State Pride - Who's Got It?

Erik Bates | April 29, 2003
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Anna Gregoline | April 29, 2003
Yes, but New Hampshire (I believe) has the slogan, "Live Free Or Die."

Scott Hardie | April 29, 2003
Until I remembered the Dolphins, I was going to write, "Florida: Producing Super Bowl champions since 2003."

Matthew Preston | April 29, 2003
Ah, who remembers anything before 1990 anyways Scott? You could just come up with a slogan making fun of Dan Marino and all his Super Bowl victories. Erik, if you can find a bumper sticker that says, "Don't mess with Rhode Island" I'll buy it!
 
Not much to be proud of in Wisconsin... unless you like beer and brats. Contrary to popular belief, we are not all crazy cheese eatin' fools. I could care less about cheese. Damn those idiots at Packer games that wear cheese-head hats. I am embarassed for Wisconsin every time I see one those fuckers on TV.

Jeff Flom | April 29, 2003
North Dakota, North Dakota, woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You guys think Texas is bad because they outlaw sodomy - Ha! Me and Denise are living in sin. In North Dakota it is illegal for an unmarried couple to live together. This law was put on the books a year ago. It specifically allows gay couples to live together, just not heterosexual couples.
Does anybody remember the little tiff that Dave Barry and North Dakota / Grand Forks were having? At one point he joked about North Dakota thinking about changing its name to Dakota saying that South Dakota was going to change its name to "I'm With Stupid"

Denise Sawicki | April 29, 2003
Actually, my research states that ND voted earlier this month to uphold a 113-year-old law to that effect.Still, it's pretty dumb.I'm actually proud not to be originally from North Dakota :P

Scott Hardie | April 30, 2003
Interesting how Erik introduces a topic asking us which states people are proud of, and all we do is bash the states in which we live. :-)

Jackie Mason | May 1, 2003
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Anna Gregoline | May 1, 2003
Illinois has a pot belly.

Scott Hardie | May 1, 2003
What does Missouri have then? Club foot?

Jackie Mason | May 2, 2003
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Jackie Mason | May 2, 2003
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Erik Bates | May 2, 2003
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Scott Hardie | May 2, 2003
Living in a twin city has opened my eyes to the plight of twin siblings, who I have known to complain of always being lumped together. People think Tampa and St. Petersburg are the same city. A friend visited me last winter and actually thought "Tampa Bay" was the name of the one city, probably because of the Buccaneers. This general misconception has caused Tampa and St. Petersburg to have a terrible rivalry, probably because each one is trying to outshine the other as a way of getting noticed as a unique city. Of course, absolutely no one outside of the area is even aware of this rivalry. :-)

Anthony Lewis | August 9, 2003
As a New Yorker, I must admit that we have a sort of arrogance. But that's only because whenever we go elsewhere in the world...people kiss our butts. People may like us, and they may hate us, but to our faces...they kiss our butts. Well, maybe not in Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. I think people from the major cities have a certain arrogance to them, but New York more than others. I don't know if I would exactly call it "pride".

Anna Gregoline | August 10, 2003
yeah, that "I live in a famous city, what about you," kind of thing.

Jackie Mason | August 10, 2003
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Scott Hardie | August 10, 2003
Tony: Thank you for being the first New Yorker I know to admit to that arrogance. The others I know will act snobby about how great New York is, then when called on it, will teasingly say they're just laying out the facts. It's almost some kind of identity complex, like the city will lose its greatness if its residents don't constantly assert it. But, at least the rivalry gives us all something to talk about. :-)

Anna: The only advantage I've found so far to living in a major city, besides the luxury of having other places to shop besides the Wal-Mart, is that people know it on a first-name basis. I say I live in Tampa, they know what I mean. When I tell people I grew up in St. Charles, they assume Missouri.

Anthony Lewis | August 11, 2003
Scott: You know what it's like? It's like if you have a child...and no one can criticize your child but yourself...and only behind closed doors. I'll be the first one to talk about NYC's shortcomings. Our Mayor (Bloomberg)
Our former Mayor (Giuliani)
The Yankees (although some will say The Mets)
Our dirty subway
Rats
Roaches
Pigeons
Anti-smoking laws
No dancing in bars (the cabaret laws)
Police issuing tickets for everything under the sun
Jennifer Lopez (Jenny's been AROUND the block a FEW times)
$10 movie admission
Cablevision
The New York Post
I could go on and on, but my fingers are tired. Don't get me wrong. I think NYC is the greatest city in the world, but I've lived here all my life. There's nothing special here in my eyes. Riverwalk in San Antonio? Now THAT'S SPECIAL!

Anna Gregoline | August 12, 2003
Scott: exactly. When I go to Boston, I say, I'm from Chicago. It's just too exhausting to say, "Well, I grew up in a suburb of Chicago, but I live in the city proper now."

Jackie Mason | August 13, 2003
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Jackie Mason | August 13, 2003
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Scott Hardie | August 14, 2003
The smoking laws are much the same here, Tony, and just as stupid. As of July 1st, no food service establishment in Florida can permit smoking indoors unless at least 85% of their revenue comes from other sources, which protects places like casinos. I've heard of businesses having to close because of this, such as a truck stop near Orlando that, on an average day, counted three non-smokers among its hundreds of customers. This reminds me of the consequences of the foolish anti-English laws in Quebec, such as the Toronto bar just that side of the border that had to close because it couldn't display the word "bar" on its sign and thus lost its English-speaking customers. These are both cases where local authorities should have been allowed to issue special permits.

Jackie Mason | August 14, 2003
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