Stop Hating on the Garden State

This column probably isn't addressed to you. After all, if you go to Rutgers, you probably have come to terms with living in New Jersey. So I guess this column is for all those friends and relatives who live out-of-state and somehow think that they're better than us for it. Jersey has many faults, yes, but it sure isn't "the armpit of America."

First, I have to address Jersey Shore. Yes, the true Jersey Shore can be a crazy place where many questionable things go down. Why else would it be a tradition in New Jersey to go down to the shore after our high school proms? Yet there are fun summer houses, restaurants, boardwalks and of course beaches to be had there as well. Those crazy kids on MTV are certainly adding to the notoriety of the Jersey Shore. But as their current season in Miami shows, their antics have little to do with their setting. I guess my one main complaint is that the beaches are often overcrowded and dirty. But the fact that I can drive for about an hour and go to about a dozen different beaches is a beautiful thing. I'll take Jersey and its imperfect beaches over a landlocked state any day.

Jersey Shoreisn't the only dubious show filmed in New Jersey. But hopefully for every show like The Real Housewives of New Jersey that pops up, we'll have a show like Cake Boss to counter it. Outside of reality TV, we have dramas like The Sopranos and House. Movies set in New Jersey run the gamut from the hilarious Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, to the indie Garden State, to Oscar-winning The Wrestler and A Beautiful Mind. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to NJ musicians. Frank Sinatra, Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen obviously, but also The Misfits and My Chemical Romance. Even The Jonas Brothers (cringe). All in all, entertainment in New Jersey is pretty diverse and we shouldn't let a few reality shows speak for all that the state has to offer.

New Jersey takes a lot of abuse in the world of national sports too. We host the New York Giants and New York Jets football teams, as well as the New York Red Bulls soccer team, but we don't get any credit. We're losing our basketball team to Brooklyn. We have to fight between the Yankees, Mets and Phillies for a "home" baseball team. At least Jersey has a great hockey team in the New Jersey Devils. I guess having Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014 at the New Meadowlands Stadium will be our only consolation for now.

But when I think about Jersey, I don't think entertainment or sports. I think about driving on the small, country roads in the fall with all the leaves on the trees changing color. Driving on the parkway with signs covered by trees and maniacs who pull a Jersey slide across four lanes; eating fresh-grown tomatoes and cranberries in the summer or eating at a diner or Wawa whenever; going to the beach, going to Atlantic City and just going to the mall; waiting on the lines at Six Flags and waiting for my gas to be pumped by someone else.

There are a lot of unique things to experience in New Jersey, both good and bad. Unfortunately, the bad is what usually gets noticed. But New Jersey isn't the most densely populated state for nothing — especially not for the high taxes. Clearly there is something about New Jersey that you can't help but love … or at least tolerate.