2Chance
08-07-2007, 02:52 AM
The Sporting News ran this article (http://www.wxyz.com/news/story.aspx?content_id=6af77eba-07ae-4b53-8441-af70e745af3c) in their August 1 issue. Click the link to see the rankings.
A few things to note about this year's list of Best Sports Cities, not the least of which is that it's considerably smaller. We still crunched all the usual numbers for qualifying cities, but we've kept it to a mighty 99 here.
We also listened to recurring complaints and broke apart as many hyphenations as possible. No more Baltimore-Washington, Oakland-San Francisco-San Jose or Los Angeles-Anaheim (and the City of Anaheim didn't have to sue us, either.)
Our criteria are the same as they've been for more than 10 years: We take a 12-month snapshot, roughly July to July, of each city's sports atmosphere and put 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/arena quality;
• ticket availability and prices;
• franchise ownership;
• marquee appeal of athletes. -- Bob Hille
Another quote from the author:
"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."
All this despite the fact that none of the franchises won it all.
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 called Hockeytown, same as it was when Detroit was our Best Sports City in 1998. Yet on an nseasonably 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.
Also in the news:
From the Tigers website (http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20070803&content_id=2127153&vkey=pr_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det)
On Tuesday, Aug. 7, the Tigers will host some very special visitors prior to the game against Tampa Bay. Members of the Bluffton (OH) University baseball team will meet Tigers players and watch batting practice on the field. On March 2 this year, the Bluffton team was involved in a terrible bus accident outside Atlanta on its way to Florida for its spring trip. The accident claimed the lives of five members of the Bluffton team. Major League Baseball and several clubs have provided support to the team ranging from financial assistance to equipment. The Detroit Tigers Foundation previously made a $1,000 donation to help.
A few things to note about this year's list of Best Sports Cities, not the least of which is that it's considerably smaller. We still crunched all the usual numbers for qualifying cities, but we've kept it to a mighty 99 here.
We also listened to recurring complaints and broke apart as many hyphenations as possible. No more Baltimore-Washington, Oakland-San Francisco-San Jose or Los Angeles-Anaheim (and the City of Anaheim didn't have to sue us, either.)
Our criteria are the same as they've been for more than 10 years: We take a 12-month snapshot, roughly July to July, of each city's sports atmosphere and put 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/arena quality;
• ticket availability and prices;
• franchise ownership;
• marquee appeal of athletes. -- Bob Hille
Another quote from the author:
"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."
All this despite the fact that none of the franchises won it all.
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 called Hockeytown, same as it was when Detroit was our Best Sports City in 1998. Yet on an nseasonably 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.
Also in the news:
From the Tigers website (http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20070803&content_id=2127153&vkey=pr_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det)
On Tuesday, Aug. 7, the Tigers will host some very special visitors prior to the game against Tampa Bay. Members of the Bluffton (OH) University baseball team will meet Tigers players and watch batting practice on the field. On March 2 this year, the Bluffton team was involved in a terrible bus accident outside Atlanta on its way to Florida for its spring trip. The accident claimed the lives of five members of the Bluffton team. Major League Baseball and several clubs have provided support to the team ranging from financial assistance to equipment. The Detroit Tigers Foundation previously made a $1,000 donation to help.