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Hot Dog Eating as an Olympic Sport! Why Not?

Posted by Norski • 7/04/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: food, hot dogs, olympics, sports, the human condition, weiners

You've probably read the headlines: "Champ a top dog again with 49 wieners" - and cheered Takeru Kobayashi as he won the "Coveted Mustard Yellow International Belt" for the fifth year in a row.

I submit that it's time for this very popular international sport to be recognized as an Olympic Sport, for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

I've got a post that's more or less about this:

apatheticlemming.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-isnt-hot-dog-eating-olympic-sport...

And if, for some reason, you think this is a good idea, you could visit the official website of the Olympic Movement. www.olympic.org/

Note: I said you could, not that you should.

User Comments

7/04/08

timethief

Hi there. I visited, read the post and left you a comment too.

[reply]
1. 7/04/08
  
  Norski
  
  Thanks!
2. 7/04/08
  
  Norski
  
  Following up - I skimmed the article you cited. Thanks for the heads-up.
  
  I left a response, with your URL as a link, with a link to a not-exactly-opposed opinion by Consumer Report.
  
  I hadn't thought of the nutritional aspects of this 'sport.' Not that I want to, now.
3. 7/04/08
  
  timethief
  
  @norski
  I left a second comment and then after I clicked published I checked out the grammar of the last sentence and cringed. I meant to say "hormone injected meat from feedlot animals" but screwed it up royally ... SIGH.
4. 7/04/08
  
  Norski
  
  timethief,
  
  Whee. I read that. "hormone-injected feedlots." I think readers will understand what you mean. Feel free to delete the comment, and re-post if you like - I think blogger permits that, for the comment's author. If it really bugs you, let me know (my BC shoutbox might be your best bet), and I'll remove the comment.
  
  To make typos is human - there's a saying brewing in that idea.
5. 7/04/08
  
  timethief
  
  I don't know how to delete it and replace it. The font is tiny and I'm so tired that I don't really care. Your other readers will understand what I meant and maybe even get a chuckle out of it too. Leave it.
7/04/08

thefly

This is why not!

thefly4176.blogspot.com/2007/12/competitive-eating.html

[reply]
1. 7/04/08
  
  Norski
  
  True enough.
  
  I don't regard these eating contests as particularly attractive events. What drew me to this particular one was the way it was being treated as a mainstream sporting event - at least to some extent.
  
  On the up side, as far as I can tell, many of the contestants retain and digest what they eat.
  
  And, interestingly, the winners are not the lard buckets you'd expect to be tops. East Asians seem to dominate the - sport? - and not the Sumo types.
2. 7/04/08
  
  Norski
  
  Oi. Not with the the multiplying comments again?!
3. 7/04/08
  
  timethief
  
  @thefly
  Check your shoutbox.
7/04/08

jackpayne

God must love stupid people; he made so many. Who in their right mind would ever knowingly abuse themselves like that? Hard to believe.

[reply]
1. 7/04/08
  
  timethief
  
  @Jack
  Please do not wave that God flag at me ... *lomao* I used to think the most lowly of the evolved creatures like banana slugs were the most stupid species but I don't suffer from that confusion any longer.
7/04/08

harleyblues

Big Deal! anyone can stuff their face!~:)
hb~

[reply]
7/04/08

suburbqueen

Although watching them eat like that makes me uneasy, I always think if my family ate like that (with no complaints) I wouldn't mind cooking as much.

[reply]
1. 7/05/08
  
  Norski
  
  Good thought.
7/04/08

gerryPlanetEarth

A hot-dog eating contest would be great for the olympics...Like other olympic events it would leave behind huge carbon footprints...They could waste millions of dollars building a special venue to house the hot-dog eating event...

[reply]
7/05/08

jackpayne

If all else fails, lower your standards.

I guess this fits hot dog eating contests.

[reply]
1. 7/05/08
  
  Norski
  
  You have a point there.
7/05/08

gingerbeer25

I left you a comment but I thought that I would say here that something feels wrong celebrating gluttony when so many are hungry worldwide.

[reply]
1. 7/05/08
  
  Norski
  
  Even if that weren't the case, I'd still think there was something a bit wrong with that sort of eating contest.
  
  Apparently the contestants in this may actually digest - or at least process - the food internally. And if all gets recycled, one way or another.
  
  On the other hand, my parents lived through the thirties: Depression, Dust Bowl. Some of the common sense and avoidance of waste that they learned rubbed off on me. Quite a bit, actually.
  
  The fact is, though, that I'm more upset at the waste I see in some cafeterias, where people can choose how much food they take - and throw enough to make a small meal away when they're done. That sort of chronic waste adds up to much more than the occasional hot-dog harf-down.
7/05/08

TheBigRuski

It's time for that guy to be de-bunned!

[reply]
1. 7/05/08
  
  Norski
  
  A bit drastic, don't you think?
  
  Particularly considering what's probably going to happen to his system, a few decades down the road.
2. 7/05/08
  
  TheBigRuski
  
  Dethroned?
3. 7/06/08
  
  Norski
  
  >
7/05/08

gingerbeer25

In the larger scheme of things no a single hot dog contest is no big deal..to me it is more the fact that it represents the gluttonous life style of western nations...we take and consume without thought to the point that we turn it into contests.

[reply]