125. Worcester, Mass.
126. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
127. Dayton, Ohio
128. Huntington, W.V.
129. Logan, Utah
130. Denton, Texas
131. Des Moines, Iowa
132. Albany, N.Y.
133. Greenville, N.C.
134. De Kalb, Ill.
135. Muncie, Ind.
136. Jonesboro, Ark.
137. Niagara, N.Y.
138. Ogden, Utah
139. Richmond, Ky.
140. Monroe, La.
141. Norfolk, Va.
142. Bowling Green, Ohio
143. Dover, Del.
144. Pocatello, Idaho
145. West Point, N.Y.
146. Ruston, La.
147. Lafayette, La.
148. Jackson, Miss.
149. Moscow, Idaho
150. Chattanooga, Tenn.
Is your city missing from the list? Tell us what you think (or wait 'til next year).