While things are relatively tight in much of the nation, some localities are worse off than others. Indeed.com assessed job markets in the 50 largest American cities to see which had the most unemployed workers per job posting.

Here are the places with the worst ratios:

1. Detroit: 18-1
2. Miami: 10-1
3. Riverside, Calif.: 9-1
4. Los Angeles: 8-1
5. Portland, Ore.: 7-1
6. Chicago: 7-1
7. Rochester, N.Y.: 6-1
8. Sacramento: 6-1
9. Orlando: 6-1
10. Buffalo: 6-1
11. St. Louis: 6-1

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Which rank among America’s worst baseball towns?

Here’s our list:

Washington — There’s a reason baseball was absent from the Nation’s Capital for more than 30 years. NO ONE CARES. Much was made of the Montreal Expos’ move to D.C in 2005, and fans showed some interest for a while, but the bloom clearly is off the rose.  The team is awful, and even a brand new stadium hasn’t spurred interest. Withering summer heat and humidity that make the area one of the most miserable places on the planet in the middle of the season don’t help.  The Nationals were 25th in attendance among the 30 Major League Baseball teams as August began, and the prospects for another last-place finish won’t help brighten those dog days on the Potomac.

Oakland – When the Raiders moved back to the Bay Area, a refit of the Coliseum turned the place from passably attractive (due mainly to the view of the nearby hills) to concrete tomb. Much as the city suffers comparison to cross-bay San Francisco, the A’s home digs pale when rated against the Giants’ cozy and atmospheric AT&T Park. The fan base has grown weary of seeing tightfisted management trade good players for prospects in an endless rebuilding cycle, and a mid-week night at the Coliseum can be a quiet, lonely experience for all concerned.

Arlington — You can’t say Rangers fans aren’t patient. Since the club arrived from Washington in 1972, it has made just three playoff appearances (1996, 1998 and 1999), winning just one game and losing the next nine. Since then, the Rangers have posted just one winning season. It’s hot out there, and it isn’t particularly cheap, either. Rangers fans are generally regarded among the least passionate and least knowledgeable in the game, though you can hardly blame them. Players often admit that they like playing in Texas because the customers aren’t as demanding as they are in places like New York or Boston — an indictment if we’ve ever heard one.

Pittsburgh – An old-line baseball stronghold fallen on hard times. The Pirates haven’t been relevant since the early 1990s, and the city has pretty much turned its back on the club. Even when the team seems to be building something, management cries the small market blues and ships talent off for less expensive prospects. The likes of Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell — or even Barry Bonds — still conjure up fond memories, but they’re seeming more distant by the day.

Miami — When the Marlins haven’t been in the process of tearing the team down and selling off the spare parts like so much scrap metal, they’ve managed to win the World Series — twice (1997 and 2003). So why don’t people come? It’s hot and humid, for one thing, and maybe fans don’t know what to look for, since the stadium changes names about as often as Tyra Banks changes wardrobes. (The current monniker: Land Shark Stadium.) Things might improve when the Marlins move into a new park (with a retractable roof) on the site of the old Orange Bowl in 2012. For now? Forget it, as most South Florida fans have already done. Through early August, the Marlins were one of only three MLB teams averaging fewer than 20,000 fans per home game (Pittsburgh and Oakland were the others.)

Forbes recently examined the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States to figure out which housing markets have yet to reach bottom. Spending power, unemployment, housing and credit availability for the last 27 years were factored into the mix.

Using calculations from Moody’s, it was determined how much each area’s home prices would have to drop to create a state of balance. For some, that means more bad times to come.

Which areas can anticipate the biggest decline?

Here’s the list:

T10. New York City: 23 percent

T10. San Diego: 23 percent

T8. Oakland, Calif.: 25 percent

T8. Las Vegas: 25 percent

6. Phoenix: 27 percent

5. Los Angeles: 29 percent

4. Tampa: 36 percent

3. Jacksonville: 39 percent

2. Miami: 53 percent

1. Orlando: 48 percent

To check out the details on why things are looking so bleak in these communities, visit Forbes.

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Of course, there are drawbacks, too. Living in a big city means crowding, traffic, higher costs of living, and usually more crime.

In a perfect world, the advantages dwarf the drawbacks. Here on Earth, that’s not always the case.

Forbes recently compiled its list of America’s most miserable cities, surveying the 150 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. (Population 378,000 and up.) Communities were rated on nine factors: Commute times, corruption, pro sports teams, Superfund sites, taxes (both income and sales), unemployment, violent crime and weather.

Who fared the worst?

Here’s the list:

1. Stockton, Calif.

2. Memphis, Tenn.

3. Chicago, Ill.

4. Cleveland, Ohio

5. Modesto, Calif.

6. Flint, Mich.

7. Detroit, Mich.

8. Buffalo, N.Y.

9. Miami, Fla.

10. St. Louis, Mo.

What makes these towns such challenging places to live and work? Visit Forbes to get the skinny.

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Ancient computers. Outdated software. Systems your average teenager wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.

Fortunately, that isn’t the norm.

Forbes is out with a list of America’s Most Wired Cities. Since 2007, the publication has computed the percentage of Internet users with high-speed connections and the number of companies providing high-speed Internet to see which towns were on the cutting edge. The number of public wireless Internet hot spots are factored in, too.

Who’s No. 1 at the start of 2009? None other than Seattle, home to Microsoft and Amazon.com.

Here’s the Top 10:

1. Seattle

2. Atlanta

3. Washington, D.C.

4. Orlando

5. Boston

6. Miami

7. Minneapolis

8. Denver

9. New York

10. Baltimore

To see the rest, and to read more about how the rankings were determined, visit Forbes.

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Here are the results of the Bowl Championship Series national title game showdowns:

2008 Season: Florida defeated Oklahoma, 24-14

2007 Season: LSU defeated Ohio State, 38-24

2006 Season: Florida defeated Ohio State, 41-14

2005 Season (Rose Bowl): Texas defeated USC, 41-38

2004 Season (FedEx Orange Bowl): USC defeated Oklahoma, 55-19

2003 Season (Nokia Sugar Bowl): LSU defeated Oklahoma, 21-14

2002 Season (Tostitos Fiesta Bowl): Ohio State defeated Miami, 31-24 (2OT)

2001 Season (Rose Bowl): Miami defeated Nebraska, 37-14

2000 Season (FedEx Orange Bowl): Oklahoma defeated Florida State, 13-2

1999 Season (Nokia Sugar Bowl): Florida State defeated Virginia Tech, 46-29

1998 Season (Tostitos Fiesta Bowl): Tennessee defeated Florida State, 23-16

Source: ESPN.com

What are the least affordable housing markets in the U.S.? BusinessWeek decided to find out. Using data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index, cities were ranked based on the share of homes sold in the second quarter of 2008 that would have been in the price range for a family (a) earning the local median income, and (b) willing to devote 28 percent of its gross income to housing.

Here’s the list:

  1. New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J.

  2. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif.

  3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.

  4. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla.

  5. Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y.

  6. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif.

  7. Newark-Union, N.J.-Pa.

  8. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.

  9. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.

10. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.

To check out the statistics and see a slideshow of these expensive towns, visit BusinessWeek. If you are looking for something a bit more modest, you can also find a list of the Most Affordable Housing Markets.

The closest to approach that mark in the last 50 years was Toledo, which won 35 straight from 1969-71. Most recently, USC ran off 34 in a row from 2003 to 2005. Miami (Fla.) also won 34 consecutive from 2000 to 2002, but most of the other long streaks are relatively old news.

Here’s a list of the top runs of sustained excellence in major college history:

47 — Oklahoma (1953-57)

39 — Washington (1908-14)

37 — Yale (1890-93)

37 — Yale (1887-89)

35 — Toledo (1969-71)

34 — USC (2003-05)

34 — Miami, Fla.  (2000-02)

34 — Penn (1894-96)

31 — Oklahoma (1948-50)

31 — Pittsburgh (1914-18)

31 — Penn (1896-98)

30 – Texas (1968-70)

29 — Miami, Fla. (1990-93)

29 — Michigan (1901-03)

Source: ESPN Sports Almanac 2008

That makes sustained excellence as a good measuring stick as any in determining the true powers over any length of time. These are the teams who have produced the best overall record from 1998-2007:

10. Tennessee, 93-34 (.732) — A perfect season en route to the 1998 national championships helps these numbers.

9. Michigan, 93-32 (.744) — Three Rose Bowls and an Orange over that 10-year span.

8. USC, 93-32 (.744) — The Trojans haven’t been quite the same since losing the 2006 Rose Bowl and the national championship to Texas, but they’re still pretty good.

7. Miami, 95-30 (.760) — Losing 13 times over the past two seasons moved the Hurricanes down the list.

6. Georgia, 99-30 (.767) — Despite plenty of success, that national title remains elusive.

5. Virginia Tech, 99-29 (.773) — Frank Beamer’s Hokies are one of the nation’s best-kept secrets.

4. Ohio State, 98-27 (.784) — The Buckeyes have caught no shortage of flak for recent BCS Championship game failures, but, hey, at least they get that far.

3. Oklahoma, 102-27 (.785) — “Big Game Bob” Stoops has been stinking it up in the bowl games lately, but winning the Big 12 on a regular basis is nothing to sneeze at.

2. Texas, 103-25 (.805) — Going 25-1 over the 2004 and ‘05 seasons (and winning the national title in the second year) boosted a program that spends too many bowl seasons in San Diego and Dallas.

1. Boise State, 102-24 (.809) — The boys from Boise have more than that bowl win over Oklahoma on their resume.

To read more about these, visit FOX Sports.