There are some valid arguments that Lawrence doesn’t really deserve the title of Most Hungover City in America, as awarded by the Business Insider website.

But that doesn’t keep anyone who views that ranking from forming a certain, probably negative, impression of our fair city.

To celebrate the new year, a writer at Business Insider decided to analyze a few statistical measures to determine what city in the U.S. might have the highest percentage of hungover residents on New Year’s Day. He looked at the 2011 Centers of Disease Control report that collects self-reported data on health habits including alcohol consumption. He combined what he found there with the Census Bureau’s 2012 County Business Patterns report, which tracks the number and size of different types of businesses in metropolitan areas across the U.S.

Now you know what they say about lies, damn lies and statistics, but, using these two sets of data, the author came up with a list of the 25 most hungover cities in America, on which Lawrence, Kansas, was ranked as No. 1.

What an honor. If it makes you feel any better, Manhattan, Kan., was just three slots behind, ranked No. 4.

According to the CDC statistics that were examined, 8.6 percent of Lawrence residents reported having engaged in heavy drinking and 25.9 in binge drinking (defined as five drinks in one sitting for men and four drinks in one sitting for women).

The Census data indicated that Lawrence had 28.3 bars and 24.8 wine/beer/liquor stores per 100,000 people along with 1.8 alcoholic beverage producing establishments (apparently having a couple of popular, well-run brew pubs worked against us).

There may be flaws in the Business Insider analysis, but, as they say, perception is reality, and any listing like this one doesn’t present Lawrence in the best light. It’s not the kind of thing Lawrence wants to be known for. We’d rather be at the top of a list for business development, education excellence, affordable housing or job opportunities. Our downtown is widely praised; hopefully that isn’t connected to the concentration of drinking establishments in that area.

We sincerely doubt that Lawrence was the most hungover city in America on New Year’s Day, but even a silly statistical list can create a negative image in the minds of others. Let’s redouble our efforts to make sure the next list Lawrence tops is for something more laudable than hangovers.