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August 3, 2011 By 29 Comments

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Filed Under: Away From the Action Tagged With: midwest, poll
About Josh Tinley

Josh Tinley writes the Away From The Action column at Midwest Sports Fans, covering all aspects of sport aside from what actually happens on the field, court, or track. Josh grew up in Indianapolis and graduated from the University of Evansville and Vanderbilt Divinity School. He is the author of Kneeling in the End Zone: Spiritual Lessons From the World of Sports and the managing editor of LinC, a weekly curriculum for teens that explores the intersection of faith and culture. Josh lives outside Nashville with his wife, Ashlee, and children, Meyer (7), Resha Kate (5), and Malachi (3). He will not allow himself to die before the Evansville Purple Aces make another trip to the NCAA Tournament. Follow him on Twitter @joshtinley or send him an e-mail.

  • http://www.midwestsportsfans.com JerodMSF

    Great post Josh. It's about time we put up something like this! Personally, I agree with your view and include the Great Plains states in the Midwest. Although, I must say, I'd never considered the Dakotas to be Midwestern, but that's my own fault for foolishly overlooking them. I think too much in terms of sports and because Big Ten teams rarely cross paths with teams from North or South Dakota, those two states (both lovely and wonderful by all accounts) never entered by natural thought process about the region. But they are now. But Colorado? Wyoming? It seems so laughable to me that people could think that, but I guess every region of the country has its own biases.

    Awesome job on this. I really enjoyed editing, reading, and thinking about.

  • http://insomniaclabrat.blogspot.com/ Insomniac Lab Rat

    I had this discussion with some friends from PA recently.

    Growing up in Michigan, I generally considered the Midwest to be synonymous with the Big Ten- Pennsylvania isn't the Midwest though, and I'd add in Missouri, even though, as you pointed out, the southern part is much more "South" than "Midwest". (PS-Missouri is not on your voting list). I considered the Great Plains to be separate from the Midwest (basically my map would be the same as AJ's).

    I won't argue against including the Great Plains states, though, I just didn't really consider them Midwest when I was growing up.

    However, these friends from Pennsylvania tried to convince me that Michigan was not actually part of the Midwest…which greatly confused me. What the heck do you think we are if we're not in the Midwest?

    Anyway, I've never considered whether Canada can be included, interesting food for thought. Back before you needed a passport to cross the border, we used to compete with teams from Ontario all the time as kids…

  • markjdowell

    Being born and raised in Louisville, then coming to Bloomington and spending much of my time in Indiana, I would vouch for Louisville being part of the Midwest. But definitely not Kentucky. Louisville is the Gateway to the South and the Midwest. It possesses much of the charm of the south brought in mostly by bourbon and horse racing, but is very much a embodiment of Midwestern sensibility.

    I know I grew up a Midwesten-er. Most Louisvillians will claim Midwestern status to avoid being group with those Southern UK people.

  • Amanda Lawson

    Living in the Midwest, you just assume that everyone has the same view point on what the Midwest is. I agree with your map for the most part. I don't consider the Dakotas part of the Midwest, Nebraska is a toss up and I don't know what I would label Kansas as. Wyoming is definitely not close, but I guess if you're not living in the Midwest, it might be harder to define. Great work Josh!

  • http://twitter.com/ajkauf7 AJK

    Love this article! Thanks for mentioning my views too. I'm not sure about that one person who voted for Colorado, but at least no one voted for Manitoba!

    I also look culturally more than geographically. I do not look sports-wise.

    Kentucky, Tennessee and southern Missouri do not have "midwestern cutlure," nor do most of Nebraska, Kansas, North and South Dakota, aside from the eastern parts of the state, where the large cities are (KC, Omaha, Lincoln, Fargo, Sioux Falls).

    But nonetheless, great work, Josh.

    (And no, folks from the coast don't understand anything "in the middle" of the country–hence, this map of the US as seen by a New Yorker that's been going around lately):
    http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/a106c8188f/the…

    Sad but (mostly) true.

  • ShowMe

    Please update the user poll. The state of Missouri is currently missing.

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  • Josh Tinley

    That was totally my mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.

  • Chaz

    Manitoba?…all of Canada is midwestern in mindset, except those frenchies who think they are Euro. There are western parts of Pennsylvania and New York State that seem more Midwestern than East Coast.

  • Dee

    What dumb fuck decided to call this region "midwest" instead of "central" or "Great Lakes" anyways?
    Is there so little value to this region that you have to piggyback on another region's name?
    Even the KKK yahoos in the "south" got their regional name right.
    Christ, pull your collective head out of your ass! already.

  • ARG

    Growing up in Michigan I barely ever heard the term Midwest and never once heard Michigan referred to as being part of it. I never heard this really until I moved to Chicago where I seemed to hear it a lot. I guess I never really considered Michigan part of the Midwest. The northern states don't seem to fit in the category.

  • Paul

    Having grown up in a south western state, I always thought it funny that they are called "midwest." Midwest to what – they are mid eastern. I understand the historical reasons for them being considered midwest, but I think the name denotes an eastern centric point of view.

  • Annon

    I grew up in Michigan and thought the same exact thing. I never thought of Michigan as a midwest state.

  • http://www.midwestsportsfans.com JerodMSF

    Wow…this is fascinating to me. I grew up in Indiana and never questioned Michigan as a Midwest state, probably because of their Big 10 affiliation. It's fascinating to see the difference in view.

  • http://www.midwestsportsfans.com JerodMSF

    Actually, that was the editor's fault. What a jackass that guy is. Anyway, he fixed it. Missouri is now in there as they should have been all along.

  • Keith Mullett

    Completely agree about culture being a determining factor. Obviously geography is the main qualifier, but for the borderline states I cede to the culture and mindset of the residents.

  • Peter Voth

    I can assure you that no one from Ontario considers themselves to be part of the midwest.

  • http://twitter.com/drewlange @drewlange

    Wait, did Jerod just say something nice about North Dakota? Did someone hack into his account?

  • ARG

    Well if people actually think Michigan is part of the Midwest it wouldn't be hard for them to think Ontario is! Haha

  • Kit-Kat

    That's funny. I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and we always thought of Michigan as a midwest state.

  • http://twitter.com/TinaKWhite @TinaKWhite

    perhaps the Midwest is just a state of mind : )

  • http://www.midwestsportsfans.com JerodMSF

    I love this comment!

  • Kurt Allen

    Oklahoma is midwest, suburb of OKC is called Midwest City, or Midwest can be any state with a Culver's, or any market with a MLB franchise that Dave Magadan DID NOT play for… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Culvers2011Feb….

  • The D

    I've lived outside of Flint my whole life, and we've always considered Michigan to be a part of the Midwest.

    Of course, according to the Michigan fight song, we're the champions of the West.

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