January 31, 2005

Findlay Sucks! It really does, man. And so does Lansing. Ann Arbor is is overrated. Apparently, the Livonia, Greenley and Cleveland Sucks sites have all disappeared (though, from anecdotal accounts, their cities still suck).

Got any more local haters? For some of these sites, especially the ur-type Findlay, they've improved the town by getting like-minded folks together, securing show venues, giving bands exposure and allowing angsty suburban kids to bond. Ann Arbor Is Overrated covers local politics better than most of the official newspapers, and Lansing Sucks has everything from sex offender lists to reprints from local papers. How about your town? Anybody hate it? Are they helping it by hating?

posted by js 19 years ago
  • Nice link, js! I live about 30 mins away from Findlay. I looked for more local hater sites and got nothing (you'd think there would be more!).
  • "Pittsburgh sucks" returns 2,190 results, but no central site, it seems. This city has the opposite problem - everyone outside hates it, people leave it in droves as soon as they get out of college, but the prevailing public attitude is to be a cockeyed jingoist. People put off this sort of mother-of-a-problematic-child determination. We don't suck, you'll see! Just look! We're going to try very very very very very very very very hard!! What's the opposite of sour grapes? I've heard "sweet lemons" before. That's what we've got here. I'd rather they try less hard, act less like pathetic underdogs, and just improve the situation instead of trying desperately to convince everyone that everything is wonderful. On the other hand, if anyone is constructive and realistic I'd love to hear them. This is encouraging, though.
  • Wur- That's why the author of AAIO (who asks not to be identified) created her site: because Ann Arbor's official organs are generally a bunch of boosters and yupscale tools. Well, that and there are t-shirts everywhere that say things like "Rome, Paris, Ann Arbor" and "Cambridge- the Ann Arbor of the East."
  • js, are you from Ann Arbor?
  • js..oops..never mind, should have checked your profile first....got my answer...
  • AAIO is interesting, but it seems that the guy NEVER finds a positive thing to say... At some point you have to think..if he dislikes the town so much, why does he stay???? Sort of a "if Don Rickles had a web page" situation going there.. he would carry more weight, with me at least, it he didn't come across as a pretentious whiner... The truth is, although AA has its faults, it has a lot going for it, especially for a town stuck in the midwest 30 miles from Detroit..
  • Well, the Cleveland job market sucks. And the climate sucks. And the roads kind of suck. But Cleveland doesn't suck, on the whole. As a friend of mine (who's lived all over the world) puts it, it's a big enough city to have lots of big-city accoutrements (arts, entertainment, educational institutions, restaurants, parks, a real downtown, etc). But it's not so big that the crush of the masses (and problems caused thereby, like insane land prices/rents, pollution etc) becomes a problem of its own. People who make extended visits to Cleveland are generally pleasantly surprised.
  • The Virtual Suck Tour of Arlington, MA. Complete with stupid bylaws and police listings of pointless crimes committed.
  • No fast food or live entertainment? Arlington, MA wins.
  • I have many fond memories of Cleveland. It rocks much more than it sucks. But in a smaller scale, concerts by my favorite bands were easier to get into sorta way. But I've heard that Starbucks moved in and killed the most excellent local coffee chain, Arabica. That sucks.
  • Baltimore fucking sucks.
  • The Arabica Coffee chain may have faltered, but I believe reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. They have been shuffling their locations around, though, so your favorite may well be gone.
  • Well, it looks like the Arabica on Juniper is still there. That was about the only coffee shop I could stand to go to. Pittsburgh has its awesomeness, but it also has some serious, fundamental problems. It's hemorrhaging people and money like mad. The only silver lining is that the mayor isn't running for re-election.
  • Oh, and Find Lay Sucks. Heehee!
  • The one in Coventry is gone, I guess. My poor heart just broke a little. But if the one in the big house on Juniper is still there, I feel a little better.
  • What HuronBob said. For as much as Ann Arbor is "overrated", I love living here.
  • Eh. I've lived in Ann Arbor a long time, and enjoy puncturing the endless bullshit that comes out of the Ann Arbor News. And as for why the site's author is still there? It's in the FAQ. Grad school. If you read the comments, there's a wide view of Ann Arbor there. And, frankly, with boosters everywhere else, Ann Arbor needs a site to take the piss. (Part of the real reason I posted is because AAIO has some of the best local politics and policy debates around, and has a proactive and knowledgable readership. Findlay Sucks eventually ended up making Findlay not suck anymore. I was looking for more benefits of haterdom.) Arlington does win the suck tour though...
  • Every summer, some friends and I take a drunken road trip (from Toronto area) to see some major league baseball games. Each trip normally allows for two cities. My results so far: Cleveland: Rocks Pittsburgh: Sucks (but a great ballpark) Baltimore: Rocks Boston: Rocks (beauitiful women) This year will be Chicago and Milwaukee.
  • Sox or Cubs? Have you been to Detroit yet, with the new(ish) stadium? It'd be on the way, and the place is OK (if a bit Disney). Hell of a lot better than the old Tiger Stadium as far as audience design. Fairly shitty for field design (ours is one of the only fields that consistently favors visiting teams, mostly because they tend to have long sluggers and we have weirdly deep walls to the left).
  • Cubs for sure, Sox if we can get a weekend when they're both at home. Haven't been to Detroit's Comerica Park yet, but went to Tiger Stadium plenty while at University in Windsor. We've been tossing around the idea of a separate weekend for a short Detroit Tigers/Toledo Mudhens/Windsor Casino trip.
  • Iowa sucks
  • Iowa sucks