Post by Free Agent Fan on Jun 17, 2008 14:25:49 GMT -5
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Contest fame waiting in the wings
Published: June 14. 2008 6:00AM
I picked up a new sport Wednesday. Now, after my days of track, basketball, cross country and rugby, I've adopted a contest more attuned to my softening physique.
I am a competitive eater.
I've watched in awe as world-renowned Japanese eater Takeru Kobayashi blows away the competition at the Nathan's Hot Dog-Eating Contest. I remember once watching eating-superstar Sonya Thomas, who weighs in at just over 100 pounds, inhale plates of spaghetti in an eating tournament on some cable sports channel.
I can recite the names of lesser-known chow gods like "Badlands" Booker, "Cookie" Jarvis and Eater X.
Wednesday, at Quaker Steak and Lube's Bike Night, I sat down at the table to take my place among them.
The rules were simple: either finish 15 wings first, or eat the most wings after three minutes.
If you time it right, and finish at the three-minute mark, you will have to eat five wings a minute -- one every 12 seconds.
I usually eat fast. When I was a kid, my mom reminded me nightly to taste my food before I swallowed. My girlfriend yells at me now for finishing my plate long before her, forcing her to eat faster or alone.
I was confident, but the competition looked fierce -- bikers decked out in Harley-Davidson gear, a few big guys, two Erie RiverRats. Sitting at the table, wings steaming in front of me, I got the same butterflies in my stomach I used to get before high school basketball games.
Then, for three minutes, it was all focus.
I don't really remember much about my technique -- it was mostly incisor-based, I think -- but when my three minutes were over, I'd finished 14 of the wings.
Second place.
First place, a blue-haired guy across the table, finished 14 wings and taken a few bites out of his last.
I won a T-shirt, while first place won a gift card and the biggest prize of all: a hallowed seat in the end-of-summer, champions-only contest.
I'm in training now, figuring out better ways to consume wings in a small amount of time. I need to focus on breathing, swallowing and rending flesh from bone. I'm determined to make it to that last big, gluttonous dance.
And, on a related note, I think I might take up jogging.
CODY SWITZER can be reachedat 870-1776. Send e-mail to cody.switzer@timesnews.com.
Contest fame waiting in the wings
Published: June 14. 2008 6:00AM
I picked up a new sport Wednesday. Now, after my days of track, basketball, cross country and rugby, I've adopted a contest more attuned to my softening physique.
I am a competitive eater.
I've watched in awe as world-renowned Japanese eater Takeru Kobayashi blows away the competition at the Nathan's Hot Dog-Eating Contest. I remember once watching eating-superstar Sonya Thomas, who weighs in at just over 100 pounds, inhale plates of spaghetti in an eating tournament on some cable sports channel.
I can recite the names of lesser-known chow gods like "Badlands" Booker, "Cookie" Jarvis and Eater X.
Wednesday, at Quaker Steak and Lube's Bike Night, I sat down at the table to take my place among them.
The rules were simple: either finish 15 wings first, or eat the most wings after three minutes.
If you time it right, and finish at the three-minute mark, you will have to eat five wings a minute -- one every 12 seconds.
I usually eat fast. When I was a kid, my mom reminded me nightly to taste my food before I swallowed. My girlfriend yells at me now for finishing my plate long before her, forcing her to eat faster or alone.
I was confident, but the competition looked fierce -- bikers decked out in Harley-Davidson gear, a few big guys, two Erie RiverRats. Sitting at the table, wings steaming in front of me, I got the same butterflies in my stomach I used to get before high school basketball games.
Then, for three minutes, it was all focus.
I don't really remember much about my technique -- it was mostly incisor-based, I think -- but when my three minutes were over, I'd finished 14 of the wings.
Second place.
First place, a blue-haired guy across the table, finished 14 wings and taken a few bites out of his last.
I won a T-shirt, while first place won a gift card and the biggest prize of all: a hallowed seat in the end-of-summer, champions-only contest.
I'm in training now, figuring out better ways to consume wings in a small amount of time. I need to focus on breathing, swallowing and rending flesh from bone. I'm determined to make it to that last big, gluttonous dance.
And, on a related note, I think I might take up jogging.
CODY SWITZER can be reachedat 870-1776. Send e-mail to cody.switzer@timesnews.com.