Texas Nation
Everything’s bigger in Texas:
— Texas is growing faster than the nation[2]
(Texas pop growth since 2000: 12.7%)
— Texas is the largest contiguous state
Roughly the size of California and Arizona
Or, The size of the 14 smallest states (Including West Virginia Twice)[3]
— Maybe that’s why Texas has the highest speed limits
(85 on some stretches)
— Has the Nation’s largest rural population (3.6 million people)
— Texas has the second most pro sports teams in the nation
(U.S. pop growth since 2000:6.4%)
And the second most sports teams:
Dallas Cowboys
Houston Texans
Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets
San Antonio Spurs
Dallas Stars
Houston Astros
Texas Rangers
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo
San Antonio Silver Stars
But of course, it’s all about football
Texas vs. Texas Tech vs. A&M
–are number 2nd,17th, and 21st for bowl appearances:
Texas Longhorns: 51 bowl appearances .551 winning percentage
Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium:[12]
Home Record: 352-100-10 (77.2% wins)
Seating Record: 101,851
Construction Cost: $275,000 (1924)
$3.75 million in 2013 dollars
Texas Tech Red Raiders: 35 bowl appearances .371 winning percentage
Jones AT&T Stadium:[11]
Home Record: 336-162-13 (67% wins)
Seating Record: 60,997
Construction Cost: $400,000, (1947)
$4.18 million in 2013 dollars
A&M Aggies: 33 bowl appearances .424 winning percentage
Kyle Field “The Twelfth Man”:[10]
Home Record: 287-140-12 (66.7%)
Seating Record: 90,079
Construction Cost: $345,001.67 (1927)
$4.26 million in 2013 dollars
Particularly those Friday night lights
With 3 of the top ten high school football teams in the nation from Texas.[9]
Everything’s bigger in Texas
Economically, Texas could be its own country
With a larger GDP than Spain, Mexico, and South Korea[4]
And coming in right behind Canada, Australia, and India.
gdp:1,458,300,000,000
Or 8.92% of the national gdp
With a well-diversified economy
[#industry and percentage][5]
10.9% Mining
3.8% Construction
13.2% Manufacturing
18.5% Trade, Transportation, and Utilities
4.5% Information
15.7% Financial Services
10.6% Professional and Business Services
6.4% Education and Health Services
2.9% Leisure and Hospitality
2% Other Services
10.9% Government
.6% Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting
Cattle And Energy:
Energy: [6]
Accounts for 1/4th of U.S. refining capacity.
1.4th of natural gas production (most in nation)
Largest wind power generation capacity in nation
Texas generates and consumes more electricity than any other state in America
Agriculture:[7]
one in seven Texans works in agriculture
Texas leads the nation in
Cattle, cotton, hay, sheep, wool, goats, and mohair production.
86% of the state is rural, with 130.4 million acres of farmland.
Which is the size of California and Wisconsin in farmland.[8]
There’s always been talk of Texas seceding
“Six Flags over Texas”[13]
Spain: 1519-1685; 1690-1821
France: 1685-1690
Mexico: 1821-1836
Republic of Texas: 1836-1845
Confederate States of America: 1861-1865
United States: 1845-1861; 1865-present.
And while Texas doesn’t have the right to secede, they do have the little known right to break up into as many as 5 separate states (without federal government approval).
Whatever way you cut it, everything’s bigger in Texas.
Citations:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Texas_sports_teams
- http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/tif/population.html
- http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/area.shtml
- World Bank
- http://www.thetexaseconomy.org/economic-outlook/economy/articles/article.php?name=DD-GDPbyState
- http://www.window.state.tx.us/finances/captrade/tx_energy_quickfacts.html
- http://texasagriculture.gov/About/TexasAgStats.aspx
- http://www.statemaster.com/graph/geo_lan_acr_tot-geography-land-acreage-total
- http://www.usatodayhss.com/super25/rankings/2013/boys/varsity/football/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Field
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_AT&T_Stadium
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_K_Royal%E2%80%93Texas_Memorial_Stadium
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_flags_over_Texas