Comments on: Brain Game: Putting the “P” in SB XLIII

By: TaylorMcD

TaylorMcD — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 03:41:00 +0000

I guessed Philly and Portland right away. But, Plano…no way that would have crossed my mind.

By: natalie

natalie — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:25:00 +0000

I couldn’t think of any. And I live in Plano with relatives near Peoria. A little slow today.

By: Isabella

Isabella — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:15:00 +0000

I guessed Peoria..

Only because its super close to me, and I figured it was descently big.
I also guessed Pekin because I was clueless.

By: Billy

Billy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:42:00 +0000

I can’t believe I actually got ‘em. Even Plano. That city just popped into my head right before I clicked the answer. Pasadena and Pomona didn’t even enter my head even though I grew up between the two cities, adjacent to Pomona.

By: aaron

aaron — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:15:00 +0000

In the west, cities annex their suburbs before they incorporate. In the East, home rule often takes precedent; therefore, the suburbs are entities unto itself. When Louisville, KY incorporated its suburbs into the city limits in 2001, it shot from the 69th largest city to the top 20. The numbers for Phoenix are quite misleading- Phoenix is mostly suburban, but all of those residents are considered part of the city. This is not true for places like Providence, Buffalo and other middle sized cities with large county populations but small city populations.

By: Sandy Wood

Sandy Wood — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:21:00 +0000

Rey, the mention of “Glendale” was just preemptive; it didn’t imply anything. The question did clearly ask for cities, not metro areas, so I’d have to disagree with you about Providence.

And the rankings given referred to the city population from the Census’ 2007 estimates.

By: M

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:02:00 +0000

In the winter time, Phoenix (or at least the Phoenix metro area, which is gigantic) has a greater population than Houston. So It’s 5th in the summer and 4th in the winter

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:58:00 +0000

Phoenix got bumped to #5 some time ago.
1. NYC
2. L.A.
3. Chicago
4. Houston
5. Phoenix
6. Philadelphia
7. San Antonio
8. San Diego
9. Dallas
10. San Jose

By: Chris Corbet

Chris Corbet — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:54:00 +0000

According to 2005 U.S. Census figures:

5. Philadelphia, PA – 1,479,339
28. Portland, OR – 538,544
71. Plano, TX – 241,991

BTW:

Providence, R.I. #130
Paterson, N.J. #133
Pomona, Calif. #145
Pasadena, Calif. #150
Pasadena, Texas #152
Pembroke Pines, Fla. #174
Palmdale, Calif. #196
Peoria, Ill. #197
Provo, Utah #199

By: Jude

Jude — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:47:00 +0000

The metro area idea was used to find the commonality between the Cardinals and Steelers, noticing that the two cities (kinda) began with P, and from there went off to the list of the 100 most populous cities, not 100 most populous metro areas. It was also pointed out that the Cardinals aren’t technically from Phoenix, so the whole argument against it is kinda moot.

I also missed Plano, though I didn’t even think of Providence (but should have – a friend is living there currently). Only other possibility I could think of was Pierre, SD, but it seemed unlikely.

And I believe the #6 Phoenix is a typo… Phoenix is actually slightly larger as of 2007 (if talking about the actual city).