Wingbowl 16

Well...it's the Friday before the Superbowl...and you know what that means...Wing Bowl. Yes, the time when grizzly, large (and suprisingly, some not very large) men congregate in Philly at the Wachovia Center to show who can destroy their body the quickest by eating as many wings as they can. As a past resident of South Jersey, I know that there is a man, who goes by the nickname "El Wingador," who is a hero to some because he represents South Jersey every year when he competes (and what an honor it would be to come from South Jersey...home of El Wingador, Wing Bowl Champion).

But the locals of course want El Wingador to win because he himself is a local. What they don't realize is that there are "athletes," in an actual league (the MLE, Major League Eating) who compete across the country chowing down on various food items. I'm sure most people have heard of the Asian sensation Kobayashi, who definitely does not look like he can eat a lot, but certainly can. The new Tiger Woods of the Major League Eating scene is Joey Chestnut, who claimed fame a few years ago when he won the deep-fried asparagus eating competition (yummy!). I remember getting excited over the Coney Island Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Championship, because there was a lot of hype over Chestnut being able to overtake Kobayashi (which he did...66 hot dogs)

[At this point, you're probably thinking...man, Kevin is weird...he gets excited over eating competitions...well yes, I do. If I had ESPN Ocho, I'd watch it all the time...I've even watched juggling competitions on ESPN for God's sake. I think Philly sports fans are the same...or atleast they use it as an excuse to drink...apparently people were up at 5 am this morning tailgating for the Wing Bowl - and a good portion of them went to work after the event!]

Anyways, so Major League Eaters are no joke...and Chestnut is the King right now...some of his records?

• 14 cups of chili in 6 minutes


• 47 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes


• 59 peanut butter sandwiches in 10 minutes


• 18.5 waffles (8 oz.) in 10 minutes


• 8.4 pounds pork rib meat in 12 minutes

Now that you're holding back nausea, I think you get the point...this guy is no joke. I wonder what he does for regular meals...because you'd think he'd be enormous, but he's pretty normal size (see pic of him below).

Needless to say, Chestnut won the Wing Bowl (241 feakin' wings!). I'd like to give a shoutout to the guy who came in 4th place, right behind El Wingador...David Goldstein (aka US Male...weak nickname dude!) from my previous hometown...Voorhees, NJ! He was only about 100 wings away from winning!

His mother must be so proud.