This isn't really sports-related. But it does have to do with the University of Florida, so I feel that it's fair game.
The city of Gainesville has been rated #1 out of 400 cities in America and Canada by Frommer's, the company responsible for expertise in world-wide travel.
Cities are rated based on statistics in nine categories: economy; cost of living; climate; education; health; crime; transportation; leisure; and arts and culture.
These are then modified by a subjective score gleaned from the way people feel about the city and other less tangible factors. Gainesville scored an 87 on this "quality of life" rating.
Having successful sports teams are not reflected directly in the rankings, Sander said, though he said they can "get into the woodwork indirectly" by strengthening alumni loyalty and providing exposure for the city. College sports, in general, help the rankings by providing a leisure activity, he said.
Pretty cool news, albeit surprising.
** In other news, baseball lost 7-5 in extras to Alabama today, but managed to take the series two games to one. While it was a very disappointing loss to the Tide in game three, the Gators did a great job of taking a series against another team fighting for a spot in the SEC tourney.