If you've never been to Buffalo or western New York, the first thing you should know is that the mindset is entirely different from NYC and the rest of NY.

Buffalo is in many ways a dying city. It has a shrinking population, and the majority of people who've stayed either were born and raised here or are just too poor to leave. It's left Buffalo with a very blue collar feel.

I've lived here for most of life, but from meeting people in my travels and college I've come to realize that Buffalo has unique cultural values that it's residents have embraced; it's not as extreme as the PA Dutch, but it's prominent none the less.

A few examples...

1) The most popular beer in the United States is Bud Light. In Buffalo, the most popular beer is overwhelmingly Labatt Blue Light. Molson Canadian comes in a close second. I almost never have seen someone order a Bud Light at a bar or restaurant.

2) Bars don't close until 4 AM in Buffalo. Every other city I've been to kicks most of it's patrons out at 2.

3) Hockey is just as if not more popular than football in Buffalo.

4) Nobody eats at Taco Bell really. Mighty Taco, a small fast food chain is much, much more popular.

5) Chicken wings are never called Buffalo wings. They're served with Blue Cheese instead of ranch dressing. I've never found a city that got chicken wings even close to how they're done in Buffalo.

6) We say pop, and not soda. That really, really bothers some people for some reason. Likewise, it's sucker and not lollipop.

Most of these are food related, and there's a lot more tiny complexities about Buffalo but I'm tired.

Oh, and our sports teams don't suck, they're just permanently cursed with setbacks.