By Mick Holien
It seems at the dawn of a new calendar there are those folks who feel compelled to rate everything they can think of on lists.
Oh I guess it makes for fodder for radio hosts to fill time with their compilations except that most of the results are predictable especially now with the ease of finding statistics which is the founding of the majority of the material.
So on this warming Friday with the Lady Griz breaking a 30-game road losing streak by prevailing through the Fargo chill and the men running over the Century mark for the first time past a Division-1 opponent in almost two decades, I picked out a few things on a couple of surprising I think … you got it … lists.
Oh yes and by the way both teams remain unscathed after three league games and share the circuit lead and the Grizzlies were a bucket shy of tying the school’s all-time single game scoring mark..
My first list has to do with the worst cities in the Nation to drive in.
Now while you could pretty well fill out the list yourself with Miami ranking at the top of the 25.
Fill in your blanks, then call up msn.com and see how close you got.
But in the middle of the pack, standing amazingly as the 16th worst driving city is Spokane and east to the valley.
Now I admit I feel like I have extra knowledge since I drove to and from the city every work and school day from 1970-80, but yes I know it’s likely changed considerably.
So here are the factors when you take a less than three hour jaunt to the Lilac city.
It is reasonable that there’s just short of one car per household and the average commute is just south of 23 minutes.
There are 6.7 deaths for every 100,000 residents but some 625 vehicles are stolen for every 100,000, well in advance of 603, the national average.
And congestion in the valley, starting at about Argonne Road, causes considerable fuel waste at a cost of an average of $2,58 a gallon.
Then there are some I think surprising things on a 28-item list to stop buying. I was almost afraid to read it since I am such an impulse buyer but mostly I dodged the bullet.
Now if I tell you bottled water ranks high you will be speculating all weekend – at some water cooler I suppose – gee if my water ranks high I probably have other vital things they are advising. And I maybe can hold you over to prompt you to listen closely on Monday. Just sayin’
