Athlons: Ranking the Big Ten College Towns (Expert Poll) - Minneapolis #9

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per Athlons:

The old saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” couldn’t be more true when it comes to ranking college towns.

Do you prefer larger metropolitan areas? Do you enjoy the isolated peace and quiet of a quaint small town? Cost of living, nightlife, food, culture, weather, surrounding geography and more go into evaluating a city.

Every college campus is unique and each one brings something different to the table.

When evaluating a big city like Chicago against a small town like State College or the culture of Piscataway with the tempo of Iowa City, personal opinions will vary greatly. So we had some fun asking 10 Big Ten experts to rank their favorite Big Ten locations:

9. Minneapolis, Minn. A very underrated location to live — at least, for eight months of the year — The Twin Cities offer plenty for visitors and residents alike. Parks, biking and theaters are prevalent and the downtown experience is awesome. If you can handle the frigid winters, Minneapolis is one of the best places in the Big Ten.

http://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-big-ten-college-towns-expert-poll

Go Gophers!!
 

So its one of the 10-20 best places to live according to most lifestyle/quality of life articles I've seen but only the 8th best place in the B1G? LOL
 

oleboy41 said:
So its one of the 10-20 best places to live according to most lifestyle/quality of life articles I've seen but only the 8th best place in the B1G? LOL
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I can understand the whole small town side (Iowa City/ State College) but how in the heck can you rank Columbus over Minneapolis?
 


Apparently, winter in the other Big Ten cities is just like a vacation in the Bahamas...

Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2
 


Blah. What a croc!
Watch them change it once we win the rose bowl this year.
 

Athlons has experts now?

You know what they say about experts? They're former drips.
 

If the ranking is of the best "College Town" then I can agree with the ranking, Minneapolis is most definitely not a college town. However if it's a ranking of the best places to live in the B1G then MSP is way too low.
 

Love the quote about Madison: " It's vibrant, fun, welcoming..."
Clearly they've never been to Madison when wearing the opposing teams colors. Wisconsin fans are pretty universally known as the most obnoxious and rude in the Big Ten.
 



Word said:
Love the quote about Madison: " It's vibrant, fun, welcoming..."
Clearly they've never been to Madison when wearing the opposing teams colors. Wisconsin fans are pretty universally known as the most obnoxious and rude in the Big Ten.
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Yeah, laughed about that one myself.
 

Ski U Master said:
If the ranking is of the best "College Town" then I can agree with the ranking, Minneapolis is most definitely not a college town. However if it's a ranking of the best places to live in the B1G then MSP is way too low.
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This. I don't really view Minneapolis as a college town. It is by far a better place to live than say Madison, Iowa City, Columbus etc. To each their own I guess.
 

Expert is a term that is being tossed around too liberally.
 

I've said it before... "Lists" like this are why I dislike the offseason. Ranking the stadiums. Ranking the mascots. Ranking the weight rooms. Ranking the cafeterias. Ranking the traditions. Ranking the coaching jobs. Ranking the uniforms.

All of this is thrown out there off season to gain clicks, and start water cooler conversations. And who provides most of those clicks? This is how Columbus ranks ahead of the Twin Cities. You have to cater to your audience to some degree.

If the Gophers can continue winning and grow the fan base, their uniforms have a chance to be ranked among the B1G's best.
 



After reading the article, it seems clear that the panel has a clear preference for "college towns," where everything revolves around the FB team and the game-day experience. From that perspective, Mpls is not a college town, and the Gophers game-day atmosphere still has a long way to go to match some of the other B1G schools. As much as I detest the WI FB team, you have to admit that game day in Madison is a freakin' event. It would be great to see that kind of atmosphere around Gopher Game Day, but the U administration and the city of Mpls would have to be willing to change some of their policies. AND LET THE DAMN BAND MARCH DOWN UNIVERSITY!
 

short ornery norwegian said:
After reading the article, it seems clear that the panel has a clear preference for "college towns," where everything revolves around the FB team and the game-day experience. From that perspective, Mpls is not a college town, and the Gophers game-day atmosphere still has a long way to go to match some of the other B1G schools. As much as I detest the WI FB team, you have to admit that game day in Madison is a freakin' event. It would be great to see that kind of atmosphere around Gopher Game Day, but the U administration and the city of Mpls would have to be willing to change some of their policies. AND LET THE DAMN BAND MARCH DOWN UNIVERSITY!
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So, then why is Evanston ranked ahead of Minneapolis? The only days they have good game day atmosphere is when Nebraska or Ohio State show up to buy 70% of their tickets.
 

e.bigelow said:
So, then why is Evanston ranked ahead of Minneapolis? The only days they have good game day atmosphere is when Nebraska of Ohio State show up to buy 70% of their tickets.
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Yeah, seems real schizophrenic doesn't it? Reads likes a sportswriters, weekend visitors list. The places they like are mainly sited for their football season attributes and what someone in town for 2-3 days can do while they are there.

You're right though Mr.Bigelow, about Evanston vs. Minneapolis. Here they just threw out the game altogether and just looked at Chicago vs. the Twin Cities.

"9. Minneapolis, Minn. A very underrated location to live — at least, for eight months of the year — The Twin Cities offer plenty for visitors and residents alike. Parks, biking and theaters are prevalent and the downtown experience is awesome. If you can handle the frigid winters, Minneapolis is one of the best places in the Big Ten.

7. Evanston, Ill. If you like big cities, few places in the world compare to The Windy City. Evanston is located on the north side of Chicago, situated along Lake Michigan and is a short train ride to Wrigley Field. Northwestern offers the best of both worlds — campus life nestled inside a bustling, massive metroplex (and they'll tell you about it). - See more at: http://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-big-ten-college-towns-expert-poll#sthash.siuXtseg.dpuf"
 

RodentRampage said:
Apparently, winter in the other Big Ten cities is just like a vacation in the Bahamas...
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Ha.. yeah, that always gets me. The difference in winter temps is minimal yet every time I tell people I'm from Minnesota, they act like it's 100 below zero 9 months of the year... Sure, because you're out on your deck sunbathing when it's 29 in Columbus vs. 21 in Minneapolis.
 

I'm pretty familiar with Columbus and it's difficult for me to understand why anyone would rank it higher than the Twin Cities, and its not even close.
 

vagopher said:
I'm pretty familiar with Columbus and it's difficult for me to understand why anyone would rank it higher than the Twin Cities, and its not even close.
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People from Columbus come to Twin Cities/MN area to vacation or take in shopping, culture, or take advantage of the abundant natural resources. I have never heard of someone from Minnesota going to Columbus to vacation.

I would rather go to Des Moines than Columbus.
 

Perhaps Minnesota needs the University of Manitoba to join the Big Ten. Winters in Minneapolis are balmy compared to Winnipeg. A lot more snow in Mn though.
 

Rescooter said:
People from Columbus come to Twin Cities/MN area to vacation or take in shopping, culture, or take advantage of the abundant natural resources. I have never heard of someone from Minnesota going to Columbus to vacation.

I would rather go to Des Moines than Columbus.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy there.
 

I made a table of temperatures of Big Ten cities. It shows the average annual temperature, and then for a sampling, the January average high temp and July high temp.

We are the coldest, but really not terribly different than any of the other schools (except maybe Maryland).

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Chicago is about as relevant to a discussion of Northwestern's campus as St. Cloud is to the U's campus.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Chicago is about as relevant to a discussion of Northwestern's campus as St. Cloud is to the U's campus.
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Not sure if you were talking about the weather post (if not, disregard the rest). I couldn't find Evanston in the weather database so I just went with Chicago.
 

Word said:
Not sure if you were talking about the weather post (if not, disregard the rest). I couldn't find Evanston in the weather database so I just went with Chicago.
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No, I was referring to how people always talk about Chicago when discussing Northwestern. Their campus is a half-hour from downtown on a good day by car and 45 min by train. It's fine if you want to discuss proximity to a major metro area as a bonus, but discussions often seem to pretend that Northwestern students walk out the front door of their dorm into the heart of downtown Chicago.
 

dpodoll68 said:
No, I was referring to how people always talk about Chicago when discussing Northwestern. Their campus is a half-hour from downtown on a good day by car and 45 min by train. It's fine if you want to discuss proximity to a major metro area as a bonus, but discussions often seem to pretend that Northwestern students walk out the front door of their dorm into the heart of downtown Chicago.
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Totally agree with this Dpo.
 

My initial thought when reading the headline was no. 9 in the country - not bad. But in the Big - Please.
 

Ok, fair question. How exactly is everyone doing this ranking in their head? Are you comparing cities (e.g. resident life, around town, things to do) or campus life (e.g. vibe within walking distance of campus, sporting events, )... It sounds like the former, and if that's the case, it's laughable that Minneapolis ranks where it does. My guess is that many of the "experts" are thinking more about campus life and experience.


The article setup is a bit vague.

"Every college campus is unique"

and then...

"When evaluating a big city like Chicago"...

I love "expert panels"...
 

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