Do Not Try This At Home
One for the "now we've seen everything" file... Sports and athletic competitions are traditionally tests of physical prowess and mental skills. So it was more than a little surprising to channel surf past primetime ESPN coverage of (we're not kidding), the Alka Seltzer U.S. Open of Competitive Eating. In head-to-head competition, the "gustatory athletes" (and they do consider themselves athletes) worked their way through platters of potato skins, cheese fries, buffalo wings, spaghetti...and an Italian salad.
Coming at a time when American obesity rates are at an all-time high and type 2 diabetes continues to be on the upswing, is promoting mass consumption of high-fat, high-carb, high-calorie fare really the healthiest message the media can be sending the viewing public? This is more than a county fair pie eating contest - this is an organized sport garnering major broadcast coverage with over 70 events scheduled annually. But far from promoting fitness, the main message seems to be the glory of gluttony.
To their credit, the official sanctioning organization of the event, the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), does have some safety standards in place, and "believes that speed eating is only suitable for those 18 years of age or older and only in a controlled environment with appropriate rules and with an emergency medical technician present."
In case you're wondering, Japan's Takeru Kobayashi (a world class IFOCE competitor who holds the world's record for downing 53 1/2 hot dogs with buns in 12 minutes flat) won the event, taking home $10,000 and the Alka Selzer cup.
And the funny thing is, the winner is the "skinny" one!