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It obviously isn't meant to be taken seriously...it's actually funny, and of course doesn't represent the real Cleveland.
When I first saw it in 2007-2008, I remembered I chuckled. I had met the guy who made it a couple times as he's a local comic.
Then I started seeing it stop popping up outside of the region and I had one of those "hey you can't fun of my sister, only I can make fun of my sister!" type feelings.
I'd argue it's already become part of the pop culture of the city since it's so d@mn catchy and quotable.
Most of this is difficult to assess unless you have first hand experience with both cities. Having never been to Cleveland and only going by what I've heard, I can't answer most of the question honestly. I would obviously pick Atlanta for most of them because I love life here...Sports? Atlanta. Food? Atlanta. History? Atlanta easily. Scenery? Atlanta. Interesting suburbs? Atlanta. Overall livability? Atlanta. Public transit? Atlanta easily. I think many of these have to do with Atlanta's size related to Cleveland's, and they really aren't in the same ballpark in most of these areas. It's nothing against Cleveland and I don't buy into the bad images still associated with that city.
Even in the healthcare category, Emory University Hospital stack up pretty well against the Cleveland Clinic, and I would bet that Atlanta has a much larger number of good hospital choices overall. Cleveland may win in the museums category, but I don't think so when considering overall culture along with it. The live theater and festivals scene in Atlanta outweighs that of Cleveland, and the symphony is ranked just behind Cleveland's.
That's fair, and I guess that's why it's interesting to get perspective from both sides on it. Regarding sports, both have three franchises, and a decent amount of college sports close at hand, so I can't say there's a clear winner. However, I will say that the way in which sports is followed in Cleveland (excluding possibly UGA), strikes me as being on a different level than it is in Atlanta. I remember hearing stories about Hawks games where tickets were available for walk up for playoff games in recent years, which would be unheard of in Cleveland (although I suppose that could be seen as a positive), it strikes me that in general, Atlantans are much more "casual" about their sports viewing habits. Another plus for Cleveland regarding sports is the fact that all three stadiums are located right downtown, and so it almost feels like they are inviting people into the city to watch, like a neighborhood feel. I didn't get that in Atlanta, it didn't strike me there were any large scale places to tailgate before Falcons games, and so the Hawks are the only one who could provide that experience. However, since both have 3 & 3 as was mentioned, that's why I'd call it a draw, being fully unbiased.
Food is one that is very objective, and probably the worst one to do. At the end of the day honestly if you care and know what you're doing, just about nothing beats a home cooked meal. So, having a decent number of good food places isn't hard. However, what I think Cleveland does that I'm not sure Atlanta can match is really making eating an experience all over the city (and again, I could be wrong on this), but I doubt that Atlanta has the number of places like Little Italy, East 4th Street, Ohio City, Tremont, Shaker Square, Chagrin Falls, Hudson I could go on and on. That doesn't mean Atlanta's is necessarily worse, but just something feels special about feeling like you're eating at a family place that hasn't changed the recipe (or the architecture) since they left Ellis Island.
I would definitely disagree on history. I'll give Atlanta the fact that it played a significant role in the civil rights movement, and could quite possibly be considered the capital of the American southeast, and hosting an olympics isn't too bad either.
However, Cleveland, and the Cleveland area in general is one that influenced the history of the world in enormous ways, and some of the things started there have been moved around the country. Electricity? First city with electric streetlights, Thomas Edison grew up half hour west of downtown. Oil? Cleveland started the oil boom and drilling for keresene oil, without quite frankly, modern society as we know it, would not have existed. John D Rockefeller, far and away the richest man to walk the earth left his mark on the world, and on the area, big time. Rubber and tires were also there, and Cleveland played a pioneering role in the auto movement. In large part because of this, Cleveland for several years had more millionaires than any other city in the world. Take a look at many of the basic lifestyle amenities people have today, and Cleveland was at the forefront of them, including the nation's first large scale indoor shopping center, The Arcade, the nation's first Historical Society, and the nation's first and still one of the most beautiful streetcar suburbs, Shaker Heights. If looking at military history, an hour to the west of town is where the absolutely pivotal Battle of Lake Erie took place, and is still home to a monument that is effectively the largest lighthouse in the world. An hour to the south is Bolivar, where one of the westernmost American Revolutionary War forts is. As far as social influence, I would also say it was quite large, as many prominent entertainers have come from Cleveland, and the juxtaposition it sits at between the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest really makes it a diverse hub of culture in any direction. East Liverpool, to the southeast of town was where the national land survey of the US was started.
Many of those other ones you mentioned were subjective, and so I won't comment on those, but I will say that Cleveland's RTA system is far better than you would likely guess for a city of it's size. It was the first city in the US to have a rail system that connected to it's airport, and has been voted before as the best public transit system in North America, though I don't know about how that rating was established. I do know that it is sort of hard to compare transit systems, from what I have heard, both have some safety concerns in certain sections, but that may be people just being overly paranoid. I know that both connect to the airport and appear to connect to major sections across the city. Cleveland has more stations established (50 as opposed to Atlanta's 38), I know that Cleveland also has a free busline taking people to access points around downtown, as well as an express bus which takes people from downtown to the Medical Area or to Lakewood (somewhat of an extension/streetcar city), and seems to run efficiently without delay and at most hours (however Cleveland's stations could use some TLC).
I don't deny that the Emory University Hospital provides quality care to many people there, and so it isn't that big of a difference, but in the most recent rankings, Cleveland finished in the Top 4 group along with MGH, JHH and Mayo, and had the most highest ranked disciplines apart from Mayo, including a huge victory with cardiology (that's gotta count for more). Because of that and it's global reputation, it attracts medical tourism from many of the most esteemed of the world's wealth, including Arab Oil Magnates, Prince Charles, Oprah Winfrey and more historically, William Randolph Hearst. They have an interesting session there called "Ideas for Tomorrow" where recent speakers have included Ben Bernanke, Jack Welch and Lord Norman Foster. Cleveland also has the Case Western Reserve University Hospital, which even as a 2nd hospital in the city, I wouldn't be surprised if is considered in the Top 15 in the US. I may be wrong on this stat, but I believe that with all their branches around the region, they end up employing over 100,000 in the metro, a major reason why Cleveland is home to the new Global Center for Health and Innovation.
I also respectfully disagree with the fact that Atlanta surpasses Cleveland regarding theater and festivals, while also acknowledging that with the Fox and other acts there, Atlanta is quite possibly super strong in that regard. Playhouse Square in Cleveland is considered the largest performing arts center/theater district outside of NYC, and has 9 theaters around there, along with the Cleveland Playhouse which I believe just won a Tony and various other smaller companies throughout the region. It generally gets every single one of the major broadway touring acts for the year, and supposedly have a season ticket holder base of 29,000 along with getting over 1,000 events a year. Not sure what is meant regarding festivals, whether you are talking about music or cultural events. Regarding music, since Cleveland is home to the RNR HOF, they have the fortune of getting the induction ceremony and concerts including Ringo Starr like they had a few weeks ago. Cleveland gets most all traveling tours to stop there, and really has a robust local/independent music scene, with a House of Blues downtown, and places like Beachland Ballroom and Grog Shop receiving national acclaim. In regards to festivals, Cleveland has an ethnic festival for just about every ethnicity you could think of, one of possibly the 5 largest St. Paddy's Day parades in the US, and something called the Feast of the Assumption, an Italian street festival which attracts over 100,000 people over a few days, just to name a few.
I definitely won't deny that Atlanta has more terrain, but I do think that Cleveland has a decent amount itself. I do think that Lake Erie is the great equalizer in the scenery department though, which ultimately again makes it personal preference.
Weather: Atlanta. It's high enough in elevation that it's relatively temperate for a Southern city, and it's also far enough north to get a winter storm or two every year.
Theme parks: Atlanta. Six Flags over Georgia is actually in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Cedar Point is a better theme park, but it's not in the Cleveland metropolitan area.
High culture: Cleveland. It has a richer cultural legacy than Atlanta does, especially with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Parks: Cleveland. The Metroparks system is more extensive than anything Atlanta has, though Atlanta gets points for the uniqueness of Stone Mountain Park.
Scenery: Atlanta. There are many mountain vistas nearby.
Sports: Atlanta. There's actually been a championship team in Atlanta in the last 50 years, unlike Cleveland.
Economy: Atlanta. The Atlanta metropolitan area has more jobs now than it did in 2000, unlike the Cleveland metropolitan area.
Location: Atlanta. It's the hub of the South.
History: Atlanta. Its Civil War and Civil Rights history is very important.
Higher education: Atlanta. Emory, Georgia Tech and Georgia State beat Case Western Reserve and Cleveland State.
K-12 education: Cleveland. Schools in the Cleveland metropolitan area have higher graduation rates than schools in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Big city vibe: Atlanta. It's the cultural and economic capital of the South.
Food: Cleveland. Atlanta punches a bit below its weight in terms of food, and Cleveland punches well above its weight.
Suburbs: Atlanta. The built environment of Cleveland's eastern suburbs is better than any of Atlanta's suburbs, but there's no contest in terms of wealth. Atlanta has a 25-mile-long cluster of rich suburbs from Smyrna to Cumming. Take a drive on GA 400 if you like to see exotic cars in their natural habitat.
Public transit: Atlanta. MARTA is more extensive than the Cleveland RTA, and there are proposals to extend it to more of the metropolitan area.
Health care: Cleveland. The Cleveland Clinic is world-renowned, though Grady Memorial Hospital is no slouch, and Emory University has a stellar medical school.
Overall livability: Cleveland. A metropolitan area starts to become unwieldy and hard to manage once its population passes 5,000,000.
Shopping: Atlanta. This isn't even close. There's enough aggregate income in Atlanta to support Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, plus three Nordstroms and three Lord & Taylors.
Regarding weather: While I picked Atlanta for weather also since I know more people would prefer that climate, I actually prefer Cleveland's. My ideal temperature is low 50s to low 70s, perfect for outdoor exercise and for me personally I feel like there's more I can do to wear coats and keep warm by moving than otherwise. Plus, being hot is just exhausting. Lake Erie's breeze makes for fantastic summers. In all of your opinions, how strong of a minority am I in regarding my opinion on weather?
Good point on Cedar Point.
Sports: Wait till this year. Three and a half weeks from now. Believe it (I hope). I can never actually be that confident haha.
Economy: True. But I'm interested in seeing job stats when the next census comes out. It strikes me that cities like Cleveland are starting to become more attractive again to millenials with all the bones that are there. Cleveland ranked in the Top 10 in brain gain over the past few years (I know, where are you starting from), but still.
Location: Good point. Yeah I could've gone either way on that one. Reason I went with Cleveland is proximity to other cities (within 5 hours or less of Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago etc.) I suppose that could be seen as a negative because of the competition that provides, but Cleveland can't really be seen as a satellite city of anywhere, and I think the location midway between NYC and Chicago is pretty helpful, plus it can be a major shipping stop. In some ways it's centrally located between the NE and MW.
History: I think that's one that is a matter of opinion as they both sort of have had important histories. I would say though that with the exception of MLK obviously, I think that Cleveland can point more to it's navigational and industrial history with more pride. Plus, I may be wrong, but I think there's more evidence of Cleveland's history on the ground with all the historic districts around town.
Suburbs: I guess it depends on what were measuring suburbs on. I think Cleveland's probably offer more in terms of character and enjoyment while Atlanta's offer more in terms of wealth. I would venture though that Cleveland's "Old Money" may be even more impressive than that of Atlanta (I was impressed by Druid Hills, but am not sure that there are places like Shaker Heights, Bratenahl and Hunting Valley in Atlanta).
Can't disagree with any of the others, thanks for sharing your thoughts! It's an interesting topic since the cities are so sharply contrasted in their styles.
Theoretically shouldn't the sports category be determined by who wins the series?
No, because sports is all-encompassing.
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