America's hippest news portal says 22 cities trail Columbia in the smart department

 
COLUMBIA 8/23/12 (Beat Byte) -- Columbia, Missouri: America's hippest news portal, Tina Brown's The Daily Beast -- says you are America's 3rd smartest city!
 
That's high praise coming from the former editor in chief of NYC-based The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. Many New Yorkers consider CoMo mere "flyover country." It's also a major step up. Columbia was America's 16th Smartest College Town, The Daily Beast reported last year.
 
This is no limited "small town" list either. Big names populate the top 25: San Francisco, (4th Smartest); Washington, DC (5th Smartest); Boston (6th Smartest); Seattle (19th Smartest); Denver (15th Smartest). In fact, only Charlottesville, VA and Madison, Wisconsin ranked higher than CoMo.
 
Lawrence, Ks. does not appear on the Smart List. And though I'm no expert on the SEC athletic conference, the only SEC city on the list appears to be Gainesville, Fla.
 
"Tigers play Smart!" could be a new logo.

Important caveat, however: Sports don't contribute as much to the smarts list as, say, the Mizzou Press. In light of this major new kudo, you might want to reconsider shutting that baby down, eh president Wolfe?
 
It is, after all, former New Yorker editor Tina Brown behind the CoMo nod.