Sport or No Sport: Eating Contests
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by user Christof
Is an Eating Contest a sport? That is the question to be answered today.
Eating contests are becoming more and more popular in this world. First came the July 4th Nathans Hotdog Eating Contest. This contest has been held on Coney Island for many years. The objective is to eat the most hot dogs in a specified time period.
Taking this to the next level is Wing Bowl. Wing Bowl is held annually on the Friday before the Super Bowl in Philadelphia. The first Wing Bowl was held in a hotel lobby. Today, Wing Bowl is held at a sold-out Wachovia Center. Attendance has been known to pass 20,000. All this to watch a dozen or so eaters down hot buffalo wings under timed conditions.
So is it a sport? It is my opinion that it is. First, you have physical action taking place. Not only do you have to inhale the food, but you must also keep it down during the competition. Second, you need strategy. How to attack the food. Do you do a fast eating pace at the beginning? The end? A level pace throughout? Do you try to psych out the other competitors? Do you simply play possum? All of these questions must be answered by a competitor before and during an eating contest.
Since physical action, ability and strategy are all involved in eating contests, I therefore conclude that Eating Contests are a sport.
Do you agree?
Side Note - Some Wing Bowl competitors have been known to have dental surgery - re-positioning some teeth in order to improve their wing eating ability under time contraints.
Date
Thu 07/13/06, 11:17 am EST
