We love greater L.A.! Thanks to Rally Monkeys and Mighty Ducks, Anaheim-Los Angeles is TSN's 2003 Best Sports City. Who says you need the NFL?

Sporting News, The, August 18, 2003 by Bob Hille

Columbus

Finishing No. 1 in our final Power Poll after upsetting Miami (Fla.) and winning the BCS title (just as TSN had predicted, thank you very much) and ranking No. 4 in Division I-A attendance (average crowd at the expanded Horseshoe: 103,488), Ohio State (14-0) put its hometown at the top of our list of college football cities.

Cool helmet stickers, a coach who has followed through on his promises and a nationally ranked recruiting class. All the pieces were there for Columbus in this year's rankings.

Of course, things are off to, ahem, a bit of a bumpy start this Best Sports City year, eh?--B.H.

The Best of College Basketball

Syracuse, N.Y.

Sure, handing Jim Boeheim his first national title has a certain cachet, but Syracuse lands at the top of our list of college basketball cities for so much more. The Orangemen always have a distinct advantage at the cavernous Carrier Dome, the 33,000-seat anti-Cameron Indoor Stadium that gave Syracuse the chance to draw more fans (355,663) than any school and rank No. 2 in average attendance (20,921) in 2002-03. Carmelo Anthony was (a moment of silence, 'Cuse fans) the college hoops personality of the season, with the kind of smile that could melt the ice off the Finger Lakes in February. For one year, one team energized a city and put Syracuse in a class by itself.--B.H.

The Best of the NFL

Green Bay

The Microsoft of professional sports leagues, the NFL needs this Wisconsin burg because Lambeau Field, the Packers and quarterback Brett Favre are what the NFL wants us to think pro football is: athletic cathedrals as host to teams rooted in a century past led by warrior-players. In reality, though, the NFL is fan-friendly venues at which some teams dressed in familiar colors are led by supremely gifted athletes, which, come to think of it, describes Green Bay pretty well. The Pack went a league-best 8-0 at home last year, drawing 101.8 percent of capacity at a truly great stadium. OK, sure, some of our affection for Green Bay as our No. 1 NFL city has to do with the franchise's history. But throw another brat on the hibachi, and we'll explain why this is a deserved ranking.--B.H.

The Best of the NBA

Dallas

17,007. That's the number that used to fill Reunion Arena back in the mid- to late 1980s, when game nights for owner Donald Carter's Mavericks, led by Mark Aguirre, were a social happening in Dallas. The NBA has changed, and so have the Mavs. But once again, games are a see-and-be-seen event in Dallas, starting with owner Mark Cuban, who connects with fans like no other, and ending with an entertaining and internationally flavored team that finished the regular season, 60-22. Perhaps that explains in part why state-of-the-art American Airlines Center played to 103.7 percent of capacity last season. Yes, in-state rival San Antonio won the 2003 championship, but no team better symbolizes what commissioner David Stern envisions for his league (providing, of course, the owner can keep his pie hole shut).--B.H.

The Best of Winston Cup