Re-creation in Recreation

The American College of Sports Medicine recently ranked 50 cities for being the most or least fit cities across the nation.  Pittsburgh came in at a respectable number 16, sandwiched in between Raleigh, NC and Philly, and not too far from trendier cities like Denver and Austin.  These lists of rankings, especially when featured on CNN or USAToday are definitely showing their age.  Those of us that took some statistics courses know that with the right criteria, Lagos can be viewed as London.  But this particular ranking got me to thinking about recreation, lifestyles, and the attractiveness of a city for desirable [read: higher income] demographics.

I posit Pittsburgh has all the recreational opportunities, and then some more, of larger or simply better reputed “cool and hip” cities.  Think the ones on every such list: Boulder/Denver, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Diego, and San Francisco Bay Area to name the obvious.  OK, the ocean-side beachfront we will never have.  Deal with it.  But even a large venue for sailing is just a couple hours north on Lake Erie.  And how many really swim off the frigid, shark infested Pacific beaches of northern California?


My point here is not to list Pittsburgh’s recreational opportunities.  That WOULD be tiresome and those that participate already know of them. Well OK.  A few of the outdoor oriented or “extreme” sports include street and BMX biking, mountain hiking and camping, white water sports, flat water sports as in rowing or kayaking, and triathlon.  Then there’s always the great equalizer of participant sports, running, of which Pittsburgh is developing a good core culture and an even better reputation.

 

So what I would like to see is more local political and development leaders play up the participant sports availability.  I note that outdoor recreation is mentioned in most thorough presentations of Pittsburgh’s quality of life.  But it’s never really highlighted.  My contention here is that participant sports attract a higher income and educational level demographic.  Those people form the basis for economic growth.  ESPN and “Sports Illustrated” magazine tout Pittsburgh’s reputation as a “sports town” but that comes with too many pictures [both mental and actual] of clearly overweight fans with their butts firmly placed in seats cheering on the local heroes.  Fun stuff as far as it goes but not always an attraction for 20-something creative types looking to migrate into, or simply stay [after CMU or Pitt degrees are attained] an exciting lifestyle.  More emphasis on serious participant sports and recreation, please.