Why is it that we Texans like to think that we are the biggest? Is it because we want to be head and shoulders above everyone else? Is it because human nature just naturally wants to brag? Is it because we like to look down on our fellow man?

Whatever the reason, Texas does still have some bragging rights. Perhaps these attributes - maybe better to say brags - are not necessarily what we would like to brag about but it is true that some things are just bigger in Texas. These things are so much bigger that Texas has made the Guinness World Record a total of 550 times. Here are just some of the most mind boggling of those records.

Can you imagine a pizza that would cover an eight foot long and thirty-two-inch-wide banquet table? A local pizza establishment at one time offered a pizza that was three feet in diameter. My office staff decided to order one. The box holding our lunch barely fit on the back seat of my station wagon. It was good - and a novelty.

However, after three days of pizza for lunch, the eight of us decided once was enough. I wonder how many people and how many days it would take to finish off that giant pizza that is named "The Bus" by the owner of the Moontower Pizza Bar located in Burleson, Texas. It only takes about 30 minutes to cook the pizza, but it must take a cargo van or a pickup truck to deliver this huge offering. And how many people would it take to finish it off and how many days?

Texas is also known for their chili - they say true Texas chili will not contain any beans. Leave it to the Texas Aggies to serve up a dish of chili that weighed 4,800 pounds. This dish was prepared especially for the 2017 Spirit of Texas Festival in College Station. This traditional dish contained 1,500 pounds of beef - that must be the whole cow - 750 pounds of diced onion, 300 pounds of diced bell pepper, 1,300 pounds of diced tomatoes, 192 jars of minced garlic in oil and 50 pounds of chili powder. Just imagine how many cadets it took to stir the pot and where did they find a pot big enough to hold so much chili? True to tradition, the chili contained not one bean! The biggest pot of chili in the world!

Can you imagine dusting a collection of 24,268 video games? That is a collection of a Houstonian who started his collection at the age of 10. Now, 35 years later, his vast collection is worth $2.1 million. That figure is probably what he has invested in his collection. Do you think he can sell it for that much?

What would you do with a dog that measured three feet 5.18 inches tall? He would probably eat you out of house and home! And his doggie bed? Is it a mattress off a regular twin bed? They say people stop when they see him at the Dallas Farmers Market where he is considered a celebrity.

Can you imagine having to wear or even find a woman's size 18 or a man's size 16 shoes? Those feet belong to a Texas woman who must alter the largest shoes she can find so that they will fit her feet.

Somehow, we must overcome the desire to be the biggest. If we must brag, why not change from the biggest to being the best. Why don't we brag about our character? Why can't we try to be the best? Let's be the Best! Why the Biggest?

Maybe it would be better to say “We are tops in the education field. We are the best in goodness and concern for our fellow man. Our laws are just. And we abide by the law.”

Can we brag that our state has the lowest ranking in murders and suicides? Can we say we are tops?

We are the best. Little by little, if day by day we try to improve ourselves, to improve our attitudes and our characters, we just might someday be able to say, Texas is the best!