Have you ever heard the saying "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt"? Apparently Aaron Renn, the author of a blog post entitled "Cleveland: What's Wrong?" hasn't. What struck me most about this post, which is mainly a commentary on the ruinous state of affairs in Cleveland and the city's decline, is the author's admission that he has never even been to Cleveland. Right then, he loses any shot at credibility he had going for him.

What's up with Cleveland humor?

One of the first things that Renn points out and clearly does not understand is Clevelanders' self-deprecating sense of humor. He points to a homemade Cleveland tourism video, which was obviously made by one of our own to poke fun at the city's own attempts to attract visitors here, and asks why anyone would create something like that. To understand WHY Clevelanders might have a penchant for poking fun at themselves, you must understand Cleveland and its history.

Let's start with our sports teams - whenever any of our numerous professional sports teams has a chance to win big, they blow it. Trades turn out to be nightmares. The list goes on and on. Despite our best efforts, luck is rarely on Cleveland's side. Murphy's law - what can go wrong, will go wrong - seems to apply in far too many instances in Cleveland sports.

If you mention Cleveland to a group of non-Clevelanders, one of the first things to get mentioned is always the Cuyahoga River catching fire. Some might also mention the time Cleveland's then-mayor Ralph J. Perk accidentally caught his hair on fire. Decades later, this city still can't live either event down.

Rather than get upset about our hard luck, and the misfortunes of our city's past, we Clevelanders have decided it's far more entertaining to poke fun at ourselves. Perhaps it's because we live on the same parallel as Manchester, UK and share the same dismal grey skies a majority of the year, but Cleveland humor is very often self-deprecating in nature. If you thought that video was bad - you've merely discovered the tip of the iceberg.

Nothing worth writing about comes out of Cleveland.

Renn also likes to point out that of the 11 midwestern cities he tends to blog about, Cleveland is rarely one of them. Why? "Because during his scans of the major metro daily newspapers "[ I ] seldom find much that would cause me to write a major post about Cleveland." To say that there's nothing worth writing about that comes out of Cleveland is pure ignorance. Afterall, Cleveland was and still is the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis - a phenomenon affecting the global economy. Not all news out of Cleveland, however, is negative. One of the leading medical communities in the world, there are many groundbreaking research discoveries and procedures originating here, amongst other things.

Cleveland eschews regionalism.

"There has to be some sort of historical dynamic going on that I'm not aware of. The only angle that makes any sense at all to me is that something poisoned intra-region relations long ago and that carries through to today. Cleveland to me exhibits some of the worst regional cooperation I've ever seen, with tons of in-fighting," wrote Renn, who also commented that "Cleveland just seems curiously disconnected from the rest of Ohio, from the rest of the Midwest, and from what is going on out in the world."

Again, to understand why the Greater Cleveland area communities appear so at odds with eachother and the rest of the state, one must understand the local history and the state's dynamics. Unlike Indianapolis or Chicago, Cleveland is not the only big city in the state. Ohio has several large cities - Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Dayton, and Cincinnati - who are all pitted against eachother in a battle for jobs, funding, eminence, and tourists. Similarly, Ohio also fosters the spirit of competition through its rich sports history. The Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns in the northern part of the state compete for Ohio fans against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cincinnati Reds in the south. Knowing this, it should come as no surprise that Cleveland isn't all that willing to jump on the let's all work together bandwagon. In this state, you have to fight for what you want or need, and I'm sure that's no more evident than in the state capital where Cleveland is often battling Columbus for funding.

No one wants to do business in Cleveland, unless it's with the Cleveland Clinic.

While it is obvious that Renn has no real knowledge of Cleveland's assets, he does at least recognize the city for it's medical prowess in the world-class Cleveland Clinic. Otherwise, however, he suggests that the city is collectively spinning its wheels trying to compete in other industries that every other major city is also involved with, such as life sciences, high tech, and green industry.

While Cleveland may not be a beacon of green living, such as Seattle is, we have made valiant efforts. Just this year Cleveland was #26 on the list of the greenest cities in terms of transportation. Indianapolis barely snuck in at #93. Cleveland is also a pretty walkable city, and in 2007 was named #29 on the list of the nation's most walkable major metro areas. In 2008, a new study ranked Cleveland 14th in the country in terms of walkability.

To discount this city's contributions and assets in the fields of life sciences and high tech would again be a mistake. In, 2006, recognizing the growing biotechnology industry in Cleveland, the National Institutes of Health moved its annual biotech conference for the first time from its national headquarters to Cleveland.

As for technology, Cleveland has been hailed as an innovator in this realm. Jim Cramer of MSNBC's "Mad Money" pointed out the great new ideas and work coming out of the area. He points out that in Silicon Valley, besides Apple and Google, the most successful companies are Take-Two and Activision, and while music and videogames are fine and fun, he says that it's a sign that Silicon Valley won't save us. Instead, he predicts that the "Cleveland Valley" (Cuyahoga River Valley) will. Cramer says that the area has been forced to reposition itself as the home of what he calls "new tech", building marvels such as "windmills with blades the size of 747 wings"

Cleveland also has the infrastructure in place to support the growing tech industry. In anticipation of the Internet boom, during the 1990's, the newly deregulated telecom industry built out more than $3 trillion in next-generation communications infrastructure better known as fiber optics. These new communications lines would typically follow traditional transportation corridors, such as, for example, railroads. And this is where Cleveland comes into play. Strategically located along Lake Erie and the railways, and historic role in transportation as an intermediary between Chicago and the East Coast, communications lanes were built out from Cleveland, connecting the Midwest to the East Coast. Underlying Cleveland's streets are more than 5,000 miles of unused dark fiber.

I couldn't even begin to count the number of SEO, internet marketing, web design, web development and technology firms inhabit Cleveland and its suburbs. Based on an informal look at just our friends on Twitter, the number is quite high, and combined I'm sure far surpasses those 1,000 internet marketing employees in Indianapolis. Some of these companies are award-winning, industry leaders, and others are homegrown operations, but the fact remains - there are a lot of them. Part of the reason may be the abundance of Ohio's fine post-secondary institutions, and the focus on technology at many of the Cleveland-area colleges and universities.

Indianapolis beats Cleveland on almost any relevant measure.

A 2007 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers ranks the top 100 cities in the world by GDP, or the economic power of a given urban area. On this list, Cleveland came in at #55 with a GDP of $90 billion. Needless to say, Indianapolis doesn't even make the top 100 list.

In 2005, taking into consideration factors such as stability, health care, culture, environment, education and infrastructure, the Economist Intelligence Unit named Cleveland (tied with Pittsburgh) as the most liveable city in the entire United States. Globally, Cleveland ranked as the 26th most liveable city. Again, Indianapolis didn't make the cut.

Cleveland's most valuable assets.

World-class arts:

The Cleveland Orchestra is arguably one of the finest orchestra's in the world, and one of the city's most well-known cultural institutions throughout the U.S. and world. However, that is hardly the extent of the fine arts organizations in Cleveland.

In addition to the Orchestra, Cleveland also regularly brings in Broadway shows at Playhouse Square, which is the second largest theater district in country next to Broadway. The world-renowned Cleveland Museum of Art features over 43,000 works of art, including that of Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet and many others. And if that weren't enough, Cleveland is also widely regarded as the birth place of rock, and home to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

World-class libraries:

The greater Cleveland area is home to not just one top-notch library system, but two - the Cleveland Public Library and the Cuyahoga County Public Library. Can you name any other city in the country that can say the same?

The Cleveland Public Library is the 3rd largest public research library in the nation, with phenomenal collections that are the envy of the library world. It is not uncommon for the librarians at CPL to get reference questions from people living half way around the world, and the library has long been considered one of the finest in the nation. Scholars and researchers swear by it. CPL was recently named a "5 Star" Library by Library Journal, one of just five libraries in the country of comparable size to receive this rating.

Located within the same county - Cuyahoga County - is the Cuyahoga County Public Library, which is also consistently named as one of the country's best library systems.CCPL was recently named the #1 library system in the U.S. servicing a population of 500,000 by the Hennen Library Association.

World-class healthcare:

Middle Eastern royalty do not fly half way around the world to receive treatment at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic for nothing. US World News & Reports has ranked the Clinic as 4th in the nation overall. It was also ranked among top hospitals in the country in all 16 specialities evaluabled, 10 of which were listed among the top 10 in the U.S. The Cleveland Clinic was ranked #1 in cardiac care in the U.S. In a separate ranking, Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital was ranked among the "Best Children's Hospitals" in five of seven specialities.

In addition to the Cleveland Clinic, the Cleveland area has thriving biomedical and bioscience industries. Residents have access to unprecedented medical care and pioneering procedures. I am continually amazed when speaking with people from other areas of the country, just how hard things like a routine MRI are even sometimes difficult to procure. That's simply not the case here in Cleveland, OH.

Nature's most precious resource - water:

Cleveland is uniquely positioned along the Great Lakes' shores, conveniently located between New York and Chicago and across the lake from Canada. As global warming continues, and water becomes more scarce, water's value to the region only increases. It is purified and pumped into the homes of not only Clevelanders, but also many suburbanites. The water also serves as a source of recreational activities, from boating to fishing to water-skiing and more.

Despite the burning river back in 1969, our water is pretty darn good. In 2006, Fiji water made the mistake of dissing Cleveland in a national ad, proclaiming "The label says Fiji because it's not bottled in Cleveland." The back of the bottle contained information about trade winds purifying island water -- water not affected by acid rain and other pollutants.

Us Clevelanders don't take too kindly to sucker punches such as the Fiji ad, so Cleveland stepped up to the plate and ran tests on the water. They found 6.3 micrograms of arsenic per liter in the Fiji Water. Meanwhile, Cleveland's water system had zero arsenic. Fiji responded saying that they had only found 2 micrograms of arsenic in their water. Unfortunately that's still more than Cleveland water, and they ended up coming out looking like idiots.

An extensive park system:

The Cleveland Metroparks is one of the city's most unique attributes, and is considered one of the most interconnected and extensive city park systems in the United States. Founded in 1917, it is the oldest park system in Ohio and now encompasses over 20,000 acres of parkland. The park system also includes the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, a marina, several golf courses, riding stables, toboggan chutes, and miles upon miles of biking and hiking trails.

Don't believe the hype.

If all you know about Cleveland is what the media has painted, or what your friend's brother's sister said about it after their last trip, I encourage you to try a little harder. Even if you've visited here a few times, you probably didn't get to experience all this city has to offer. Instead of coming here with a negative mindset, come with an open mind. You'd be surprised how much fun you'd have and how impressed you might be with what we do have. I encounter tourists quite frequently, and most admit that Cleveland is a lot better than what they thought or were told is was going to be like and are pleasantly surprised.