Forbes has posted their list of America's Most Sinful Cities, organized by the categories of the seven deadly sins.
For instance, take sloth. Here's America's Most Sedentary City:
Memphis, Tenn.
Rank: 1This southern city on the banks of the Mississippi lands first on our list after ranking in the top 10 of each of our categories. Though efforts are underway to improve parks and outdoor recreation areas, the whole of Memphis hasn't quite caught up with the area's new vision. Slightly behind the national rate of 66%, about 65% of the city's population is obese or overweight, and residents average 41 hours of television watching per week. It also ranked close to the top where physical inactivity was concerned: when asked, 30% of its inhabitants hadn't exercised regularly.
Memphis also ranked first for gluttony: it's also America's Most Obese City.
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/2008/02/14/cities-sinful-lander-forbeslife-cx_lm_0213sinful_land.html
Slightly behind the national rate of 66%, about 65% of the city’s population is obese or overweight
and:
it’s also America’s Most Obese City
How do those two go together?
I guess they're eating too many Bacon Cups...
Actually, I live in a part of town mostly populated by young, fairly affluent, athletic people, but it's definitely the exception.
There are a lot of reasons for that. For one thing, most of the city (but not my neighborhood) is so sprawled out that you can't walk anywhere. For another, there are world-class barbecue joints all over the place. There's also the weather: Our winters are usually too cold to do anything active outside, and our Missisippi Delta summers are WAY too hot and humid to do anything active outside.
And, probably most importantly, the local Southern culture is not about exercise and eating healthy.
Go San Jose!!!