Having traveled a bit, I would say that as far as dangerous/ugly/disgusting reputation vs. reality, San Francisco is a jewel compared to most other cities. At least half of all cities representing major league baseball teams are far worse (based upon my personal travel experience), including Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Oakland, Houston, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston, New York, Atlanta, and Philadelphia.
I know WashDC, Anaheim, Milwaukee and Miami have worse areas, but I haven't spent any time in those.
San Diego is a beautiful city, but navigating the 10-block gauntlet between our restaurant and the ballpark was particularly unpleasant. Kansas City is not, shall we say, a beautiful city, but I didn't feel unsafe there.
Comparatively speaking, I think Seattle is a cleaner, safer city (based upon my 10 year old experience there). And I liked Toronto, Tampa Bay, Denver, Pittsburgh and Phoenix.
I've never been to Arlington or Cincinnati (been through the airport, but that doesn't count).
Point is, SF is more attractive than virtually all of those cities except for a few small subsections...and the surrounding suburbs are well-kept, well-groomed and perfectly appropriate for athletes who can spend millions of dollars on housing and whatnot.
I know WashDC, Anaheim, Milwaukee and Miami have worse areas, but I haven't spent any time in those.
San Diego is a beautiful city, but navigating the 10-block gauntlet between our restaurant and the ballpark was particularly unpleasant. Kansas City is not, shall we say, a beautiful city, but I didn't feel unsafe there.
Comparatively speaking, I think Seattle is a cleaner, safer city (based upon my 10 year old experience there). And I liked Toronto, Tampa Bay, Denver, Pittsburgh and Phoenix.
I've never been to Arlington or Cincinnati (been through the airport, but that doesn't count).
Point is, SF is more attractive than virtually all of those cities except for a few small subsections...and the surrounding suburbs are well-kept, well-groomed and perfectly appropriate for athletes who can spend millions of dollars on housing and whatnot.
Audaces fortuna iuvat