EXCEPT THERE'S A FATAL DESIGN FLAW:

Top 50 Manliest Cities, Charlotte Ranks Second (Chelsi Zash, 3/5/2009, DigTriad)

Who knew? Apparently having too many home furnishing stores like Ikea in your city is a sign of being "unmanly."

At least that's the conclusion of a study released Thursday that ranks "America's Manliest Cities" on criteria such as the number of professional major league sports teams, popularity of tools and hardware, and frequency of monster truck rallies.

Nashville came out on top in the study conducted by Sperling's BestPlaces. Mars Snackfood US and its Combos snack food brand commissioned the study. The ranking is part of the Combos launch of its Ultimate Man Zone Sweepstakes, which awards prize packages to upgrade men's tailgating, grilling, home theater or gaming "zones."

New York City finished last out of 50 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas.

Cities lost ranking points for "emasculating" characteristics like the abundance of home furnishing stores, high minivan sales and subscription rates to beauty magazines.

Nashville grabbed the top spot in the ranking thanks to its high number of NASCAR enthusiasts, popularity of hunting and fishing, and concentration of barbecue restaurants.

Rounding out the top five were: Charlotte, N.C.; Oklahoma City; Cincinnati; and Denver.

As their own criteria demonstrates, straight men don't live in cities. For one thing, letting someone else barbecue your food is little different than having season tickets to the ballet.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 10, 2009 8:12 AM