MI vs. OH

[sly]

Seems to be some rivalry amongst we Michiganders and our friends(?) to the south. Feel free to join in:

MI:
Macinac Island
MoTown
Tiger Stadium
Traverse City
Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie
Upper Peninsula
Sleeping Bear Dunes
Greenfield Village
Henry Ford Museum
Windsor (South Detroit)
U of M
MSU
Holland
Casinos

OH:
Cedar Point
Umm, what else ..... tires?

[Contestant #3]

I think that both are good states with a lot to offer. Instead of fighting we should combine to make fun of California.

But if you want to fight anyway, I have but one word:

Detroit


'nuff said...

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Contestant #3

[Frankie]

C3-
You have an excellent point there. Detroit is almost enough to destroy an entire state especially when you combine it with flint...Sheesh scary thought.

But drive I-75 through Michigan and Ohio. You'll understand why Ohio is generally considered...well ugly!

[Jen]

I was not aware that New Jersey had been replaced by Ohio as the brunt of jokes?

[Jen]

and by the way...the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame happens to be in Ohio as well...I have no idea why, but it is...

Sly: You forgot to tack on that Michigan has:

The Red Wings
Isle Royal National Park
Multiple ski resorts. I read somewhere that MI has the third most ski resorts in the nation.
Besides the Great Lakes, MI has over 10,000 inland lakes, most in the nation. (Yes, even more than Minnesota)
Did I mention the Red Wings!

As for the worst place in Mi? It's not Detroit folks. Trust me. It's Flint.

Adam

[Shirley Ujest]

Ohio is where Michiganians stop to relieve themselves on the way to Florida.

[Persephone]

Hey! Wait a minute! As a resident AND an employee of the City of Flint, MI, I have one thing to say to you Flint-bashers...

Keep up the good work. It really does suck here.

[tomndebb]

As a Michigander (30 years) who only moved to Ohio when forced out by the depresseion of 1980 and who would move back in an instant if my boss opened a Michigan office:

Why are you looking for a fight?

To run the list:
Macinac Island (it's Mackinac) -- Geneva isn't as good, but Ashtabula county has more covered bridges than anywhere in the country, Ohio has the first and third largest Amish communities in the world)
MoTown (the museum?, Motown is in L.A.) -- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Tiger Stadium (which you are destroying) -- Jacobs Field plus something or other down in Cincinnati
Traverse City (nice town, so what?) -- a half dozen towns along Lake Erie and the Ohio River
Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie -- Erie and the Ohio River
Upper Peninsula -- I'll agree, but the Appalachian foothills in S.E. Ohio are beautiful
Sleeping Bear Dunes -- (OK)
Greenfield Village -- (I like it, but it's overrated: OH has at least a half dozen period reconstruction villages, MI is beginning to get a few)
Henry Ford Museum -- Crawford Auto is not quite as good
Windsor (South Detroit) -- (It ain't Michigan--otherwise we get to claim Covington, KY AND Wheeling, WV)
U of M -- Cleveland Clinic and University hospitals (or if you are talking sports--blecchh--all the Cleveland and Cincinnati teams vs the Oakland County teams plus the Red Wings)
MSU -- OSU
Holland -- Zoar, Zanesville, Lancaster
Casinos -- ehh?

So MI gets a few more nods on tourism, on the other hand, OH has more places to actually live, since diversified industry was not something they "discovered" in 1981.

The only true reason to pick MI over OH is that to move into the state requires a single trip to the MI Secretary of State's office for all licenses and title registrations; OH requires three separate locations just to get your car registered and nothing like the Secretary of State's office to handle the rest of the paperwork. (MI has better access to alcohol--but it is still worse and more expensive than IL.)


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Tom~

[Pickman's Model]

There is absolutely no contest here----Michigan wins, hands down. We have the lakes, we have the trees, we have the mountains in the UP, we have the skiing in the winter, and we have the Traverse City Cherry Festival every fall. Ohio doesn't have ANYTHING to compare with that. Besides, we Michiganians have never forgiven Ohio for stealing the Toledo Strip from us in 1835, which was rightfully ours. As for Detroit, Detroit is not part of Michigan; it's an entity unto itself. All the rest of us think it ought to be fenced off and turned into a toxic waste dump.

[tomndebb]

Of course, Michigan would not have had all of the wonderful things in the U.P. (which would have probably gone to Wisconsin) if the U.P. hdn't been given to Michigan as a consolation for losing Toledo. Are you planning to trade back?

I'm also not going to put up with an awful lot of Detrit-bashing. It has lots and lots of problems, but it has many aspects that are wonderful that have never been hurt (or at least not irrecoverably) by those problems: Belle Isle, Hines Park, the DIA (which needs help, but still has some of the finest Flemish and Mexican collections in the country), the country's oldest State Fair, the New Center, Grand Circus Park, the inurbs of Hamtramck and Highland Park with their Polish enclaves, Eastern Market, etc.

If you don't want to visit Detroit, fine, but don't scare off the potential tourists who might help funding its resurgence.

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Tom~

[sly]

Why are you looking for a fight?

You talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?

No fights - just banter. Truth is, I like Ohio. It's Indiana that I could do without.

Casinos -- ehh?

http://www.freep.com/news/casinos/qcas291.htm

Macinac Island (it's Mackinac)

Detrit-bashing (it's Detroit-bashing)

[Mojo]

No one's mentioned that Ohio is one of the few places where a river has caught fire. And it was the birthplace of payola. And Don King.

[Narile]

Also, as I grew up outside of Dayton (Not in Dayton, thank Ghu!) I feel I must point out that Ohio has given a rather large number of aviation greats, from the Wright Brothers, to Glenn and Armstrong.

Also, Ohio has the worlds greatest Roller Coaster....The Beast.

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>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry....unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<

---The dragon observes

[DoctorJ]

Cristi--you're from Flint--what did you think of Roger & Me? I'm a big fan of Michael Moore, and always wondered what the local opinion was on the movie.

Dr. J

[Persephone]

DrJ, I have only lived in Flint for 8 years. I never saw "Roger & Me." However, I am quite familiar with Michael Moore, and the impact that movie had on Flint residents, and it was very, very bad. Mr. Moore is not well liked here. He tried to act as smoe sort of funky ambassador and get a Nike factory here, but he had NO permission from ANYONE to negotiate, and Nike was never seriously considering Flint anyway. I know alot of folks who enjoyed his television show "TV Nation," but that's about the only nice thing they say about him here. Most people spit & make the sign of the horns when his name is mentioned anymore. He's not doing much to actually help Flint. He could, because he does seem to have some clout & some brains. He's just not using them.

[tomndebb]

Sly, "Casinos --- ehh?" was not a challenge to Michigan having them. I know that Detroit and at least two Indian outfits have them; I'm simply not impressed that casinos make a state great.

As to the burning Cuyahoga River: The fire was a chemical spill that was extinguished in twenty minutes on a slow news day and so captured the national interest.

"Detrit-bashing (it's Detroit-bashing)"

I was using the Coleman Young version of the word.


On the other hand, the River Rouge in DelRay (outside the Ford plant on Zug island) burned for almost a complete day during some national crisis near the end of Watergate and Viet Nam and is never remarked on, even though it was a much bigger fire.

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Tom~

[tomndebb]

How do you like my new paragraph random re-ordering macro?

[Persephone]

There used to be a really nifty amusement park here in Michigan too...Boblo Island. I used to just love riding the Boblo Boat to the island. I think there's a Great America here now, somewhere, but I've never been. Can anyone confirm/deny this, and if the answer is yes, where is it, and is it fun?

[sly]

But, Tom, casinos were Colemans' idea, they must be okay.

You mentioned Belle Isle previously. I was there for the Detroit Grand Prix a few weeks ago. Pathetic. The place is riddled with trash, overgrown grass and brush. The streets are crumbling. The old casino is decayed. I remember going to Belle Isle with mom & pop when I was a tot. The zoo, the parks, flying kites. The city ought to be ashamed.

[Shirley Ujest]

I miss Boblo Island.

Little known fact that there use to be three islands with small amusement parks/casinos on them that operated in the 20-40's. Boblo was the biggest one that lasted the longest.
Another one was called (something like) Naloo and it was on Harsen's Island. The original building is still there and it is now a storage shed. I don't know the third one, I think it was Tashmoo. I strongly suspect that these places were very popular during Prohibition and Booze Smuggling from our Canadian (aye) friends.

Source - My mom, who is older than dirt.

[tomndebb]

Technically, of course, we couldn't claim Bob-Lo for Michigan, since it was in Ontario--although it was often owned by Michiganders.

Michiganders who are interested in a brief reminiscence (or maybe interested in discovering things they hadn't known) can check out:
http://detnews.com/history/boblo/boblo.htm

Does anyone know what happened to the Columbia and the Ste. Claire? I hope they weren't sent to the breakers!

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Tom~

[elrayoX]

I'm sure Michigan is a nice place, but
ARG220 writes

Multiple ski resorts. I read somewhere that MI has the third most ski resorts in the nation.

Which ones are they? I'm an avid skier and I have never even heard of one Michigan ski resort. Would you rate Michigan skiing higher than Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, or California? Is Michigan Skiing the best kept secret on the planet?

Actually, I've never skied in my life. But for those who do ski, MI has 43 resorts to chose from (second only to New York), and all but 6 have snowboarding too. Some names are Boyne Mountain Resorts, Sugarloaf, Pine Nub, Mount Holly, and Blackjack. For more info, you can try going to www.freep.com and search on ski resorts. It should give you tons of info, if you really want it.

Adam

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"Life is hard...but God is good"

[sly]

Is Michigan Skiing the best kept secret on the planet?

Well not any more! The resorts mentioned are very nice (I would add Michawaye) and less expensive than Colorado, California and back east, but you get what you pay for. Fewer and shorter runs, for one thing. Great for the casual skier, though, like me. And the season is fairly long.