Now this is something to cheer about from the front page of The Bee: The world championship in gluttony is back where it belongs, in the hands of an American. Joey Chestnut beat reigning hot-dog eating champ Takeru Kobayashi in New York on July 4. Chestnut pounded 66 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes, setting a world record. Kobayashi stayed game until the end, when in the words of Larry McShane of the Associated Press, he "suffered a reversal -- competitive eating-speak for barfing -- leading to a deduction from his final total."
But talk about mixed messages: Right next to the feel-good (?) story about this American triumph is a story suggesting that billion-dollar education effort to fight obesity among the nation's children is largely failing. Well, what do we expect, when we make heroes out of people who can eat 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes?
What is cool about these hot dog eating contest is that the skinny guys beat the crud out of the big guys. The first and second place guys are thin guys.
Who says this guy is a hero. More media manipulation to try to make us think We are the ones making a hot dog eater something other than the pig he is.Then to infer that the $BILLION failed effort to curb obesity is in part due to this media fabricated hero worship is such a stretch it would be laughable if it were not so pathetic.