In honor of the July 4th holiday, Tough Pigs had a feature in which they posted Muppet YouTube videos connected in some way with each of the United States (plus the District of  Columbia).

The video they used for South Dakota was kind of weird, but then again, it wasn’t their first choice. Their first choice was Muppet Mount Rushmore from “Sex and Violence,” but they couldn’t find it on YouTube. (Odd…I know it used to be there, although that was five years ago by now.)

Anyway, it appears that the states were listed in the reverse order that they were admitted to the Union, and they used “Stars and Stripes Forever” for Delaware in order to have a big finish.

Now, I’m not saying that “Stars and Stripes Forever” is inappropriate for Delaware, but in watching the video again, it seems to me that there’s a lot of South Dakota stuff in there as well. My contention is that “Stars and Stripes” would have worked just as well for South Dakota, and to prove it, I’m going to count all the South Dakota-related stuff in the video:

00:49–Footage of a bald eagle in flight: Bald eagles live all over South Dakota. I’ve seen a handful of them around Sioux Falls, and my parents have seen them in the Black Hills as well.

01:19--Hot dogs in closeup: Okay, admittedly this one is a bit of a stretch, but Sioux Falls has a meat-packing plant. 

01:25–Amber waves of grain: South Dakota is known for its agriculture.

01:32–Herd of bison: I don’t need someone to give me a home where the buffalo roam, because I already have one.

01:38–Mount Rushmore: South Dakota’s gift to the rest of the country. You’re welcome.

Admittedly, Delaware probably has bald eagles, meat-packing plants, and agriculture as well, but I don’t think they have a lot of bison, and they sure as heck do not have Mount Rushmore.