Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

For me, it's Houston, Philly, and Miami, in that order.

Riverside/Ontario/San Bernardino should not be its own metro. It should be part of Los Angeles.

I saw the headline of a Jalopnik post on FB about "worst rest stops" and they had a photo of Bucees on the page, I am pretty sure to get folks to click.  It's like "Worst Universities in the US" and feature Ohio State in the cover page.

That's more and more common and the norm, really.  
Post-truth, the wide-open internet has no accountability and facts don't matter.  Real takes with tact and nuance get fewer clicks than bombastic bullshit.  
No reflection of WHY that is and any attempt to fix it, just an acceptance and a race at earning 1 extra dollar.  

I've never been to DC, despite the rumors.

#1: Agreed. I didn't feel like it was worth looking up for the purposes of "largest metro you've never been to" since I'll be there in ~10 days. But I had a feeling it was significantly larger than Boise.

#2: I'm sure there are exceptions. But I tend to believe that the network effects of a larger population within any metro area leads to a greater range of goods, services, activities/experiences, and cultural enrichment opportunities compared to smaller. I.e. if you've got a metro of 1.5M people and 3% of them are into opera, you may not have enough density of that niche to support a theater performing opera. But if you've got a metro of 9M people and 3% of them are into opera, perhaps you do. And for every metro of 1.5M people, that means that many niche interests won't be viable, whereas for a metro of 9M people, most niche interests will be viable and much fewer will not be. 

But this is what I'm getting at.  Your vision of "culture" doesn't reflect all visions of "culture" and I think it's a little WASPY/Elitist to project that vision onto a population.  A city like San Antonio doesn't sport an opera (that I know of) but it's extremely rich in culture and history.  That's why I'm steering the idea toward "diversity" rather than "richness."  Yes, New York or Chicago are more diverse than much smaller towns, but I don't think that directly translates to "rich."

And I'm going to go ahead and say any population of 1.5M plus has plenty of capability for supporting all of the white people arts, anyway.  Sure the Austin Symphony Orchestra isn't as good as the New York Philharmonic, but it's still pretty darn good.  

Anyway, I don't REALLY care enough to debate any further, I just think your take might be a little narrow.

OPERA San Antonio

I think we all understand the larger cities in general will have more art museums, misic events, things we might consider cultural.

I think it also true that folks in the 'burbs often don't participate in any/much of it.  Their kids may have a school trip.

But this is what I'm getting at.  Your vision of "culture" doesn't reflect all visions of "culture" and I think it's a little WASPY/Elitist to project that vision onto a population.  A city like San Antonio doesn't sport an opera (that I know of) but it's extremely rich in culture and history.  That's why I'm steering the idea toward "diversity" rather than "richness."  Yes, New York or Chicago are more diverse than much smaller towns, but I don't think that directly translates to "rich."

And I'm going to go ahead and say any population of 1.5M plus has plenty of capability for supporting all of the white people arts, anyway.  Sure the Austin Symphony Orchestra isn't as good as the New York Philharmonic, but it's still pretty darn good. 

Anyway, I don't REALLY care enough to debate any further, I just think your take might be a little narrow.

Sorry. My use of the opera was meant to signify a niche interest. I do realize it was a poor choice because it's an example of "high" culture. FWIW, I could go the rest of my life and not step foot in another opera (I've seen one) and not miss it. 

My idea is this general rule: the more niche the interest, the larger population you need to have a chance of making the effort of catering to that interest viable. It's a pure numbers game. 

I saw the Magic Flute, it lasted forever.  The few good parts were obscured by lengthy boring parts.

I wanted to leave.