10 Undeniable Reasons Why The World Wouldn't Be The Same Without Illinois

Let's take a moment of silence and thank Portillo's for coming into existence. What would Illinois people do for lunch or dinner? Where would we take guests to our state to eat? There would be a state of emergency with interstate and potentially international consequences.

If there was no Illinois, the world would not know the appropriate way to eat a hot dog.

Who would be there to invent and promote this delicious form of pizza? And where would the world be without this endless pizza debate?

Leave it to Illinois to always have governor or other elected officials indicted for corruption. What state would take the torch from us?

Leave it to Illinois: there is always some sort of drama with sports, whether it's with the teams, players, or coaches. It is entertaining for us and the rest of the world.

Illinois has some of the best museums in America, as well as the world. The Art Institute of Chicago got voted best museum in the WORLD. People come from all over the globe to experience our first-class museums.

If you're anything like me, you can't live without your phone. Imagine for a minute life without cell phones, where we actually had to make plans in advance to meet people in designated spaces and couldn't just call them on the spot. Think about that horrifying society. Would you want to go back? If not, then thank Illinois, because the cell phone was invented in Schaumburg.

This is how you eat a beef sandwich--wet and soaked. Where would the world be without this culinary delicacy?

Some of the funniest people alive right now (Tina Fey, Mike Meyers, etc.) have spent time at Second City Chicago. Do you like laughing? Then you should appreciate the role that Second City plays in that.

This one is serious, guys. Illinois was the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment, and seeing us take the lead, the rest of the states fell into place. In this case, we were on the right side of history.