...but this "sport" is disgusting. Ms. Goldstein's article has not convinced me that competitive eating is anything more than a bunch of carny freaks showing off.

I could read the book, but I don't think I could stomache it...

There was a documentary on Mtv of all places recently about competitive eating. They followed Kobayashi around and showed his routine. It was quite interesting. The dude is in amazing physical condition and he works out in the gym a lot. He also "works out" doing practice eating which they showed him doing in a couple of restaurants going through his paces. I guess he got his start in Japanese contests and it is a big "sport" there. He also talked about his physiology and the fact that his stomach sits lower (I think) than most people so that allows for more expansion. I thought it was fascinating, and it doesn't hurt that he is so easy on the eyes. I would never want to participate in any of these contests, but I do think that he and Sonya Thomas are superhuman and I have a certain respect for what they do.

Anyone else catch this author's appearance Tuesday night on The Daily Show? He clearly bristled at Jon Stewart's (gentle) mockery of the entire notion that this "sport" is anything but a middle finger flipped at rationality.

Two of the three letter writers put the word sport in parentheses, as if it somehow does not meet the definition of a Sport.

The definition of a sport, from Wikipedia: "A sport consists of a physical and mentally competitive activity carried out with a recreational purpose for competition, for self-enjoyment, to attain excellence, for the development of a skill, or some combination of these. A sport has physical activity, side by side competition, self-motivation and a scoring system."

Competitive eating has all of these aspects. In fact, it's probably even more of a sport than things like figure skating, boxing, diving, or gymnastics, all of which depend to some degree on subjective scoring by judges.

As far as how irrational or disgusting competitive eating is, I don't see how it's any worse than looking at the grotesquely swollen, bloodied face of a boxer, or the hideous sight of a football player flopping around on the ground after a violent collision. And I'm sure there are other sports out there even more dangerous - it seems like a race car driver dies every few months in a crash... how many competitive eaters have died from choking or food poisoning?

-Adam in Philly (home of Wing Bowl!)

People are starving in America and all over the world, and these fools have nothing better to do than see how much food they can cram down their gullets?

...

I don't know, do you?

Why is this even on this website? This is the Salon's perogative I guess, but it seems strange to me to see such a story here.

Competitive gluttony = sport?!

Only in a society that has lost its way, IMO.

And they say irony is dead!

Wikipedia is to research as competitive eating is to sport.

Now shut the fuck up and donate some money to your local food bank, because this is just wrong.

Wasn't there a belly-button lint sculpture contest or a paint-drying marathon you could have covered instead of this?

Or maybe a Food Bank somewhere that could have used the publicity instead?

Seriously, WTF is you problem? Is this why you went to Journalism School? (I know, I'm assuming.)

Did Joan Walsh hand you this assignment?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Come on, answer. Farhad always does. (It saves time actually researching his articles; he just waits for us to correct the errors.)

How boring are letter writers who expect every single article that Salon prints to live up to thier expectations of SERIOUS liberal rightousness and outrage. Come on people, these guys just published the abu ghraib photos dont they deserve a moment of levity? dont you?

As someone who probably spends more time thinking about and doing the things i can about places like palestine, chiapas and aceh than most, i welcome the wisdom that Salon shows by bringing me a gossip column, a witty sportswriter and a pretty damn amusing column about airplanes of all things AND yes, stories about something as useless, light-hearted and absurdly inspiring as competitive eating. Such things allow me to recharge at the point when something like empathy fatigue might settle in.

Kudos Salon, for realizing that levity and pleasure are important parts of keeping an activist spirit. do please do something however, about all these articles about whiny overprivileged mothers who complain about how hard thier lives are in thier upper middle-class bubbles, the sense of smug superiority and selfishness that oozes out of these articles is really obnoxious.

There are many sports where athelete consume massive amounts of calories. But we don't villify power weight lifters or or high altitude mountain climbers because they eat too much. In terms of contributing to world hunger, 5000 calories spent to build a bicep is equivalent to 5000 calories of eaten and then purged hot dogs.

The moral outrage is not about wasted calories. It is about how we contextualize consumption and fat in this culture. Nerz argues that Kobayashi is an athelete. Why? because he is thin and muscular. Kobayashi is the perfect poster boy for our hypocrisy: Consume what you like but look like you don't.

I can feel a Tarantino movie coming on. In the aftermath of an accidental parcel switch, University controlled tests confirm that that the livers of professional gormandisers proove exceptionally blissful to the human palate. Quentin subtly draws parallels with the top shelf goose pate industry. "The Son Of Hannibal Lecter" becomes serially involved and Jodi Foster(FBI Ret'd) is coaxed into the role of alpha huntress. There is lots of vivisection, sphincter talk and copious projectile vomitting from Linda Blair("She's back....and she's spewing") in a career reviving special guest appearance.

At the world premiere, Starvin' Marvin' thoughtfully dispenses antacids to dyspeptic patrons.