Non-cheesy image?

"We are the Green Bay Packers. We are a great agricultural state. We are America's Dairyland," said Rep. Steve Wieckert, a Republican from Appleton. "But we are more than that."

Said Linda Gorchels, a marketing expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: "There are certain stereotypes that people have about Wisconsin, and it's very, very difficult to change those stereotypes. Nothing is going to happen very quickly."

I'm not sure what these other non-cheesy "non-stereotypical" things Wisconsin should be known for are. Oppressive taxes? Government waste? Communism? Patchouli? DUI? Sex with deer? Corruption? "Milwaukee isn't Detroit yet" fits on a bumpersticker, but doesn't inspire. Normal people don't like six months of cold and four months of snow (I love them, but I'm not typical). Hunting and fishing...are those stereotypes *really* going to be more appealing to the upscale elite than the beer and football stereotype?

Industry? The hipsters around here already hate the association of Milwaukee with "blue collars." Happy hard-working Midwestern families (minus the "struggling to get by")? A rainbow of diversity holding hands and singing "Give Peace a Chance"? Cojack is less cheesy...

Eschewing the Packers seems really silly, too. I doubt you'll see local NYC leaders complaining that their fair burgh is known for the Yankees even though they suck, or the Texas legislature trying to de-emphasize rodeos and high school football; if you ever do, it won't be a year the Yankees go to yet another World Series.

I don't see a point in being ashamed of beer, football, sausage, cheese, deer season. Sort of like I've never seen a point in pretending not to be what I am.