1. Bloomingtonians Are Hoosier Hoops Diehards
Here’s the one thing that almost everyone knows about Bloomington, Indiana: there’s a very big college there, and that college has a legendary basketball team. How legendary? They’ve won a whopping five NCAA championships since 1940. That’s more than Duke, Kansas, or Uconn.
Such a legendary squad would create rabbid hoops fandom even if Indiana wasn’t the most basketball-obsessed state in the country. So you better believe that hoops at every level, and especially when it comes to Indiana University’s Cream and Crimson Hoosiers, is taken very seriously among Bloomingtonians.
2. So What If He Threw A Chair? To Bloomingtonians, Bob Knight Will Always Be A Legend
These days, Bobby Knight is the somewhat jovial, red-faced grandfatherly guy who covers college basketball for ESPN. But anyone over the age of about fifteen remembers when the volatile, chair-throwing, expletive-slinging coach was the most controversial character in sports, eventually ousted from his legendary three-decade Hoosiers coaching career for grabbing a student by the throat.
So, old school disciplinarian or one questionable incident too many? In Bloomington, there’s really not too much of a debate. After Knight was fired there were literally riots in the streets. The only debate in Bloomington is where Knight should rank on the list of “Greatest People Ever” alongside Gandhi, Lincoln, and Mandella.
3. Don’t You Dare Group Them In With The Rest Of Indiana
Since they’re still Midwesterners, they’re not exactly the boastful type, but said or unsaid, Bloomingtonians generally consider themselves and their city a shade better than the rest of their state.
With Indiana University, their city is ground zero for one of the most historic D1 sports programs in the country and with IU comes entertainment options, a hopping art scene and exciting nightlife that only a great college town could provide. A Bloomingtonian will tell you that anyone who thinks Indiana is Midwestern flyover territory has clearly never been to their city.
4. One Weekend A Year, Everyone Is Either Drinking Or Biking
“Little” in title, but huge in local impact, Bloomington’s famous Little 500, known as the “World's Greatest College Weekend” has featured amateur Indiana University students racing in teams around a quarter mile track since 1951. It’s truly one of the coolest, most unique on-campus events in America.
The Little 500 creates an interesting dynamic, since everyone is town either physically exerting themselves on the track or eating and drinking to near-ridiculous excess—rarely do such opposite forms of human exertion occur in such close proximity.
5. Everybody From Bloomington Has Seen “Breaking Away” Roughly 600 Times
Considering how obsessed Bloomingtonians are with the Little 500, they’re pretty fortunate to have a pretty stellar, Oscar-winning movie—1979’s ”Breaking Away”—dedicated to the topic and their town.
“Breaking Away” follows a group of working class kids’ pursuit of the Little 500 title and is regularly name-checked as one of the most inspirational movies ever. Considering it was shot around Bloomington and portrays a beloved Bloomington event, most Bloomingtonians have seen it at least, say, five times.
6. People In Bloomington Couldn’t Bear Life Without All Four Seasons
Did you know there are some places in America where it’s a near-constant 75 degrees? How boring is that?
Bloomingtonians get all four seasons in all of their beautiful, blistering, blustery glory. The leaves go full kaleidoscope-mode for fall, winters come with snowfall and even the occasional blizzard, spring is sheer blooming beauty with a side of nasty storms and summer is good and toasty. Bloomingtonians wouldn’t have it any other way.
7. Bloomingtonians Are Real Pizza Connoisseurs
When it comes to Midwestern pizza, people tend to think of one thing and one thing only: the Chicago deep dish. But the people of Bloomington know that if Chicago is the best pizza town in the Midwest, Bloomington is a close second.
There’s no single definitive Bloomington-style pizza: Mother Bears, a local legend, is known for their deep dish, doughy pies; Aver’s is known for creative, signature styles, like their Cuban black bean pie; Finch’s has the fancy, personal brick-oven goods; and Cafe Pizzaria is a thinner crust but preserves the deep dish taste. But it’s all so good that Bloomington’s primo pizza scene has created a town full of very passionate, discerning pizza eaters.
8. And They’re Slowly Turning Into Food Snobs
You better believe Bloomington’s food scene has more going for it than supreme pizza pies. Since Bloomington is considered one of the best eating destinations in the Midwest, students and full-time residents alike tend to be a bit spoiled by the incredible eats their city has to offer, particularly when it comes to the rib-sticking all-American stuff.
Yogi’s is a favorite when it comes to all things fried, Turkuaz Cafe has next-level Mediterranean, Darn Good Soup’s title is an understatement, Restaurant Tallent has the upscale, farm-to-table thing going on... and we could keep going here. No wonder that Bloomingtonians have a little bit of an attitude when it comes the superiority of their local eats.
9. Bloomingtonians Are A Bunch Of Well-Educated Smarty Pantses
Bloomington is smarter than your city. It’s cool. Don’t take it personally. This city is smarter than pretty much anywhere else in America.
Recently, the online brain-training website Luminosity analyzed users cognitive performance data to determine that Bloomingtonians were the second-smartest city in the country, second only to the hippies and ivy leaguers in Ithaca, New York.
It must have something to do with the fact that the city is a major education center. Hopefully Bloomingtonians don’t let it get to their (considerably sized) heads.
10. Bloomingtonians Are Crazy Proud Of Being Hoosiers
In the Kurt Vonnegut classic “Cat’s Cradle,” one of the characters is obsessed with being a Hoosier and feels an instant kinship with anyone else who shares the title. In fact, it’s pretty much all she ever talks about.
It’s a criticism of human behavior, but Vonnegut certainly chose the right group to pick on for being regionally proud. Hoosiers, and especially Bloomington-area Hoosiers, feel an instant connection to anyone else who went to the school or lived in their area. What can they say? They love their city.
Did we miss anything? Tell us what you think about Bloomington in the comments below! 
