Cheap Shot From the (Com)Post

How about that civic pride????

Memo to Dan Steinberg, leave the cutesy little self-depreciating remarks to Kornheiser. He's much better at it. Taking a look at his chart the rankings go:

Detroit
Dallas
Denver
New York
Miami
Boston
Phoenix
Chicago
Minnesota
Philadelphia
Washington
Atlanta

Detroit is credited with three first place "finishes" because the rankings only count the regular season finish. The Tigers have yet to complete their season, the Red Wings were bounced in the first round of the NHL playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers and the Pistons wilted under the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA playoffs.

Regular season titles are nice, but somehow I don't think the fans of the Red Wings, Pistons, and Indianapolis Colts are patting themselves on the back for their great finishes. Tiger fans are already giddy considering that just a few short years ago, the Tigers were on their way to ringing up 119 losses. Something tells me that coming up short of a World Series Title this year won't bother them too much.

Furthermore, two of the local teams (the Bullets and the Redskins) both made the playoffs last year. Yeah, titles are what matters but I guess that isn't important to Mr. Steinberg.

Finally, since he insists that the NHL is no longer worthy of "major" status, let's drop the NHL from these rankings. Atlanta is still in last place and Washington passes Philadelphia for 10th. That isn't exactly a sea change in the rankings and I admit to not knowing what if any other cities become eligible for the list, but it just goes to prove Mark Twain's old saying "There are three types of liars; liars, damned liars, and statistics."