I Heart Cleveland!

Forbes Magazine has named us top of their list twice this month! We were #1 two times. We aren't #1 often, so let us bask in this for a bit.....

Oh wait, we are "The Worst Weather City" and "The Most Miserable City"??????? Really?????

As you might expect, Clevelanders are outraged. I am.

I really didn't care when we were named "Worst Weather". I found it funny. We live in North East Ohio on Lake Erie. What do you expect? There is a long standing joke in Cleveland that there are only two seasons; Winter and Orange Barrel. I question if we are really the worst weather city, but the weather can be bad here. I thought The Cleveland Plain Dealer did a nice job of spoofing it and gave us great options of fun things to do in our "Worst Weather".

Then "The Most Miserable City" title hit. And it hit hard. Who do they think they are? What do they have against us? Why would they do this to us? Twice in one month? Why are they kicking us when we are down?

People have started FB pages against Forbes magazine (I have become a Fan), written blogs, (check out Cleveland's A Plum's post. It is great), written letters (myself included), dropped subscriptions(myself included). It is all anyone was talking about last night in the restaurant where I was enjoying Happy Hour. It hit a nerve.

So I have to ask myself why? Why are we taking this one so personally. I mean Clevelanders are seasoned at being the butt of jokes, the laughing stock of the sports world, and always on the defense of our city. Why did this list get under our skin?

It feels like an attack. An attack from some journalist in a towering office of NYC. An attack from someone who has most likely never been here. Never been to the Rock Hall, The CMA, or to the Palace Theater. Someone who has never walked the aisles of the West Side Market, shed a tear when they took the Browns away, cheered for Michael Symon when he became an Iron Chef, or taken a boat ride at sunset on Lake Erie.

I e-mailed and invited Mr. Kurt Badenhausen, said "journalist" of the miserable list, to a VIP tour of Cleveland. I invited him with the best intentions of showing him my Cleveland, our Cleveland. I also invited him knowing he would never read or respond to my e-mail, let alone come. But it felt good.

Be on the lookout for Kurt's follow up article to his "most miserable" list. It could be titled, "Forbes travels to The Most Miserable City and Survives". You will have to let me know when that article comes out.

I have cancelled my subscription.

Cheers,

BBS
(A very happy and not at all miserable person in a wonderful city)

The beautiful picture of Cleveland was lifted from Google.