SPORTS
Appreciation for a July 4th eating contest
The Fourth of July holiday is full of traditions and memories for people.
A day at the lake, grilled burgers, hanging with family and of course fireworks.
For me, one Fourth of July tradition I keep is watching the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN.
Sponsored by Nathan’s Famous Corporation known for its hot dogs and taking place on Coney Island, NY, the competition is the “Super Bowl” of sorts for competitive eating. Since most activities that take place in competition format and crown a world champion are fascinating to me to some degree, I have been interested how this group of people eats as much as I do in a week in about 10-12 minutes every Fourth of July.
Most people think competitive eating is a freak show and are grossed out by the aesthetic of someone stuffing their mouths for about 10 minutes. I can get past that because I am amazed with how fast they chew and swallow said food only to stuff their mouth again.
It is relatable in the fact we all eat every day of our lives. Most people have eaten a hot dog. At some point we have all tried to eat a meal fast. Now watch people who can eat not only fast but more than seems humanly possible.
I have been watching or keeping up with the contest since the early 2000s, right when the whole scene was taken to a new level.
Takeru Kobayashi, a skinny Japanese man, won the contest in 2001. He had never eaten a hot dog until the day of competition. He did not just break the record of 25 hot dogs in 12 minutes. He doubled the record and ate 50 hot dogs. His closest competitor only ate 26.
This started a six-year reign championship with Kobayashi starting several trends. His competitors now had a rabbit to chase and, seeing how seriously he took the competition, they also upped their preparation and commitment.
With no close competitors, Kobayashi was only able to up his record to 53 ½ during the next four years. His physique changed over time, but instead of gaining fat like one would expect, he gained muscle. Now looking like a shredded lean body builder, bulking up to as high as 192 pounds, Kobayashi still looked different from his competitors. Keeping unnecessary weight down and increasing muscle allowed more room for his stomach to expand, Kobayashi claimed.
In 2006, Kobayashi barley broke his record by eating 53 ¾ hot dogs and buns, but was seriously challenged for the first time ever by an American construction engineer named Joey Chestnut. An average looking guy weighing in at 230 pounds, Chestnut finished with 52 hot dogs and vowed to take the title back for America next year.
Chestnut did just that, beating Kobayashi in 2007 with a new world record of 66. They battled the next two years and even with the time going down to 10 minutes from 12, Chestnut won both years and upped the record to 68 hot dogs in 2009.
That would be the last year Kobayashi would compete at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Competitors at the event are forced to sign a contract with Major League Eating, which he refused to sign. He attended and attempted to get on stage at the 2010 competition, but was arrested and has not been back since.
Chestnut has won almost every year since 2007, losing once to a young skinny American named Matt Stonie. Chestnut raised the record to 74 hot dogs and buns on Wednesday.
For comparison’s sake, the 10th Annual KFDX Hot Dog Eating Contest at Castaway Cove in Wichita was won by Ozzie Gutierrez eating 13 hot dogs in eight minutes.
Stonie has gained internet fame by filming himself doing eating challenges on his personal Youtube channel. His channel has more than 5.2 million subscribers. Apparently I am not the only person who wants to see someone eat 25 Big Macs in 22 minutes.
Since 2011, there has been enough interest from women to have their own contest. Before they would compete with the men and a small Asian American women named Sonya Thomas more than held her own.
She won the first three years of the women’s competition and still has the women’s record of eating 45 in 10 minutes. The last five years have been dominated by another woman named Miki Sudo. One of the reasons I watch sports is seeing what the human body is capable of doing when pushed to the limit.
Watching the fastest runners in the world draws admiration. Watching the strongest humans in the world lift is awe inspiring. Watching the best eaters in the world, for me, is on that level.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Lady Rabbits lost a tough game at Holliday on Monday night.
The Lady Eagles won 12-2 after five innings due to run-rule.
Bowie was hoping it could compete well with Holliday coming off a good win against Vernon in its previous game. While the Lady Rabbits lost to the Lady Eagles in the first game, Bowie had avoided getting run-ruled and took that as a positive sign. Unfortunately, that was not avoided on Monday.
After a scoreless first inning, Bowie had gotten on the board first in the second inning. Sadie Britt led off with a double. Two batters later, Victoria Watson drove her in with a single to put the Lady Rabbits up 1-0.
Unfortunately, Holliday answered with nine runs in the same inning scored on six singles, a double, two walks and two fielding errors. Bowie was down 9-1 and could not get back into the game.
The Lady Eagles added two more runs on a two-run home run in the third inning to go up 11-1.
The Lady Rabbit offense answered in the fourth inning with the same two players coming through again.
Britt led off and hit a single.
Two wild pitches allowed her to advance to third base before two batters later, Watson got her home, this time on a sacrifice fly ball to make it 11-2.
Bowie’s defense allowed no runs in the fourth inning and after failing to score on offense in the fifth inning, it needed to do it again to prevent the game from ending early due to run-rule.
Unfortunately, Holliday loaded the bases up with two singles and a hit batter with no outs before a single drove in one run to end the game.
The Lady Eagles won 12-2.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Jackrabbits lost a close game at Holliday on a walk-off base hit on Wednesday.
The Eagles won 5-4 against the Jackrabbits in a game where Bowie came back strong late in the game.
The Jackrabbits were coming off a run-rule win against Vernon the previous week. Bowie was hoping this second game would go better than the first game, which Holliday won 16-2 by run-rule.
The Jackrabbits knew they could give the first place Eagles a better game and on Wednesday they gave it to them.
Holliday struck first in the first and second innings. An RBI single and a fielding error allowed two runs to score in the first inning. A two RBI double in the second inning put the Eagles up 4-0 heading into the third inning.
Bowie’s bats started a two-out rally to get its first run. Boston Farris hit a single up the middle. He stole second base and then Tucker Jones drove him in with a line drive single to center field.
The Jackrabbits still trailed 4-1, but some good offense had thrown Holliday’s momentum and Bowie’s defense focused up. After committing two errors in the first two innings, the Jackrabbits did not commit another one for the rest of the game.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Bowie bats did some damage again. Rayder Mann drew a leadoff walk. A sacrifice bunt and a stolen base moved him to third base where Jones came through with an RBI triple, making it 4-2. Jones later tried to score after a ball got away from the catcher. Unfortunately, they tagged him out at home plate to end inning.
In the sixth inning, Bowie started out well as Seth Mann and Troy Kesey drew back-to-back walks. After several wild pitches, Mann scored to cut the lead one run and Kesey was at third base.
Later with two outs, Cy Egenbacher struck out for out three, but the ball got away from the catcher. The throw to first base resulted in an error that allowed Egenbacher to be safe and Kesey to come in and score, tying the game up at 4-4.
Bowie could not keep its offensive momentum going as the seventh inning came and saw all three batters strike out.
Pitcher Edmon De Leon, who had rebounded beautifully after the rough start of the game as he struck out 12 batters in the game, was near his pitch count limit and had to be replaced on the mound.
Three different pitchers came in for Bowie in the bottom of the seventh. A walk, hit batter and intentional walk loaded the bases up with no outs as the Jackrabbit defense would need to pull a miracle to get out of this jam unscathed.
The miracle did not come. The next batter hit a single into center field to get the winning run home for Holliday.
The Eagles won 5-4.
The Bowie boy’s golf team is heading back to state tournament after competing at the regional tournament this week.
The Jackrabbits finished third overall, shooting 630 total after two days of competing at the Diamondback National Golf Club in Abilene.
Bowie was trying to get back to state for the third time in the last four years and improve on its third place finish since it returned everyone, but knew it would be tough.
State-power Brock, which finished ahead of the Jackrabbits at state last year, had two teams competing as well as Lubbock-Cooper Liberty showing off the program’s depth. Wall was not far behind as well, nipping at Bowie’s heels.
The conditions were perfect and several players were shooting the best they have all season. Cy Egenbacher led the team shooting 74 the first day. Rayder Mann (77) and Zac Harris (78) joined him the 70s which is really good and the first time all season three Bowie players had done it in one round.
Andrew Sandhoff shot 81 to round out the team’s score to 310 which put the team in third place, three shots behind Brock in second place and seven shots back from Cooper Liberty in first place.
Blanco was six shots back from Bowie in fourth place.
Hunter Lea shot 83, but it did not count towards the team total since it counts a team’s four lowest scores.
The second day saw all but one of the Jackrabbits players shoot a bit worse. Harris was the only player to shoot better as he shot 75 to lead the team.
Egenbacher shot 77. Mann and Sandhoff both shot 84 to put the team’s total for day two at 320. Hunter Lea shot 88 on day two.
Unfortunately, with Bowie’s score increasing by 10 from day one, it did not leave the possibility for the Jackrabbits to move up in the standings.
Brock’s team repeated its score from day one while Cooper Liberty actually lowered its score by seven shots from day one.
Blanco’s team increased its day two total by 10 shots as well to leave the door open for Wall to jump in the standings as it lowered its second day total by two shots.
Still, Bowie finished six shots ahead of Wall to get the final state qualifying spot.
Egenbacher had the lowest total for the Jackrabbits, shooting 151 during the two days as he finished tied for sixth place individually.
Harris shot 153 and was tied for 12th place individually. Mann shot 161 and finished tied for 24th. Sandhoff shot 165 and finished 33rd while Lea shot 171 and placed 49th.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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