11 Reasons Why Chicago Is Its Own State

"Oh you're from Quincy? Is that by Chicago?"

1. The number of pizza joints is astounding

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Chicago is a place where you have Gino's, Lou Malnati's, and thousands of mom and pop pizzerias to choose from.

Everywhere else, gas station pizza will do

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I'm looking at you Casey's

2. Ketchup is the devil

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Put ketchup on your hot dog and die. Where I'm from, you're weird for NOT putting ketchup on your dog.

3. Professional sports teams. 'Nuff said.

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You've got Da Bears, Da Bulls, Da Hawks, Da Sox, Da Cubbies. And they all have a cult following

Everywhere else, Prospect League baseball is doable

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Go Jackrabbits, amirite?

4. The neighborhoods are cities inside the city

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Garfield Ridge- Population (2010): 34,513
Lincoln Park- Population (2010): 64,116
West Park- Population (2010): 81,432

Then there's my hometown...

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I'll just leave this here

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5. And then there are the celebrities

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Barack Obama. Kanye West. Hugh Hefner. CHIEF KEEF.

We've given the world a Stifler, though!

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Tad Hilgenbrink. Quincy, Illinois native, Quincy Senior High School graduate. Represent.

You're welcome.

6. Peter Francis Geraci. He's everywhere.

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Because as horrible as his commercials are, you know you love every second of them.

7. Lake Michigan

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Sand. Clear water. No saltwater. No sharks. It's like you're keeping all the good things about the beach and tossing aside everything that sucks.

Luckily, Western Illinois gets the Mississippi!

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Nothing better than a brown body of water filled with the town's waste and catfish the size of small cars. Yum.

8. There's a breath-taking skyline

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I mean you've got the Trump Tower, the Sears Tower, and even Roosevelt University. All coming together with hundreds of other buildings to make up the best skyline in America.

Here's what we've got..

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A dead downtown where the tallest building is 10 stories of nothing.

9. The Portillo's Italian Beef Sandwich

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There's nothing better than a beef sandwich with giardiniera that sends grease dripping to your elbows. Clogging your arteries never tasted so good.

The Quincy way to promote heart disease

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What we have here is a classic Maid Rite boiled beef sandwich. It's ground beef boiled in it's own juices. It's not Portillo's, but it works, I guess.

10. This is NORMAL

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You've got buses squeezing in between taxis, who are yelling at the buses for almost hitting them, people walking around looking for taxis to get into, and trains going around above you. Makes me hyperventilate just thinking about it.

The small town normal

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Slow and steady. Just the way we like it.

11. Being from "Chicago" takes on a whole new meaning

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Who knew that "being from Chicago" really means you're from Western Springs?

Everywhere else, the city you say you're from is ACTUALLY where you're from

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Springfield is Springfield. Quincy is Quincy. Bloomington is Bloomington. WHAT A TWIST!