You walk into Hodgetown. First thing you do? Look for concessions, right?

As you stroll up to order, you're looking at the menu. You're at a ballgame and the first thing that pops into your brain comes straight out of an iconic movie.

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"Dog and a beer" as James Earl Jones so eloquently said in 'Field of Dreams'. It's the most popular item at not just Hodgetown, but any ballpark in America.

Here's what we didn't know. Every time we eat that hot dog, we're losing not just seconds, but MINUTES off our life. Crazy to think about right?

Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at over 5,000 different foods to see just how much life we'd lose (or gain) by eating certain foods and posted it in the Nature Food journal. It's a pretty long read, although rather interesting. Out of all the foods they looked into, they concluded that beef hot dogs would result in the highest amount of life lost per hot dog.

Just how much you ask? How about a whopping 36 minutes of life lost PER DOG!! I was just at Hodgetown for $1 hot dog night last Wednesday. I ate 3, my son ate 2. Between the two of us, we just shaved off 180 minutes of our lives. I can't even think about how many hot dogs I've eaten in my lifetime. I love hot dogs. A life without them...frankly it scares me.

So I got to thinking, with all the professional and minor league sports we have in Texas, how many hot dogs are consumed by Texans? I mean, we're a big state with a LOT of people and opportunities to consume these tasty franks.

A little digging unearthed this article on 247wallst.com about how many hot dogs and hamburgers are consumed by state...and ranked em for us conveniently.

Texas lands at number 6 on the list, out of 50 states. That's a LOT of hot dogs...or is it hot dogs that landed us on this list? Turns out, we like our hamburgers WAY more than hot dogs here. We checked in at number 3 for most hamburgers consumed, but ranked 12th LOWEST in hot dogs consumed. Good job Texas, way to be ahead of the curve here.

So now I have to decide whether or not I want to keep shaving minutes off my life. I don't know that I can give up hot dogs. I love em too much. I guess I'll have to live by the old adage of "we all gotta die sometime right?". Now pass the mustard please.

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