Sean Avery Boosts New York's Manliness

Nashville now ranks as the manliest city in America, Mars Snackfood US announced today with the release of "America's Manliest Cities"—and New York is at the opposite end of the list.

The study was commissioned by COMBOS(R) Brand in partnership with Bert Sperling, the research expert behind the popular "Best Places to Live" studies.

According to the study, New York is at the very bottom of a list of the top 50 Most Manly Cities in America.

Chris Rovzar, Senior Editor for Online at New York Magazine, responded to the news by coming up with a list of what makes New York more manly, and Sean Avery of the New York Rangers appeared at the top of the list.

The rankings were determined using 50 of the largest metropolitan areas as defined by the United States Census Bureau, which includes a central city and the surrounding county (or counties).

Each metro area received a manliness rating between zero and 100 based on how well it performed in each of the study's manly categories.

Factors used to determine the manliest city rankings included the number of U.S.-made cars driven in the city, number of sports bars and BBQ restaurants, number of home improvement and hardware stores as well as manly salty snacks consumption.

All data was adjusted by the current population of the cities to arrive at "per capita" figures, providing an accurate comparison between cities of varying sizes.

Here's Rovzar's top 10 list, in reverse order, summarized by me for your reading pleasure, counting down to No. 1:

10. NASCAR hero Jeff Gordon lives in New York.

9. Rivers that men also fish in the rivers around New York.

8. Heroic men land planes on New York's rivers.

7. Men's Health editor Dave Zinczenko lives in New York.

5. New York has more professional sports teams than any other metropolitan area in the country.

4. Even New York's nemesis, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, lives in New York.

3. Brett Favre gave up a farm in Green Bay for New York City.

2. Texas couldn't handle Sean Avery, so they sent him back to New York.

The list of America's Manliest Cities, by the way, went like this:

    1.    Nashville, Tenn.
    2.    Charlotte, N.C.
    3.    Oklahoma City, Okla.
    4.    Cincinnati, Ohio
    5.    Denver, Colo.
    6.    St. Louis, Mo.
    7.    Columbus, Ohio
    8.    Kansas City, Mo.
    9.    Indianapolis, Ind.
    10.    Toledo, Ohio
    11.    Memphis, Tenn.
    12.    Richmond, Va.
    13.    Columbia, S.C.
    14.    Orlando, Fla.
    15.    Dayton, Ohio
    16.    Salt Lake City, Utah
    17.    Milwaukee, Wis.
    18.    Minneapolis, Minn.
    19.    Cleveland, Ohio
    20.    Detroit, Mich.
    21.    Jacksonville, Fla.
    22.    Phoenix, Ariz.
    23.    Birmingham, Ala.
    24.    Grand Rapids, Mich.
    25.    Tampa, Fla.
    26.    Harrisburg, Pa.
    27.    New Orleans, La.
    28.    Las Vegas, Nev.
    29.    Pittsburgh, Pa.
    30.    Philadelphia, Pa.
    31.    Louisville, Ky.
    32.    Atlanta, Ga.
    33.    Providence, R.I.
    34.    Dallas, Texas
    35.    Buffalo, N.Y.
    36.    Rochester, N.Y.
    37.    Baltimore, Md.
    38.    Boston, Mass.
    39.    Houston, Texas
    40.    Seattle, Wash.
    41.    Sacramento, Calif.
    42.    Miami, Fla.
    43.    San Diego, Calif.
    44.    Oakland, Calif.
    45.    Washington, District of Columbia
    46.    Chicago, Ill.
    47.    Portland, Ore.
    48.    San Francisco, Calif.
    49.    Los Angeles, Calif.
    50.    New York, N.Y.