Competitive Eating in 2007--Nathan's Hot Dog Competition

They came from far and wide to Coney Island on July 4 to demonstrate their guzzling prowess. It was the annual Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest. Covered by ESPN and watched on site by 30,000 screaming fans, this event brought to public viewing the most prominent names in competitive eating. Whom did we have? Well, among the 15 contestants yesterday were the reigning hot dog champ, Japanese wonder Takeru Kobayashi and the surging (in position, not food in stomach) American Joey Chestnut. Kobayashi had set the record for hot dog and bun (HDB, for those in the know) consumption (12 minute period) in 2006 with 53 3/4 dogs. (Wouldn't you love to be the judge who has to determine how much of a hot dog was consumed by a contestant?) But Chestnut obliterated that record in the June 2007 run-up to this year's big event by downing 59 hot dogs in that time. These two are, by far, the most accomplished eaters on the circuit, or at least, on the hot dog-eating circuit.

One can have as many contests as there are items of food, you know. Indeed, some of the eaters "specialize" in various kinds of food. Eric "Badlands" Booker, a 425-pound rapper and NYC subway driver, for example, doesn't do so well in hot-dog eating but is the burrito and chocolate-candy eating champion.

But that last sentence ought not to obscure the fact that most competitive eaters could pass for a "normal" citizen. Kobayahsi, for example, only weighs about 155 pounds. The key, as Joey Chestnut, who set a seemingly untouchable world record yesterday of 66 hot dogs consumed in 12 minutes, is to develop exercises which allow the stomach rapidly to expand to incorporate all this new food. His last few days training regimen for yesterday's contest was to drink a gallon of (stomach-expanding) water at 6 a.m. on the morning of the contest--which got going at 12:40 p.m.-- and to starve himself for the two days before the contest. This way he was ravenously hungry and his stomach had expanded to accommodate all those luscious hot dogs.

Indeed, several of the competitors are on the small side, with 100 pound Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, the cheescake-eating record holder, being among the most impressive. I think she was the one who guzzled 8.3 pounds of Vienna sausage in 10 minutes--thus adding more than 8% to her bodyweight in 10 minutes. And, lest you think that this competition is only for the young, we had the encouraging presence of Rich "The Locust" LeFevre, who at 63 years of age has a personal record of downing 34 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Thus, this is an event for young and old, for male and female, for black and white. My goodness, isn't this the fulfillment of the Apostle Paul's vision for the redeemed community?

A Historical Word

Though people have always been stuffing their face with too much food, the competitive eating movement really took off in the 1990s as someone began to realize that America's desire to watch zany stunts and people hadn't yet been sated. The International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) has now established itself as the "governing body" of the "sport," and with a web site, eater profiles, and even a "top 50 list" of competitive eaters, the sport seems well on its way for minor niche status. And, this isn't archery (though why shouldn't that be the next big sports craze in America?), where you have people of iron nerves who generally shy away from publicity. No, the competitive eaters seem to be made for primetime (or at least ESPN-time) television. With names like "Crazy Legs" Conti (what does the movement of anyone's legs have to do with the ability to eat a lot--I could understand "Crazy Legs" Hirsch of football fame...), Dale "Mouth of the South" Boone, Allen "The Shredder" Goldstein, you just feel you are brought into the presence of a new order of human beings as they munch and swallow in front of you. For example, after Crazy Legs Conti, a New York window washer, nude model and sperm donor won the oyster eating contest in New Orleans a few years back, someone decided to make a documentary on him called "Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating." Surely someone sees a buck to be made in all this stuff...

Reflecting on July 4

I think it is significant that the hot dog eating contest took place on July 4. This, indeed, or something very much like this, must have been what the Founding Fathers had in mind by their concept of freedom or independence in 1776. Surely when Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration, when John Hancock signed it, when the Fathers mutually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, they were hoping that some day America would be free enough to celebrate in an unhibited way the thing that America has become known for the world over--excess. That should perhaps be a new slogan in America: Freedom---to Eat. I am not sure that the message is fully consistent with the uniform message now being adopted by employers and school districts throughout the country, which are trying to curb worker and child obesity, but hey, this is America and we can do what we want to do.

I think the fledgling, and not too successful, world of competitive adult spelling has a lot to learn from the competitive eaters. I don't mean that they should necessarily make hot dogs available at the spelling events. What I mean is that spelling needs personalities, nicknames, and a sense of competitive fury in order to catch the next big competitive wave in America. We need an "angle" in competitive spelling that will make people want to watch what we do. Maybe it is the "awe" angle; maybe it is the "nerd" angle. But, in any case, we, too, need to be portrayed as people who have tenacity, desire, prowess and ability to make others marvel and turn aside from their other activities to watch us.

Conclusion

If competitive eating can flourish at a time when world hunger, as well as national obesity, are major hot-button issues, then almost anything ought to be able to flourish at this time as well. Maybe the time for spelling is near. I need to get back to my words now. After chowing down a burrito, however...

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