Jackson, Mississippi, You Lazy Bastard . . .

Looking for another reason to feel good about life in the Rockies? Men's Health recently named Jackson, Mississippi the laziest city in the country. In fact, the 10 laziest cities in the U.S. all reside south of the Mason-Dixon line. Shocker, right? After Katrina a friend of mine aided the cleanup along the Mississippi coast, and he said the locals took breaks every half hour, so the title appears deserved.

If you're wondering how Men's Health compiled the list:

To compile the rankings, editors considered how often residents exercise, households that watched 15 hours or more of television each week, households that bought a lot of video games and the rate of deaths from deep vein thrombosis — a condition that results from prolonged sitting.

A blog post by a local newspaper reporter, at the time of this writing, contained no comments, I assume because getting off the sofa and over to the computer to contest assertions of laziness takes soooooo. much. damn. effort. Compare this to the grumpiness displayed by Missoulians when, after the Boston Marathon bombings, an east-coast prof used Montana and Whack Job in the same sentence. Stand proud, Missoula! Since Boise and Salt Lake City (both Rocky Mountain cities) are high on the active list, we are active by association. And we're much quicker to spring froth from our sofa or desk (a form of plyometric exercise if you think about it) to scream indignity when unfairly judged.