Atlanta’s love/hate relationship with rankings continue.

This time it’s all about the love, since Outside Magazine rated our city the third “best” in the country after ranking on all the usual factors (quality of life, unemployment, college degrees, income level, home prices, weather) and then throwing in some additional factors that matter most to Outside readers – quality and proximity to hiking, biking, running, paddling, and skiing.

In citing reasons for Atlanta’s supremacy over cities that normally crush us with their ocean views and more iconic skylines, Outside points to things like trout fishing in the Hooch, proximity to the start of the Appalachian Trail, cliff jumping in the Palisades, Piedmont Park, LEED-certified Phillips Arena (huh?), and the Brick Store.

I guess we don’t stand a chance in Couch-Potato Weekly now.