FWIW, I didn't take it that way (Louisville-bashing).
I get what you're saying, but I don't think it's as important that Louisville be the "best" in any one of those categories so much as "sufficiently good".
It's like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Satisfaction at one tier opens up the others.
It is also worth pointing out that you can fly to DC and NYC in under 2 hours from Louisville. You can fly to Chicago and get there before you took off thanks to the time change. So you have access to pretty much any of the "best" of those things listed here in about 3 hours including the time it takes you to drive to the airport, get through security and board.
I get what you're saying, but I don't think it's as important that Louisville be the "best" in any one of those categories so much as "sufficiently good".
It's like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Satisfaction at one tier opens up the others.