OK for record: I DID apply both to GBS and HBS but was neither a moron nor a prestige chaser (well, no more than deciding to attend the best b-school in whatever city we ended up in 
). My hubby was on the job market at the same time so we cast our nets wide so as to maximize the probability we’d both end up in or near the same city (I also had an app ready to go to MIT but didn’t need to send it). Also, our GSB class was filled with Kellogg rejects and those Kellogg kids were very rude to us at GSB but we cleaned up when it came to finance jobs so it was ok. In those days it was HBS, Wharton and Kellogg that ruled the roost. We were just happy to be ahead of Stanford in the rankings (which Dean Gould took as Gospel Truth in those days, I kid you not).
Also, the judged sports (figure skating, gymnastics, free-style ski jumping) always draw the biggest crowds and viewership. They might be subjective - even meaningless - but they are popular. And so are rankings.