Ratings

Yes. I'm going back in. Because A.) I said that I would; B.) I can't let it go; and C.) I have no life.

Here is that link to the rankings of the top 400 sporting cities in the US and Canada as put together by The Sporting News.

A reminder on the criteria:

Our Best Sports City rankings, which look at the 12 months from roughly October 2007 to October 2008, are based on point values assigned to various categories, including but not limited to won-lost records, postseason appearances, applicable power ratings, number of teams and attendance.

There are a few things that I want to pull out of here.

First, here are the rankings of the current Midwest League. Before I start, I'll mention that I made a mistake in my post yesterday. I had South Bend as the highest rated MWL city on the list. I forgot that Lansing and East Lansing, Michigan are probably considered the same market.

#68 East Lansing, MI (Lugnuts)
#83 South Bend, IN (Silver Hawks)
#142 Peoria, IL (Chiefs)
#144 Dayton, OH (Dragons)
#189 Fort Wayne, IN (Wiza...er, TinCaps)
#262 Quad Cities (River Bandits)
#291 Grand Rapids, MI (Whitecaps)
#327 Burlington, IA (Bees)
#329 Cedar Rapids, IA (Kernels)
#337 Clinton, IA (LumberKings)
#349 Beloit, WI (Snappers)
#360 Geneva, IL (Cougars)
#367 Appleton, WI (Timber Rattlers)
#372 Midland, MI (Looooooooooooons)

Out of curiosity, here are the rankings of teams that have lost Midwest League teams over the last few years:
#61 Madison, WI
#113 Kalamazoo (Battle Creek), MI
#158 Cedar Falls (Waterloo), IA
#311 Rockford, IL

Not listed (as far as I could tell. I mean there are 400 names on there):
Kenosha, WI
Springfield, IL

The last thing I wanted to pull out of this list is the ratings of the Wisconsin cities.

#37 Green Bay
#38 Milwaukee
#61 Madison
#344 River Falls
#349 Beloit
#367 Appleton

River Falls? Really? Really? With all due respect to the Falcons...really?

I may have some thoughts on these "rankings" later.