Best sports city 2007?

The Sporting News has an interesting feature where they annually name a "Best Sports City". The Best Sports City 2007 was recently named and the winner was...Detroit. Detroit? Are you kidding me?!

Well, allow me to retort...

How in the world does a city that boasts the Lions even get considered for such an honor? If you look back at the winners over the past several years, the common thread is that the winning city produced at least one championship. Usually 2 championships from the same city in a year means an automatic bid as best sports city. And in the past year, Detroit has won exactly...zero championships in ANY sport. In fact, their strongest argument seems to be that the Tigers played in the World Series (where they lost to the Cardinals). Neither the Pistons or the Red Wings - despite both being number one seeds - could even get past their respective conference finals. I think a better title for Detroit would be "Most Underachieving Sports City 2007".

So who would I pick for Best Sports City 2007? The answer is simple; Gainesville, home of the University of Florida. Love them or hate them, the Gators produced national champions in the two most popular college sports, football and basketball. When was the last time that happened? Has it EVER happened? Now, normally I would not agree that a college town could be considered the best sports city, but The Sporting News included them in their rankings (at number 11 no less) so if they can include them then I can too. And let's be honest, Gainesville had a much better year than Detroit. Plus, I'd be willing to bet even money that the UF football team could probably beat the Detroit Lions...