Smaller--but stronger.

If you've followed our list over the years, you've seen it expand from 25 in 1993 to 376 in 2001. Now we've decided, in the name of accuracy and accountability (gulp), to contract it a bit. Because the cities that fall at or near the bottom of this list are so close to one another in points totals, we added a new qualifying layer this year, tightening the eligibility standards to be ranked at all:

A city must have at least a Division I basketball team or, minus that, score in select other categories upon which we base our rankings.

Those other categories include--among other things--major professional sports franchises, training facilities for major ...