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Indiana. The Hoosier State. Inspiration for the “Hoosier Beach Boogie” line dance. Home of Larry Bird. The Hick from French Lick. Bird won three NBA championships (in 1981, 1984, and 1986) with the Boston Celtics and won two NBA Finals MVP Awards. Bird won three consecutive regular season MVP awards. As of 2020, the only other players to accomplish this feat are Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Just that is enough to make this lifelong Celtics fan positively predisposed to this distinguished Red state of 6.8 million people.
There’s more to be proud about. Indiana has made some major decisions over the past 90 years:
- In 1933 it adopted the Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) as its state bird
- In 1952 it adopted the Peony (Paeonia) as its state flower
- In 2018 it adopted Say’s firefly (Pyractomena angulate) as its state insect
- In 2022 it adopted the Mastodon (Mammut americanum) as its state fossil
All excellent choices except for the fossil where there is a better one, but I’ll get to that later.
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