In celebration of the USA’s 250th anniversary, we continue our year of draft pods with a draft of the fifty states before calling upon Ben and Cody to critique our choices.
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Just fact checking here, New York is the 8th most densely populated state in the Union, not the 4th least.
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While tc shitting in Texas is very on brand for the man
Tc hates Texas cause Texas love Texas more than TC loves TC
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We welcome @Soly with open arms.
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Claude weighing in:
Hard Numbers
| Metric | Team 1 (DJ) | Team 2 (Soly) | Team 3 (Neil) | Team 4 (Tron) | Team 5 (Randy) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | ~95.2M | ~79.7M | ~51.5M | ~44.1M | ~63.4M |
| GDP | ~$7.8T | ~$6.0T | ~$3.65T | ~$3.65T | ~$4.6T |
| Land area | ~808K mi² | ~522K mi² | ~647K mi² | ~1.40M mi² | ~419K mi² |
| Electoral votes | 144 | 123 | 88 | 78 | 102 |
Population: Team 1 wins, not close. CA + TX alone is basically two of everyone else’s whole roster.
GDP: Team 1 wins again. Same story — CA’s economy is bigger than most G20 countries, TX backs it up.
Land area: Team 4 wins in a landslide, entirely because Alaska is 665K square miles by itself. Without it they’d be dead last.
Electoral votes: Team 1 wins a third time. CA (54) + TX (40) is almost half their total right there.
Bottom line on hard metrics: Team 1 (DJ) sweeps 3 of 4. Snake draft logic broke down — grabbing CA/TX/UT early with picks 1, 3, 4 front-loaded so much scale that it didn’t matter what happened in later rounds.
Vibes Ranking
- Team 2 (Soly) — no weak links. NH and MD are perennial top-5 happiness states, WA’s quality of life is elite, HI/FL/AZ bring the fun factor. Most balanced portfolio, nothing dragging it down.
- Team 3 (Neil) — CO and VA are top-tier (outdoor lifestyle + income/schools), NJ actually punches above its meme reputation on happiness data. AL/NM/AR are soft spots but not disasters.
- Team 5 (Randy) — MA and MN are as good as it gets on paper, but WV and Louisiana are consistently bottom-3 nationally on health/poverty. High ceiling, low floor.
- Team 4 (Tron) — rugged and remote (MT, AK, ID are outdoor-lover heaven) but nothing glamorous and a lot of harsh winters. Safe, unspectacular.
- Team 1 (DJ) — Mississippi is routinely ranked dead-last or near it on quality of life/health nationally, and Oklahoma/Kentucky aren’t helping. Utah and Vermont are genuinely great, but the floor kills it.
Split decision: DJ wins on scale, Soly wins on livability.
Personally, @djpie having California, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont wins for me.
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The disrespect for Maryland was shocking. In no world should it have been drafted below West Virginia.
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NEED I SAY MORE
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Best Pick: Randy taking North Carolina in round 2.
One of the few states that I’d happily live in year round outside of Connecticut. It’s a place that really has a little bit of everything.
Best value pick: DJ taking Rhode Island in round 6.
Great beaches, Newport, Providence and some of the best Italian and seafood around which arguably makes it the best food state in the country on a per capita basis. Steal of the draft!
Honorable mention: Soly taking Illiniois in round 4 because Chicago absolutely rules!
Worst Pick: Neil taking Orgeon in round 1. Fine state but that’s a 4th maybe late 3rd round pick at best just not a 1st rounder.
Other notes:
I audibly screamed IT’S THE FIRST ONE! When Tron said: “I don’t think Delaware should be a state”
Randy’s collection is the only one where I’ve been to all of those states.
The Indiana hate was perplexing. I always enjoy visiting Indianapolis, has some great college towns and it’s the home of Larry Bird!
Connecticut corner:
With a long track record of support for The Travelers everyone gets a pass for any negative comments so there won’t be a 100 day duel/fun fact thread.
However I do have a few bones to pick:
“It’s one big traffic jam” That’s someone who’s only driven on I-95 between Greenwich and Bridgeport
“It’s the birthplace of ticks” No it isn’t, it’s just the place that discovered Lyme Disease because we’re a well educated state and have great people researching diseases.
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because of all da ticks
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Steal of the draft. Rhode Island rules.
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I roundly reject @Randy ’s claim of the great state of North Carolina until he publicly corrects himself and accepts Charlotte as the true Queen City.
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1400 - 665 = 735.
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Some interesting takes on tax policy from a group of guys who presumably hope their children get taught to read and write some day
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Trons team is leading in confederate flags.
Also VA, especially northern VA has some of the best public education in the country
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I agree with the take but the Merritt and 84 from Danbury to Brookfield also stink out loud and I won’t let them get away with it.
After the preview on the mid-year goals pod, I thought it was going to be a lot worse. The “no criteria” criteria definitely works against the state. Overall, mostly positive comments.
I even understand @MerchCzar complaints, because I feel the same way when I drive through New Jersey in that direction. I think it’s mentally defeating to realize that getting through/around New York City doesn’t mean the hard part of the traffic journey is over. Sounds like he mostly enjoyed Mystic even though he had bad weather.
I think on paper @djpie is the favorite, but otherwise it’s pretty close which is a testament to how even the worst states (by “no criteria” criteria at least) are pretty good. We have a cool country when you think about it!
Awesome podcast guys! Love when you do stuff like this. Would be cool to do this but with golf courses only.
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Agree with the Czar about the Garden State. Jersey kinda rules once you get past the traffic.
Pennsylvania remains underrated. Two awesome big cities, a lot of cool small towns, you get all four seasons (landscaping), pretty affordable except for Philly. Easy drive to the shore, to mountains, other big cities. And a kick ass governor.
I knew Louisiana would go low. The rest of that state shouldn’t be allowed to claim New Orleans.
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Indiana demands a recount, WTF?
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Pittsburgh punches way above its weight.
We had an absolutely delightful time there a few years ago when we went to go watch the Panthers get stomped by the Steelers.
Great architecture, walkable downtown, really nice people. Showing up as a Panthers fan, I was a curiosity to folks in our section and they just wanted to talk ball.
We went with a friend of ours who went to Pitt and she showed us around. Took us to the Cathedral of Learning. Gorgeous building.
I love Pittsburgh.
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