The Sporting News: Seattle Not A Top 50 Sports City

Seattlest had barely dried our tears from last weekend’s Huskies and Seahawks losses when we learned Wednesday that The Sporting News ranked Seattle an abysmal 52nd place on its 2009 list of Best Sports Cities.

Way to kick us while we’re down. Out of 400 cities in the U.S. and Canada, not even in the Top 50?

The rankings, now in their 16th year, supposedly calculate “win-loss records, playoff berths, bowl appearances and tournament bids, championships, applicable power ratings, attendance and fan fervor”.

In 2006, which included the Seahawks’ Super Bowl trip, Seattle ranked #15.

This year, we barely snuck by Edmonton (53) and Ottawa (54), meaning that even with a Division I university and three major professional franchises, our collective sports scene apparently had all the vigor of a mediocre hockey team.

Losing the Sonics was like cutting a nice, big, green and gold helium balloon off our ranking (See #37: Oklahoma City).

So do we care about the list? Not really. To point out that Seattle had a poor sports year is like saying that it snowed last Christmas. The list states the obvious and is, at the end of the day, just a list. If anything, it’s only a measure of where we’ve been, certainly not where we’re headed.

So Montreal, Oakland, Portland (Portland?), enjoy your time ahead of Seattle. You’ll be getting behind us again soon.

Enough dwelling on this, we’ve got some games to win. Starting with:

The Huskies who, after returning to national relevance, return to Husky Stadium Saturday against Arizona (3-1). Sure, the last time Locker & Co. set foot on home turf, they served notice to the Trojans and the rest of college football that the Huskies are back. But they haven’t won since. After Saturday’s Irish slugfest, they’ll need to recover quick against the Wildcats, who are actually slight road favorites on the Ship Canal.

And, the Seahawks who, if promising practices this week are an indication, could have starting QB Matt Hasselbeck under center. Out for the past two starts due to a fractured rib, Hasselbeck’s return is something, anything, the 12th Man can try to feel good about against Jacksonville (2-2). We’re trying not to think about the possibility of being 1-4 after Sunday but, we are thinking about it.