Sporting News has a list of what it calls the Top 200, (It's actually 500, but 200 is enough) Sports Cities, and amazingly enough, SF is ranked #46, behind San Jose(#24), (of all places) and Oakland too(#33) See, the splash hits are great and AT&T Park may be deemed gorgeous, but Candlestick still sucks and despite garlic fries and cha-cha bowls, Sporting News could care less about the 415. Maybe Barry Bonds should re-apply to the Giants; that would get the fans off their cell phones, right? Pittsburgh received the coveted #1 status, but what else is there to do in Pittsburgh besides watch sports? It's Pittsburgh for gawds sake.
Here's the actual list: ( take a look at #32? Huh? Oy!)
1. Pittsburgh
2. Philadelphia
3. Boston
4. Chicago + Evanston
5. Los Angeles
6. New York
7. Phoenix + Tempe
8. Miami
9. Dallas-Fort Worth
10. Detroit + Ann Arbor + Ypsilanti
11. Houston
12. Nashville
13. Atlanta
14. Washington
15. Tampa-St. Petersburg
16. Minneapolis-St. Paul
17. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.
18. Denver + Boulder
19. Salt Lake City + Provo
20. Indianapolis
21. Anaheim
22. Cleveland
23. Charlotte
24. San Jose + Palo Alto + Santa Clara
25. New Orleans
26. Milwaukee
27. Orlando
28. Baltimore
29. Cincinnati
30. St. Louis
31. San Diego
32. Portland
33. Oakland + Berkeley
34. Columbus
35. San Antonio
36. Toronto
37. Oklahoma City + Norman
38. Austin, Texas
39. Vancouver
40. Buffalo
41. Gainesville, Fla.
42. Calgary
43. Storrs, Conn.
44. East Lansing, Mich.
45. Montreal
46. San Francisco
47. Memphis
48. State College, Pa.
49. Kansas City
50. Jacksonville
51. Green Bay
52. Seattle
53. Edmonton
54. Ottawa
55. Sacramento
56. Columbia, Mo.
57. Tuscaloosa, Ala.
58. Blacksburg, Va.
59. Tucson, Ariz.
60. Stillwater, Okla.
61. Lawrence, Kan.
62. Morgantown, W.Va.
63. Lubbock, Texas
64. College Park, Md.
65. Oxford, Miss.
66. Clemson, S.C.
67. Louisville, Ky.
68. Eugene, Ore.
69. Boise, Idaho
70. Iowa City, Iowa
71. Corvallis, Ore.
72. Lincoln, Neb.
73. West Lafayette, Ind.
74. Tallahassee, Fla.
75. Madison, Wis.
76. South Bend, Ind.
77. Athens, Ga.
78. Lexington, Ky.
79. Baton Rouge, La.
80. Knoxville, Tenn.
81. Columbia, S.C.
82. Tulsa, Okla.
83. Winston-Salem, N.C.
84. Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
85. Waco, Texas
86. College Station, Texas
87. Piscataway, N.J.
88. Auburn, Ala.
89. Charlottesville, Va.
90. Syracuse, N.Y.
91. Manhattan, Kan.
92. Albuquerque, N.M.
93. Reno, Nev.
94. Fayetteville, Ark.
95. Starkville, Miss.
96. Las Vegas
97. Hattiesburg, Miss.
98. El Paso, Texas
99. Annapolis, Md.
100. Greenville, N.C.
101. Logan, Utah
102. Spokane, Wash.
103. Akron, Ohio
104. Troy, Ala.
105. Fort Collins, Colo.
106. Colorado Springs, Colo.
107. Moraga, Calif.
108. Ruston, La.
109. Bowling Green, Ohio
110. Fresno, Calif.
111. Omaha, Neb.
112. Muncie, Ind.
113. Pullman, Wash.
114. Ames, Iowa
115. Murfreesboro, Tenn.
116. Honolulu
117. Kingston, R.I.
118. Huntington, W.Va.
119. Bowling Green, Ky.
120. Laramie, Wyo.
121. Dayton, Ohio
122. Birmingham, Ala.
123. Oxford, Ohio
124. Kent, Ohio
125. Las Cruces, N.M.
126. Kalamazoo, Mich.
127. Athens, Ohio
128. Moscow, Idaho
129. Bloomington, Ind.
130. Mount Pleasant, Mich.
131. Jonesboro, Ark.
132. Denton, Texas
133. Lafayette, La.
134. DeKalb, Ill.
135. West Point, N.Y.
136. Toledo, Ohio
137. Monroe, La.
138. Richmond, Va.
139. Normal, Ill.
140. Albany, N.Y.
141. Niagara, N.Y.
142. Ithaca, N.Y.
143. Fargo, N.D.
144. Cedar Falls, Iowa
145. Burlington, Vt.
146. Peoria, Ill.
147. Nacogdoches, Texas
148. Des Moines, Iowa
149. Stockton, Calif.
150. Little Rock, Ark.
151. Ogden, Utah
152. Mobile, Ala.
153. Johnson City, Tenn.
154. Wichita, Kan.
155. Evansville, Ind.
156. Harrisonburg, Va.
157. Emmitsburg, Md.
158. Martin, Tenn.
159. Hempstead, N.Y.
160. Murray, Ky.
161. Binghamton, N.Y.
162. Huntsville, Texas
163. Amherst, Mass.
164. Norfolk, Va.
165. Clarksville, Tenn.
166. Lexington, Va.
167. Carbondale, Ill.
168. Corpus Christi, Texas
169. Lawrenceville, N.J.
170. Santa Barbara, Calif.
171. Missoula, Mont.
172. Radford, Va.
173. Morehead, Ky.
174. Lynchburg, Va.
175. Thibodaux, La.
176. Olean, N.Y.
177. Richmond, Ky.
178. Fairfield, Conn.
179. Worcester, Mass.
180. Springfield, Mo.
181. Pocatello, Idaho
182. Providence, R.I.
183. Orem, Utah
184. Riverside, Calif.
185. Chattanooga, Tenn.
186. Terre Haute, Ind.
187. Charleston, S.C.
188. Vermillion, S.D.
189. Stony Brook, N.Y.
190. Bozeman, Mont.
191. Macon, Ga.
192. Newark, Del.
193. Beaumont, Texas
194. Greeley, Colo.
195. Youngstown, Ohio
196. Fort Wayne, Ind.
197. Davis, Calif.
198. Montgomery, Ala.
199. Cullowhee, N.C.
200. Valparaiso, Ind.
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Obviously took into account college sports. Since all the City has is USF and City College, it explains the rankings.
ReplyDeletePortland??? Before San Francisco or Oakland? Portland has ONE big-league team -- barely -- and all the dreary charm of Redding in a rainstorm (my apology to Redding).
ReplyDeleteAnd don't get me started on Phoenix. OK hoops town, but crummy baseball town (except in Spring), average football town, and no town at all for hockey. Feh.
Makes no sense that Oakland is ahead of SF
ReplyDeleteSure Candlestick sucks but it has what Oakland doesn't - sellouts! 30 years and not one game blacked out. Sure make fun of the fans on cell phones at AT&T (I have been to over 25 MLB ballparks and have yet to see one that does not have many fans on their cell phones or blackberrys) but once again it has fans in the seats. 8 of the last 10 years with well over 3 million fans and the last two after numerous losing seasons (until this year) they still drew over 2.8 million. Oakland - LAST in MLB attendance. Great sports town when the fans disguise themselves as empty seats or tarps! And besides game attendance, check out the radio and TV ratings for the Giants and Niners as compared to the A's and Raiders - SF hands down!
Even the visiting teams know which is the better sports town - most visiting AL baseball teams and NBA teams stay in San Francisco, not Oakland. NBA teams practice at USF, not in the East Bay.
I will give Oakland thumbs up on their support of the Warriors. With all that losing they are vastly under rated as NBA fans (although more a regional team as the only pro basketball team in the Bay Area). But if you are going to snidely talk about the splash hits and garlic fries at AT&T, then I will have to bring up Warrior games where often the loudest cheers is for the free pizza give a-ways and free t-shirts. I once went to a Warrior game at the coliseum arena and in the middle of pyrotechnics, ear splitting music, light and laser shows, and actual basketball game broke out!
Barronvon1: The Niners actually do NOT sell ot; the franchise simply buys out the remaining tix for nickels on the dollar. Granted, they're starting to win now, but for the past few years, they "papered" the crowd...as for Giants, yes, they have drawn well, (although they too had mucho give-aways and announced crowds) If the A's get a new stadium, I'm sure they'd draw well too.
ReplyDelete