People always rag on New Jersey. I will defend it to the death. From our beaches to our pizza, our drinking water to our attitudes, we know what the hell is up.

This wasn’t always my perspective. I chose to go to college on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The school was near the beach, and there was all that blue-claw-crabby tradition. I figured it was south of here, so the ocean was probably a little warmer in the spring and fall.