Competitive Eating

[Pomai]

As reported on CNN today...
Black Widow' is Buffalo's newest wing-eating champ (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/02/wing.woman.ap/index.html)
Sonya Thomas consumes 5.17 pounds of chicken wings.

The 105-pound competitive eater who goes by "The Black Widow" bested a dozen beefy rivals Saturday night, scarfing 173 wings in 12 minutes to win the wing-eating contest at the National Buffalo Wing Festival.

"That's 5.17 pounds of wings," said Brian Kahle, spokesman for the annual Labor Day weekend event in the city where Buffalo wings were born.

You've probably seen her at Nathan's Annual Hot Dog Eating Competitions, among other "scarfing" events, joining the likes of another lighweight asian who dominates in mind-over-matter and breaking titles by the name of Takeru Kobayashi (http://www.ifoce.com/eaters.php?action=detail&sn=22) of Japan. Amazing.

Competitive Eating has become so popular, that they even have an organization called the International Federation of Competitive Eating (http://www.ifoce.com/home.php). Wow!

Sonya Thomas, We hereby salute you for eating that many Buffalo Wings. You go, girl!

[scrivener]

Competitive Eating has become so popular, that they even have an organization called the International Federation of Competitive Eating (http://www.ifoce.com/home.php).
Be careful about confusing cause with effect. The IFCE doesn't exist because competitive eating is popular; it exists for the purpose of making it so. I can't back that up, but I've paid enough attention to the website, to its competitors, and to what people have written about the activity to get the sense that the IFCE's job is to hype the sport more than to regulate it.

[tutusue]

[...]Competitive Eating [...]
Also known as "scarf 'n barf"!!! :eek:

[MixedPlateBroker]

I watched a special on competitive eating a few months ago. Amazing how, for some of them, their digestive systems work differently from an average human's. Allows them to eat mass quantities of food and mostly pass it through without gleaning so many calories and storing excess as bodyfat.

[Pomai]

Be careful about confusing cause with effect. The IFCE doesn't exist because competitive eating is popular; it exists for the purpose of making it so. I can't back that up, but I've paid enough attention to the website, to its competitors, and to what people have written about the activity to get the sense that the IFCE's job is to hype the sport more than to regulate it.On the IFOCE website, in About Us (http://www.ifoce.com/about.php), it says..

The International Federation of Competitive Eating, Inc. supervises and regulates eating contests in their various forms throughout the world. The IFOCE helps to ensure that the sport remains safe, while also seeking to achieve objectives consistent with the public interest -- namely, creating an environment in which fans may enjoy the display of competitive eating skill.So are contests supposedly only "official" if they're sanctioned by IFOCE?

Get a load of their Seal... Two winged Lions facing each other with a Hot Dog in their mouths, a Ketchup & Mustard squirt bottle, and an ice cream cone on the bottom as a "torch". Too funny. That might offend the burger and Buffalo Wing contest folks. lol Heresy!

Also interesting are the FAQs at Sonya Thomas' website (http://www.sonyatheblackwidow.com/id2.html). Come to find out she's originally from South Korea. Almost as a spoof, they should feature her in one of those Korean Soaps, getting all dramatic over losing a Hot Dog eating competition. :D

[scrivener]

We actually have a thread with this exact same title here (http://hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=6001). Sonya's a cutie, but I hate her nickname.

[Honoruru]

I remember seeing an advertisement for a Ramen Eating Contest by Ezogiku when they first opened at Don Quijote (then known as Daiei). My thoughts were: How would that work? Any real ramen aficionado would agree that it should be served steaming hot. That's why you lift the noodles with the chopsticks: to cool it, then blow on it, then slurp it down. Then what about drinking all the soup as a finishing touch, like in the movie Tampopo (http://www.amazon.com/Tampopo-Tsutomu-Yamazaki/dp/6305154880)? How many ramen(s) do you think you could down in say ... ten minutes ... 12 minutes ... half an hour? The winner would be one bloated, sweating dude!

Maybe that's why I've never seen any more advertisements for that contest.

[Pomai]

We actually have a thread with this exact same title here (http://hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=6001). Sonya's a cutie, but I hate her nickname.Ay'yah. Sorry 'bout that. Shoulda' searched for it first.

Yeah, I think's Sonya's pretty cute too. This must make it that much more upsetting to those massive trucker-looking' guys who compete against her. Not only is she small, but she's a hottie! That's a one-two punch. :eek: :D

I see you did a thorough write-up on Sonya and her "Black Widow" nickname (http://chalkdust.mitchellkdwyer.net/?p=30). You made a good point. Now Jeanette Lee the Billiards Pro.. she is HO-O-O-T!!!

Sonya "Blackberry" Thomas huh? That could work. I guess that's an easy transition from "Black Widow", while going more towards the food theme. Who knows, maybe she could even get sponsored by the BlackBerry smartphone company.

You think they could have a Prune eating contest? I don't think anyone can hold that down without running to the restroom. You think prunes could be done? :eek:

[scrivener]

Actually, in the time since I wrote that (was it really two years ago?), I've thought of a much better nickname: Piko. Or the Korean equivalent, which I've been unable to track down. Something cute-sounding and tummy-related.

[Pomai]

How about Sonya "Kim Chee" Thomas? Nah... too cliché.

Sonya "Seoul Food (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul)" Thomas? That's kinda' cool. It flows phonetically.

Post Edit: Hah! There's a video of the last 2 minutes at that Buffalo Wing Competition that she won here at www.buffalowing.com (http://www.buffalowing.com).

Click on "2007 Festival Winners & Recap" and scroll down a bit. The audio is horrible, but the amateur video (decent) mostly focuses on Sonya. I guess they already anticipated she was the one to win it. Of all the songs to play, they have "Teenage Wasteland" by the Who. At least play something inspiring like the Rocky theme or "Eat It (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAs9e6O23qs)" by Weird Al. lol