The Sporting News likes to trot out its annual ranking of Best Sports City to drum up some support for the publication.

This year's list is coming out this month, with Boston at the top for the third time in five years, which makes sense since the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics all were in title games/series in the last 12 months. St. Louis has been on top in the past, back in 2000, just after the Rams won the Super Bowl and not long after Mark McGwire set the home run record and helped draw 3 million fans to Busch Stadium.

The top cities all are major professional markets.

The first non-pro market is No. 15 Lawrence, Kan., home to the university. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill is No. 24, and Morgantown, W.Va., is No. 25.

Back at No. 249 (on the list of 400) is Cape Girardeau, which probably is judged primarily by Southeast Missouri State University.

According to TSN: "Cities are ranked based on a variety of factors, including each city's number of teams and their regular-season won-lost records, playoff berths, bowl appearances and tournament bids; championships; power ratings; competition; fan fervor; attendance; stadium/arena quality; ticket prices/availability; franchise ownership; and marquee appeal of athletes."

Cape is ahead of the Cardinals spring training home, Jupiter, Fla. (261); the Quad Cities of Illinois/Iowa (262), which hosts a PGA Tour event in the John Deere Classic; Augusta, Ga. (264), home of the Masters; Bristol, Tenn. (273), which hosts two NASCAR races a year as well as several minor league baseball teams and is near ETSU; and Pine Bluff, Ark. (280).

A host of NASCAR cities check in at 273-278 -- Bristol; Brooklyn, Mich.; Darlington, S.C.; Fontana, Calif.; Long Pond, Pa.; Loudon, N.H.; Martinsville, Va. Talladega, Ala., is 282 and Watkins Glen, N.Y., is 284.

Larger markets like Tacoma, Wash. (289); Pawtucket, R.I. (290); Winnipeg (296); Trenton, N.J. (298) are among those behind the Cape.

You can see the entire list here.

Among the OVC and regional outposts:

14. Nashville (OVC HQ)

40. St. Louis

55. Kansas City

56. Memphis

60. Columbia, Mo.

70. Champaign, Ill.

131. Birmingham, Ala. (home of Samford as well as UAB)

147. Carbondale, Ill.

154. Springfield, Mo.

162. Clarksville, Tenn. (Austin Peay)

165. Terre Haute, Ind. (home of Indiana State, where SEMO won two weeks ago)

197. Murray, Ky. (Murray State)

219. Martin, Tenn. (UT-Martin)

231. Morehead, Ky. (Morehead State)

233. Cookeville, Tenn. (Tennessee Tech)

238. Richmond, Ky. (Eastern Kentucky)

-- the Cape line (249) --

270. Charleston, Ill. (Eastern Illinois)

295. Jacksonville, Ala. (Jacksonville State)

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A side note: Austin Peay has a poll on its Web site asking which of the three remaining home games is the most highly anticipated. After 125 votes: Murray State, 43.2 percent; Tennessee Tech (homecoming), 45.6 percent; Southeast Missouri State, 11.2 percent.