The rest of the best

Sporting News, The, June 30, 1997

The Dish: When Ted and Jane put the pucks on ice in '99, Hotlanta will be chillin' with the big boys.

1995: 7 1994: 12 1993: 9

12. Seattle

Pluses: The Big Unit, Junior and A-Rod; Husky Stadium; Gary Payton; Paul Allen (your tax dollars at work, not!)

Minuses: The Seahawks (quick, name five players); Rainman; no NHL; the Kingdome, a state-of-the-art dungeon.

The Dish: Because there is no NHL (nor is there going to be), the Emerald City has the No. 1 punch of a decaf skim latte.

1995: 14 1994: 12 1993: 9

13. Boston

Pluses: The Green Monster; Mo; Drew Bledsoe; Rick Pitino; Red Sox Nation; the parquet floor.

Minuses: The Bruins and Celtics; Foxboro Stadium; Fenway's plumbing; Bill Parcells and the Rocket; B.C. football.

The Dish: One AFC championship (and Super Bowl loss) can't make up for basketball and hockey teams of historic awfulness.

1995: 13 1994: 9 1993: 11

14. Phoenix

Pluses: The Diamondbacks; ASU football (a very Kushy job in '96); baseball spring training; the Suns ... for the last 59 games of the season; the Cardinals, even though 7-9 is an improvement; Jerry Colangelo; pro golf tour stops.

Minuses: Charles Barkley; ASU basketball; the Suns ... for the first 13 games of the season; the summertime heat (yeah, yeah, it's a dry heal but so's a blast furnace).

The Dish: When the Snakes start playing, the Valley of the Sun takes a quantum leap in our ratings because of the atmosphere, but, hey, middle of the pack or lower is no way for all four pro teams to help the ranking.

1995: 19 1994: 19 1993: 20

15. Pittsburgh

Pluses: Super Mario (sob!); the Steelers; Rincon, Loaiza and Sodowsky; three rivers.

Minuses: Jim Leyland; Pitt football and basketball; Iron City Light; no NBA, Three Rivers.

The Dish: There's plenty of young talent with the Pirates, but college football is at a perpetual ebb, the Pens are looking at life after Mario and the Steelers are a question mark. The elevator is definitely going ... down.

1995: 24 1994: 20 1993: 14

16. St. Louis

Pluses: The Birds on the Bat; Brett Hull; Tony La Russa, genius; Saint Louis University's basketball recruiting class; Budweiser (and plenty of it).

Minuses: The Rams (in a domed football stadium); Mike Keenan; no NBA; no Division I football.

The Dish: Now that the Big 12 Championship has blown town and Division I football has left the building (the Trans World Dome, that is), St. Louis' rating is sliding.

1995: 9 1994: 24 1993: 17

17. Toronto

Pluses: The Rocket; the Hockey Hall of Fame; Darnon Stoudamire; Maple Leaf Gardens (for now); Labatt's.

Minuses: Empty seats at SkyDome; the Maple Leafs; no NFL team (ergo, Argos, a second-10 rating); this messy ownership thing with the Raptors.

The Dish: Taking the Leafs and Raptors into consideration, if it weren't for Gord Ash's stroke of genius/luck in signing Clemens, Toronto would be -- how to say this kindly? -- just another city with a bad exchange rate and rating. (Not rated previously).

18. Minneapolis-St. Paul

Pluses: Kirby Puckett, team exec; the Vikings; "The Kid" and the Timberwolves (yes, the Timberwolves); Gophers basketball; TK; 10,000 lakes.