By Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer Published Oct 07, 2009 at 1:35 PM

The Sporting News released its annual list of "Best Sports Cities." Pittsburgh tops the list while last year's No. 1, Boston, falls below Philadelphia to No. 3.

Milwaukee, without a major professional title (Bucks) since 1971 (The Wave were MISL champions in 2005), ranks 26th.

"Milwaukee has that big-city feel without the hassle of a big city," Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun told Sporting News.

"Great people, great fans, great restaurants. It's a great place to play. The energy the fans bring to Miller Park day in and day out is great. We really enjoy the support the city gives us; they live and die with our team."

The top 10 list:

1. Pittsburgh
2. Philadelphia
3. Boston
4. Chicago / Evanston
5. Los Angeles
6. New York
7. Phoenix / Tempe
8. Miami
9. Dallas-Fort Worth
10. Detroit / Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti

Milwaukee ranked above several prominent and larger metropolitan areas including Orlando, Baltimore, St. Louis, San Antonio, Buffalo and Toronto.

Other interesting ranks:

51. Green Bay
75. Madison
370. Beloit
372. Appleton

The full list is here, but you have to buy the Oct. 12 print edition for the full story.

This year's Best Sports Cities list features almost 400 cities and towns in the U.S. and Canada, ranked by a system that assigns points to a variety of categories, including a city's number of teams, their regular-season won-lost records, playoff berths, bowl appearances and tournament bids, championships, applicable power ratings, fan fervor, attendance and more.

Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer

A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.

He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.

Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.  He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.  

He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.

He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.