TSN Miami Bias

The Sporting News released its annual list of Best Sports Cities earlier this week. The criteria for making this list is the same as it has been for 10 years; given a 12 month period (July-July) what cities have the best sports atmospheres both professional and college using factors such as regular season records, postseason records (playoff berths, tournament bids, bowl appearances), quality and quantity of teams, ticket availability, stadium/arena quality, marquee athletes, and so forth. For the last two years Boston has held this prestigious title, but this year Chicago has won the distinguished award of best sports city. Chicago is definitely a deserving champion, but infuriating is the fact that Miami ranks as this years number 2 sports city. Miami? Granted they have an elite NBA team with at least two bonafide superstars, but what else do they have? An underachieving football program who hasn't been strong since Dan Marino retired, and NHL franchise that is so anonymous that you cannot think of one player on the team. A Baseball team that closely resembles a minor league franchise in terms of age, quality, attendance, and management. A Miami Hurricanes football program that can be dubbed rebuilding at best. With other cities much more deserving (see Detroit, Boston, & Dallas) one can only wonder how one pro franchise can propel Miami to second in the nation. Maybe this year’s release of Miami Vice has something to do with it, damn that Colin Farrell. The top 100 can be viewed here.