Indianapolis Mug

1. The capital of Indiana and America’s 12th largest city. Will never have the profile of New York, Chicago, or San Fran but is more comparable to Cincy, Kansas City or Columbus OH. It is a quintessential American city in the middle of the corn belt with plenty of suburban soccer moms who drive SUVs. 3. Basketball is popular at the high school and college level and its residents go crazy during tournament season. Indy residents suffer from basketball fever called Hoosier Hysteria for this reason and are often divided in loyalty between the Indiana Hoosiers and Purdue Boilermakers. It has an NBA team, the Pacers but they are probably not as popular as college basketball to many Hoosiers unless they will a championship. 4. It’s an excellent city to live if you have a family but not for singles. Forbes Magazine ranked it the worst city for singles due to the lack of nightlife. It’s a comfortable city nonetheless--not too crowded like East Cost cities. 5. People drive everywhere because they are addicted to their cars and public transportation is abysmal. Forget about getting lightrail. Its people are too antiquated, narrow-minded and set in their ways to accept getting it. They would rather commute from their suburban neighborhoods and complain rather than do something about it, making them notoriously lazy. Even a proposed outer beltway beyond 465 was not supported. At most you can expect upgrading freeway exits or getting extra lanes of traffic or HOV lanes. To make matters worse, its city and school buses constantly pollute because they don’t have hybrid or electric engines. The Indy area is therefore a contributor to air pollution. 6. The state of Indiana is allegedly foreclosure central but Central Indiana has plenty of urban sprawl, especially in Hamilton County. Housing is pretty affordable and is America’s most affordable “large” metro area. Hoosiers complain about Indy’s alleged foreclosure problem but it won’t see the housing bubble burst like many cities due to its affordability. 7. Is trying to emerge from its former NaptTown image as a boring, Midwestern manufacturing metropolis. It has invested millions in amateur sports and is now home to a dozen amateur sports organizations and called the “world’s amateur sports capital.” It is the HQ to the NCAA and has hosted the Final Four more than any other city. It has invested billions of $$ redeveloping its downtown: White River State Park and its museums, Circle Center Mall, Conseco Fieldhouse, the RCA Dome (to be replaced by Lucas Oil Stadium) and a number of hotels.