I think Boston is probably wildly overrated thanks to the number of Harvard grads who come of age and learn to wax poetic about the local nine. Thanks to a bunch of BAs, BSs (especially that), MDs, PhD, etc., all you middle-Americans let us work you into a fine inferiority complex, as though Chicago doesn't bring as much to the proverbial sports table. You know what the Midwest is?
They've got a pretty good set of criteria, although personally I'd be happier if they'd quantified them somehow (like, how is it weighted), but I understand how that would have gotten wordy. However, I must pick a nit and say that what they're really voting on is the best city for spectator sports (and a subset of them, at that). It's a little inconsistent, too -- they talk about the Marathon, but running isn't one of the sports they mention in their "best city for..." list. I can't even tell if they considered things like the Head of the Charles, which I always thought was a pretty cool event. But the "spectator" qualifier is important, IMO -- Boston is big on sports fandom, but I'm not sure how it would rank on sports participation. Better than Lubbock, TX, at a guess, but not even close to somewhere like Boulder, CO.
But why, say, are Princeton and West Long Branch (both of NJ) considered separately and SF-SJ-Oakland all lumped together as one? cause sf-sj-oakland is generally considered one region. kind of like how lumped ny-li-nj together (it really should be northern nj though). but princeton and west long branch aren't really related at all geographically. and what the hell besides girls high school soccer is there in east brunswick that it's the first town in nj listed?
I'm surprised that the Raleigh area is ranked at #25. Seems kinda high. Let's see, we have bigtime college sports (State, Carolina, and Duke), a couple of minor league baseball teams (Durham Bulls [AAA - Tampa Bay Devil Rays] and Carolina Mudcats [A - Pittsburgh Pirates]), and a hockey team (Carolina Hurricanes). I don't get it. Why are we ahead of such places as Toronto?
cause sf-sj-oakland is generally considered one region. Not by the people who live here, not as far as I'm concerned.
well, the people who live there didn't make up this list, did they. :-)
This is ridiculoid. How can this be quantified in any meaningful sense? Aparently having winning teams and actual citizen sports participation rate nothing. I could go on, but I seriously doubt there'd be a point.
Aparently having winning teams and actual citizen sports participation rate nothing. Winning did factor in; participation did not. I agree with you that if participation isn't considered at all, you're stretching it to call it the "best sports town". It could be nothing more than the best couch-potato town, using those standards.
How can this be quantified in any meaningful sense? It can't. All this means is that according to a unique set of metrics "measured" subjectively by a group of journalists, one particular city is considered "the best". Change one factor, emphasize one metric, or replace one author, and the rankings change.
