Pete - we really only have one major sports team so it's not surprising.

I agree with you regarding Washington, though. They really only have one major sports team - the Capitals. (and 2 really bad teams)

List's like these are useless if you ask me. Just like the NFL "Power Rankings". One it comes down to it the so called "experts" that do those types of lists, write columns and predict games are no more of an expert than the normal fan.

Just take the sun paper NFL weekly pick'em. I liked it when they had all the columnist picks and then some random person like Kim Meisner. At the end of the week the random person's record was just as good if not better than the columnist picks who you would think would do better seeing that they cover sports for a living.

When it comes down to it, everyone trys to come out with some list of best this or best that and most of them have no clue what they are talking about.

List's like these are useless if you ask me. Just like the NFL "Power Rankings". One it comes down to it the so called "experts" that do those types of lists, write columns and predict games are no more of an expert than the normal fan.

Just take the sun paper NFL weekly pick'em. I liked it when they had all the columnist picks and then some random person like Kim Meisner. At the end of the week the random person's record was just as good if not better than the columnist picks who you would think would do better seeing that they cover sports for a living.

When it comes down to it, everyone trys to come out with some list of best this or best that and most of them have no clue what they are talking about.

These kind of lists are like aholes,everyone's got one and they stink!

Sporting News, ESPN, CBSsports, SI and whatever other mainstream media is full of BS. Their MO is to report and analize, nothing more. List like these and thier so called predictions are more then likely due to homerism or a hunch. And Baltimore teams don't get any respect whether or not they're doing good.

I take these lists with a grain of salt. Miami ranking above Baltimore? It's not even laughable

Big deal. Baltimore is a dangerous - - - -hole of a city full of cocain and heroin addicts.
I'm a life time Marylander, and only go to the city if I absolutly have to. Love the Ravens, and the O's but not the city.

Great news! Maybe all the Western PA inbreds who have migrated to Maryland will return to their homeland and celebrate their No. 1 ranking.

My reason why Pittsburgh is the number one sports town is that because on any given day you can go to the Beaver Valley Mall and see a female under the age of 16 in the jersey of her favorite Steeler, Aaron Smith.
Now in Balmer you may be able to go to Marley and see your normal "Unibrow and Murderer" jerseys...
Just remember Ravens fans you always have a little black and gold on your sleeves!

The Sporting News is an old farts' paper. Nobody takes it seriously. Except for ol' farts like you, Pete.

Having lived in a number of major US cities, it is no surprise that Baltimore ranks where it does. When I can go to a Orioles/Red Sox game and the majority of fans are wearing Sox colors, it shows how much the home town supports its teams.

Joe-stogie - you clearly do not live in the city and probably have a million views that are based on what you hear on am radio.

Number 48, State College, PA??? What do they have besides football? Look at some of the cities they are ahead of....

Number 48, State College, PA??? What do they have besides football? Look at some of the cities they are ahead of....

Miami @ #8: Marlins, 2nd lowest attendance in MLB; Dolphins 87% of seats sold in 2008; Panthers NHL 19 out of 30; Heat NBA 15 out of 30. According to census data they have 12th largest metro area population. Maybe they got ranked due to a lot of golf courses.

novaesq, i'm sure the black and gold is really out at those pirates games.

The Orioles have lost for 12 SEASONS! The Pirates have lost for 17! The city can handle only so much. During the Orioles 1988 season, Memorial Stadium was sold out for the homestand after they had already lost 18 in a row to start the season. They supported the team.

And good luck to Patriots fans trying to get tickets to a Ravens game. Plus, most of those losers think the heart of Red Sox nation is in Rockville.

Miami @ #8: Marlins, 2nd lowest attendance in MLB; Dolphins 87% of seats sold in 2008; Panthers NHL 19 out of 30; Heat NBA 15 out of 30. According to census data they have 12th largest metro area population. Maybe they got ranked due to a lot of golf courses.

novaesq, i'm sure the black and gold is really out at those pirates games.

The Orioles have lost for 12 SEASONS! The Pirates have lost for 17! The city can handle only so much. During the Orioles 1988 season, Memorial Stadium was sold out for the homestand after they had already lost 18 in a row to start the season. They supported the team.

And good luck to Patriots fans trying to get tickets to a Ravens game. Plus, most of those losers think the heart of Red Sox nation is in Rockville.

stewie...wow a 16 year old girl.. how creepy! Inbred, raping QB's thats what Steeler Nation is all about huh? lol...thanks but no thanks bud, i'll take the purple and black of Baltimore and the O's may not be good but can we even talk about thoes Pirates?...no..didn't think so.

Wait a minute... someone named "Bernie" make a comment about inbreds? LMFAO!

The only inbred is you "Bernie".

28th is probably fair. Orioles and Ravens. No college sports are supported. A high school arena that isn't even up to standards for a first round NCAA game.

Hey josh, if anyone was born from inbred parents it was that uni-browed butt ugly dog flacco you losers picked as a qb. Hey, at least he'll fit right in with all of the trannies, heroin addicts, and other undesirables that call that herpes infested hole home.

Brian,
Grow up.

Pete-

Do you get the idea that in some way Paul Tagliabue had something to do with this "best sports town" article? Those things are garbage...must have been a real slow week @ SI. As native Baltimoreans, we know what we have here and for the most part appreciate our teams.
My fear is that one day the Angelos posse will whisk the baseball team away to Indianapolis in the middle of a snowy night. The reason? Fan apathy. History has been knowbn to repeat itself. After all, the St. Louis Browns became the Orioles, while the Cleveland Browns became the Ravens. It could get real ugly, but it could happen.

Patrick Lynch - That would never happen. Besisdes the lease, the owners would never let it happen. Look what it took to to move the Expos. The Orioles wont move. Angelos might live forever just to spite the fans however.

Why must Baltimorans care so much about others think? Always comparing yourself to DC which is just weird. Remember why the Bullets and Colts left? Lack of fan support. That was then, this is now. Just get over it and root for your teams and stop caring what others think!

Hilkbomb - thumbs up on that

How can you not make Pittsburgh number 1. I'm pretty sure the Sporting News took into account the performance and enthusiasm surrounding the Pirates, the Pitt Panthers and the city's NBA Franchise.

Let's not forget that epic film "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh."

Pete--Wow, do you think it's the Pirates that influenced this ranking?

Hey, go after this story. Find out all the criteria for the poll. Sampling, what it all really means. Otherwise, the story that is supposed to stir us up is what--marketing? stuff for each market to react to?

Tell us what you find out about this Sporting News poll.

Thanks.

Call me the boy who cried Wolf. Randy, as a pitcher, is no better than his brother Jim is as an umpire.

Who do these guys know?

Having watched Jim Wolf umpire games involving the Orioles, it seems that he feels we must have slighted his brother in some way at some point. In balls and strikes and plays at the plate, Jim Wolf has screwed the Orioles.

Yes, I do have a good memory.

Hey novaesq,
Bosox fans are as fairweather as they come. When they were toiling in futility in the mid to late 90's, you could count the Sox fans on your hand in Camden yards. Don't act like you're the Yankees.
Boston fans are so myopic.
At least Steeler fans are realistic, although lacking the usual IQ.

28th seems about right. I mean, we don't even have 2/4ths of the major sports here. And frankly, I don't mind that at all. Hockey is fairly boring, and pro basketball is soulless.

Of course DC would be ranked higher. They have all four major sports, even if a few of them are kinda sucky. They also have a major league soccer club, and really, the Terps are far closer to the DC area than the Baltimore area (even if a substantial amount of Terp support comes from us up here). Don't forget Georgetown. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that DC would be ranked higher than us.

Even so, I just don't care. I love my O's and Ravens, and I'm a big supporter of Charm City.

Pete-
This is always so Stupid. You see that the guy who wrote the article is from Pittsburgh?

Baltimore Washington should be a combined market anyway with Wizards and Capitals fans being from both cities.

Not to mention, were would you rather live? Baltimore a million times more than pittsburgh, a boring river city.

DC has the Cap, who have a string of sellouts going, a pro soccer team that draws well and the Wizzards. It's hard to rank very high when you have only two pro teams and one of them has the opposition (Red Sox and Yankees)draw better than you do at you home park

Pete-The Sporting News lost all credibility when they changed from baseballs "bible"to an all sports (including trash sports)some years ago.Why anyone bothers with them is beyond me.
I started buying it when they were a .25 weekly-I reservered them it at Thompsons drugstore in Centreville,md.They covered all teams,all minor leagues included,plus box scores of the previous week.All serious fans read it.Now-well here is another example of their ineptitude.

"Hockey is fairly boring"? Are you kidding? Have you ever been to a hockey game? Hockey's the most exciting, entertaining, intense sport there is.

If attendance goes into the determination of best sports towns, we should be at the bottom. Its not the fans fault, but nobody wants spend hard-earned money on a poor product.
We can't have basketball team or a hockey team, just the Blast. We make a very weak case for a top ten ranking.

BobF, You are not the most observant of guys. DC has the second most valuable franchise in America(Redskins) a top drawing WNBA team,a top drawing soccer team,a sold out hockey team,a baseball team, an NBA team,Georgetown,Md and George Washington basketball and hosts one of the top 5 drawing PGA events.To call the capital of the free world a one sport town is basically trailer park stupid...
P.S. I am from Baltimore not DC

When a city allows it's football team to be taken away, and it's basketball team to be taken away, Its safe to say that the city is a weak sports town. If we were to take our Bullets back and if would take the Capitals away from Washington & renamed them the Bulldogs, we might be on our way to being a top 5 city.

Pittsburgh's thriving female sumo wrestling league gave it the edge over the other cities.

Ruth was born here, lived here a small portion of his early years, probably got drunk for the first of many times here, then was gone by 17-18? The rest of his years were spent in NY, even Boston! How does that qualify him as a local hero? Countless others of sporting fame were born around Bal'mer, do they have statues or even a brink in a wall with their name on it? I always felt that was a reach by Bal'mer to try & claim Ruth. Having anything that has to do with the Spanks at OUR stadium is an insult too. It is OUR stadium, built with OUR tax $$. That fact gets ignored a lot.

So? According to the bidness page we're smarter than they are. So there.

Baltimore has been stigmatized since that snooty elitist Paul Tagliabue suggested that Baltimore should build a museam rather than pursue an NFL franchise after the Colts left town.

I find it ironic that one of the towns awarded an expansion NFL franchise that should have gone to Baltimore{ That sh**hole of a town Jacksonville Florida} can't support the team and the owner is looking to move it.

Baltimore should probably be higher, but the high ranking of some of those Sunbelt cities is curious (Miami especially). I suppose team success is the No. 1 factor, since I don't equate Tampa-St. Pete or Phoenix as "sports towns."

The fact that they wasted time ranking FOUR HUNDRED cities shows that this list is pretty much worthless.

After the first 50 or so, all they had to do was just put a bunch of cities in a hat and put them on the list as they were picked.

I mean, seriously, how is Lake Elsinore, CA 30 spots better than Batavia, NY? They both have A-ball teams. Woohoo.

What did they do? Rank every city with a major sport franchise, every city with a major college program and then fill in the blanks with minor league baseball towns?

Awesome (waste of time)!

I'm an objective Baltimorean living in DC. All you have to do to understand why Baltimore is so much better than DC is experience football Sundays in each city and it isn't even close. Federal Hill beer gardens and a nice stroll to M&T vs sitting on the Beltway for 2 hours just to get to a weak tailgate scene in the middle of a 80s style town house community. The only explanation is the support for the Caps, and what is now an elite NHL franchise.

Baltimore has the Ravens and that's it. Of course we have the Preakness which the politicians are doing there best to destroy and the hapless Orioles. Ravnes stadium and Camden Yards should have been built in Baltimore County and the city could have been left to die a slow agonizing death.

Let me get this straight. Pittsburgh has both the Stanley Cup and the Lombardi Trophy and the Baltomorons are complaining that "lists" don't count. RIGHT!!! Win something and then start to Whine...

Thats ok. I list Sporting News as the 29th ranked sports publication.

Hey Big Showtime,

I guess your initial's are BS for a reason???

Pittsburgh's a nice small city. Lots of older coal and steel workers; most of those who were born there and are educated leave. That's why you see them in Baltimore, Annapolis, and many in DC area. They wise up and leave.

If Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins makes you the best sports city, that's pretty sad statement about American sports. I think Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics top those three pretty easily.

Baltimore's sports scene is average. O's - Pirates are equal, Steelers - Ravens equal. Only difference is a hockey team. And Baltimore fans have the Caps 45 minutes away. I'll take crabcakes, the bay, and eveyrthing else around town to a city whose only real attraction is their football team.

How in their right minds can they rank Detroit ahead of Baltimore? Its a damn war zone with no redeaming qualities, and should be ranked 399. We got hosed big time by another worthless study.

Brian....Do you have a brain or are you hoping to develop one based upon your postings in this column?

No area should be a "best sports town" when they constantly slam their baseball team as much as B'More "fans". Take a look at the Cubs fans, no WS for 100 years, but they treat their team with respect.. And to the guy who claims Baltimore is full of drug addicts...get real, that's as lame an excuse for not going downtown as you'll ever hear. Downtown Baltimore is probably more safe than your neighborhood. It's the most heavily patrolled part of the city wise guy.

Go O's!

Hmmm. What would I rather be, the best sports town in America or a town that doesn't have an economy that so dysfunctional that its major export is its people? I think I'll keep my job and learn to live with being the 28th best "sports city"...

The biggest joke is Atlanta. They could not even sellout playoff games.

And as for the Cubs, they have had sporadically bad teams but more times then not they have competetive teams. If they has a sustained amount of pathetic ownership and lack of quality for this long a time Wrigley would be just as full of tourists as the Yard is.

I refuse to spend one dime to support Angelos but I will ALWAYS love the O's.

P.S. Sh--sburg S--ks

@Biff Tubesock

It's true. This town gives no support for the Orioles under the guise of hating the owner. It shows how fair weather this town can be. We deserve the 28th spot.

Other areas of the country get what the Balto. media doesn't get,Angelos keeps hiring loser M's and managers. We're going to have another terrible year next year because McPhail will do nothing but sign has beens and duplciate players in the offseason. How people can say Tremley is a good manager because his players suck is idiotic.

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Pete's reply: Yeah, we just don't get it. Just never noticed that. Got right by me. My bad.