In honor of Flag Day, I'm proud to present my personal, top ten flags.

10. On the main highway around Madison, the Beltline, car dealerships compete to see who can fly the biggest American flag. On half a dozen Saturdays in the fall, however, some of them fly my number 10 flag, Wisconsin's "Motion W".

9. I like it when a place goes for the gold with their flag. Reunion's flag has got it all: circles, triangles, stripes and nearly every color under the sun. Nice job!

8. Botswana's flag is simple, but the color scheme is very unusual. The pale blue and black remind me of the late, lamented Hartford Whalers' colors (just add in a bit of green and we'd be good to go).

7. Belarus spices up an every day green and red flag with some neat ornamentation along the left border. I like simple flags, but I also appreciate a flag that tries to do something different.

6. Barbados: nice color scheme. Totally kickass trident. Love it!

5. Gambia's flag is yet another example of simple, yet beautiful design. Lots of countries have a simple three bar design, but Gambia makes their flag special with the white piping. Excellent.

4. While simplicity put Gambia on my list, the Isle of Man's flag makes it because it's so frickin' strange. Apparently the symbol on the flag is the Three Legs of Man emblem. M'kay.

3. Texas' flag is the proud symbol of the Lone Star state. It's vast and bold, just like Texans ;-)

2. Sainte Pierre and Miquelon, a French territory in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, one-ups Reunion's the "everything under the sun" approach with this flag featuring a big ship, lions and TWO coats of arms. Damn.

And my number 1 flag is the "Gasden" flag from revolutionary America. Don't tread on me. Indeed.