According to Men’s Health magazine, Denver gets an ‘F‘ when it comes to drunkenness. The worst in the class, actually, placing 100th (out of 100) in a ranking of the ‘Most Dangerously Drunk’ cities in America. Colorado Springs is on Denver’s heals, finishing 98th, and Aurora did poor as well, coming in 82nd.

Men’s Health came up with their finding by looking at the following factors:

• Annual death rates due to alcoholic liver disease
• People in danger of an alcohol-related death by regularly consuming five or more drinks in a sitting (according to the Centers for Disease Control)
• Drunk-driving arrests (according to the FBI)
• Percentage of fatal accidents involving intoxicated motorists (according to the U.S. Department of Transportation)
• MADD report card of state efforts to cut down on excessive drinking

However, Men’s Health just might have a grudge against Colorado because in a recent issue of the magazine, they reported that Denver, Colorado Springs and Aurora are in the top eight cities for the largest number obese adult residents.

Lucky for us, there are lots of reports out there that offer opposing views. According to a Health Day Fitness report, though obesity is on the rise in Colorado (where isn’t it?), we're still the nation’s most fit state.

Oh, and in another one of MH's statistical salmagundis, aka ‘reports’, found that Denver is the 26th most angry city. This 'report' was based on data points like blood pressure, # of speeding tickets and traffic congestion.

It seems like Men's Health hit the nail on the head. Angry, obese and dangerously drunk. I have always thought that Colorado is a total deadbeat, basket case.

The reality is you can make a statistic out of anything. In the past few years, I have heard some great things about Denver and/or Colorado. Like our state ranks high in household income and education, that Colorado has a good white collar market, is best poised for high tech growth and has an intense entrepreneurial spirit. According to various magazines or research organizations, Colorado was the Most Livable State and Denver is the best U.S. city for families. At some point, we had the best library, really high gym participation, great water quality, a high number of natural food markets, a very sunny climate, and unfortunately a hell of a lot of rollerbladers. If all this is true, it seems odd that we’d also be dangerously drunk.

Isn’t Denver the best city for singles according to some other crazy batch of numbers? Well, I sure know a lot of single people, but the goal is usually not to be - so who really cares.

How much of this - good or bad - is true, or even close to accurate? I can’t say, but it seems there is something intrinsically wrong with Men’s Health and other outlets putting out these reports - these lists - which probably aren't comparing apples to apples, or even apples to oranges. It's more like comparing steak and eggs - they complement each other and make a good story on a menu, but that is about all they have in common. Speaking of which, I’m hungry...watch out obesity, here I come!

So Denver is dangerously drunk, but Detroit is just straight-up dangerous according to a report released by CQ Press, a unit of Congressional Quarterly. Just another obstacle for the Motor City, which already has a tarnished image. The report used FBI stats on rape, robbery, assault and homicide, the usage of which the FBI does not condone.

Detroit has already experienced a get-the-hell-out-of-town exodus (something like a million people over the last half a century) when it was tagged the murder capital of the nation and I never really hear anyone hurtin' to make Detroit home. This report probably won't help Detroit - their chamber is going to need one hell of a relocation guide.

Though the goal of these reports is to help, Detroit, Saint Louis, Flint, Oakland, etc. seem to top the list year over year. Though based on some valid information and concerns, these reports are simply fodder for uneducated conversations and sensational news reports.

The report "helps concerned Americans learn how their communities fare in the fight against crime," CQ Press said in a statement. "The first step in making our cities and states safer is to understand the true magnitude of their crime problems. This will only be achieved through straightforward data that all of us can use and understand."

I don't think anyone, from the Chief of Police to the Mayor, are scratching their heads thinking, "Did you get the memo? We got problems!"

But what about the good stuff. Does anyone know anything good about Detroit, other than a pretty sweet music scene? Detroit doesn’t need some report card doubling up their danger points because some of the crimes committed were especially horrific and then telling everyone in the whole world about it. What about the good stuff? There has to be something - I would like to see that report.

Oh, here's one...Detroit made NYT's list of 53 places to travel in 2008. I don't get. Conflicting information stresses me out. Go to Detroit, get mugged, you'll want to get photos, a trip to remember!

Something should be done about drunk driving, homicide and obesity. But let's build pride in our cities and citizens, generate awareness for the positive and dig deep to fix the negatives. National ridicule probably doesn’t help.