Detroit's new mayor in his younger days.
Yesterday came the news that Detroit had elected a new mayor, former Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer Dave Bing (Bing's replacing D-Town's "Hip-Hop Mayor" Kwame Kilpatrick, who kept it a little too real and landed himself in the bing). Bing's not even the first former NBA star to be elected mayor in the past year; former Suns All-Star Kevin Johnson was tapped to run his hometown of Sacramento last fall.
But why limit potential athlete-mayors to their hometowns or the cities where they played? We've selected five off-the-beaten path cities and assigned them to the pro athletes we think would be their best chief executives...
Tipp City, Ohio: Alex Rodriguez
• This town of fewer than 10,000 people might be a bit small for a big timer like A-Rod, but at least he won't have that many people to tell which pitch is coming.
Genoa, Nevada: Terrell Owens
• Genoa (pop. 252) is even smaller than Tipp City, but somebody's gotta lead the "Home of the Candy Dance."
Portland, Oregon: Ronnie Lott
• The former Niners safety who once had a pinky amputated so he could keep playing seems like a perfect fit for "Stumptown."
Sumner, Missouri: Brett Favre
• "The Wild Goose Capital of the World" deserves Favre, the wild-goose-chase-leading quarterback who's the NFL's all-time leader in touchdowns thrown, yards and fake retirements.
State College, Pennsylvania: Danica Patrick
• We've always wanted to visit Danica's Happy Valley.
