Competitive Intelligence

Madison Ranked SI's "Best College Sports Town" - There's No Place Like the Home of the Badgers

After yesterday's remembrances of sadness, I thought it'd be a nice time of year to commemorate traditions of a happier nature - like... COLLEGE FOOTBALL! And, I'm proud to acknowledge, Sports Illustrated has announced that my alma mater, UW-Madison, ranks the "Best College Sports Town" in the country! Woo-Hoo!

What does all that have to do with competition, you might be asking...? Well, because Madison BEAT Athens, Austin, Gainsville, Boulder, Bloomington, Eugene, Knoxville, College Station AND Syracuse! (Those were the rest of the Top 10.)

Of course, two other significant rankings hit the papers in the past month or so.... First, UW-Madison ranked Number 7 among public universities in the annual ranking by U.S. News & World Report, hanging onto its rank as the seventh best public institution, tying with the University of California-San Diego, while falling one notch to tie for 32nd among all national doctoral universities. (Harvard and Princeton universities tied for first in that category.)

And, of course, the Badgers were first runner-up in The Princeton Review's party school ranking - jumping EIGHT places from last year's 10th place finish. The University of Colorado-Boulder was the top party school, while Brigham Young University in Utah was the top "stone cold sober" school.

- Arik