Daily Loaf

Men’s Health magazine has a feature called MetroGrades, where the Top 100 cities are ranked in various categories: Noisiest, Best For Men 2009, etc. They use empirical data to draw their conclusions, although at best the science is inexact. Still, it makes for good discussion fodder.

The July/August issue’s MetroGrade is “America’s Top Sports Towns.”

Results in a bit, but first the criteria:

• How many people attend baseball, basketball and football games (college and pro) and those showing up at high school sporting events.

• NASCAR attendance and who’s catching their sports on TV and the radio (source: SimplyMap).

• The number of people vying for tickets to any sport, who is buying the most team apparel, and how many people call themselves “foam-finger-waving fanatics” (source: Scarborough Sports Marketing).

Here are the Top 10:

1. Arlington, Tex. (home of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers)

2. Aurora, Col.

3. Colorado Springs, Col.

4. Indianapolis, Ind.

5. Columbus, Ohio

6. Jacksonville, Fla.

7. Fort Worth, Tex.

8. Dallas, Tex.

9. Charlotte N.C.

10. Anchorage, Ala.

Without further ado, here’s how the Bay area rated:

• Tampa — 87

• St. Petersburg — 89

Now for the bottom 10:

91. Los Angeles

92. Richmond, Va.

93. Grand Rapids, Mich.

94. Tuscon, Ariz.

95. Sacramento, Calif.

96. Orlando

97. Hartford, Conn.

98. Fresno, Calif.

99. Newark, N.J.

100. Miami

I went onto the magazine’s website and looked around for a link to the entire list, but I couldn’t find one anywhere, even in the link provided menshealth.com/metrogrades. It looks like Men’s Health hasn’t posted the article yet.

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