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Living my whole life in Iowa, I see the relationship with the neighboring states as such:
Minnesota - They really think they're better than us, and go to extraordinary lengths to point this out. It's kind of silly. You have a big city, congrats? Minnesota is a nice state, but Minnesotans need to get over their weird complex about Iowa. There's some heat here, but it's mostly a result of Minnesota ****ting on Iowa and Iowa getting defensive about it. There's an athletic component with the U of I and U of M, but Minnesotans generally couldn't care less about college sports, so I don't think that's the driver.
Wisconsin - No animosity either way, as far as I can tell. I don't think either state views the other as particularly similar (at least when compared to other neighboring states), but there seems to be a respect. NE IA is a lot like Wisconsin, and probably has as much in common with WI as it does the rest of Iowa.
Nebraska - A definite 2 way rivalry. Some basis in sports, as Nebraska has been in a conference with both of Iowa's D1 schools over the years. Seems more cultural, which is a bit silly as the two states are really similar. Most Iowans would agree that Nebraska is the neighboring state that has the most in common with Iowa. Familiarity breeds contempt?
Missouri - just the occasional butt of jokes, but no real animosity behind it. We make fun of Missourians' intellect, but no one REALLY thinks people from Missouri are any less intelligent. Might be a bigger deal in southern Iowa (I'm from northern Iowa).
Illinois - other than the occasional resentment towards the large number of Chicago suburbanites who attend U of I, there isn't any bad blood here. I don't really think about Illinois that often, and certainly not in a particular negative way.
South Dakota - similar to Illinois. I've never heard anyone rag on South Dakota. A state with a lot of similarities and no basis to sew any dislike between the two.
Basically you only hear jokes about Minnesota, Nebraska, and Missouri. Missouri is a distant third, and with Minnesota it's more of a response than something initiated. It's definitely initiated towards Nebraska.
Friendly and non-combative rivalry with Wisconsin.
Their beer, cheese, and football (0-4 is an embarrassment) is better, but our lakes, hockey, and state government is better. Taxes are slight harsher in Minnesota, but they are lopsided towards Income and Sales Tax. Wisconsin supposedly has egregious property taxes. Wife works in Superior and the social services in Wisconsin apparently really suck compared to Minnesota. Duluthians and Superiorites co-mingle as a way of life. We are only separated by the St. Louis River.
North Dakota is the butt of many jokes. Half of my office graduated from NDSU or UND.
I don't hear much about Iowa or South Dakota, but I am in the northern part of MN so I may be sheltered simply by distance.
There are a fair number of former NE residents in CO, but not much rivalry that I've seen. I've seen a bigger rivalry regarding NU and OU than anything in CO. CO vs CA vs TX is common. The CO/TX thing goes back many decades. The CA thing only goes back to the '90s. WY and KS are not particularly hip to us since legalization and KS has repeatedly sued CO over water.
Yeah, when I moved to CO it seemed like half the people I met had moved from KS or NE. But nobody ever mentioned rivalry between either of them and CO. There was animosity towards Texans, and it had nothing to do with football, more to do with ski resorts and showing off money.
I agree the Cali-hostility began during the metro Denver sprawling of the early 90s. First time I heard the term Californication.
KS’s cloud seeding was blamed for increasing and worse hailstorms in eastern CO. More recently, KS blamed CO for “growing” the number of potseekers driving through KS, apparently in a stoned state.
Thinking of the other border states...NM, AZ, UT, WY, a tiny bit of OK. Cannot think of any statewide dislikes between them and CO, only some regional things such as how a fair number of AZ, NM, and UT drivers tear across the Four Corners as if there is no speed limit.
Nebraska - A definite 2 way rivalry. Some basis in sports, as Nebraska has been in a conference with both of Iowa's D1 schools over the years. Seems more cultural, which is a bit silly as the two states are really similar. Most Iowans would agree that Nebraska is the neighboring state that has the most in common with Iowa. Familiarity breeds contempt?
We certainly miss Nebraska in the Big XII but I never got the impression that when they were that they were that big a rivals with Iowa State in terms of the Nebraska perspective. Now that they no longer play Oklahoma it seems like the Iowa game has become a bigtime rivalry game in the Big 10. I never miss the Cyhawk game and I try to watch Nebraska and Iowa. I did this year and I've often thought about how similar Iowa and Nebraska are and how probably 75-80% of Nebraska's population is within about an hour of the Iowa border.
I don't think they hate us, but I think Wyoming tends to look down on us Coloradan's because of our far less conservative politics, gun laws, weed, crowded cities, ect. Ironically on any given day, I see tons of Wyoming license plates in the Denver area, and have seen parking lots dominated by Wyoming plates in the Northern Colorado cities.
Illinois and Indiana, sort of. We (Illinois) resent that they're taking all our families and middle-aged people and they resent that we're sapping all their Millennials away.
Everyone goes to Charleston and Myrtle Beach... and NC’s largest city is literally on the border. The panthers fly NC/SC flags, them theme park has both flags, the airport, some building near the government center in Charlotte all fly dual flags. Tons of Clemson fans and gamecock fans too in the Charlotte region.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Having lived in New Mexico for seven years and bidding farewell in early spring, I have to say it's been more than pleasure tp have access to Arizona, Colorado, and Texas and I have been very fortunate to be able to explore extraordinary and beautiful parts of all three states. Count me out of the hating on neighbors crowd.
Everyone goes to Charleston and Myrtle Beach... and NC’s largest city is literally on the border. The panthers fly NC/SC flags, them theme park has both flags, the airport, some building near the government center in Charlotte all fly dual flags. Tons of Clemson fans and gamecock fans too in the Charlotte region.
Isn't the theme part technically in both states?
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