FREAKING OUT

It's funny, when I got back to work yesterday, everyone was making small talk about Nathan's; asking me my thoughts on the whole debacle. And then I asked them if they watched it. "No," they replied, "I just saw the hightlights on The Today Show."

I began to get angry at how many people didn't watch it. Don't they know how culturally significant it is? Aren't they the ones who forwarded me links to stories about Kobayashi's jawthritis and Joey's 59.5 qualifier? How could they NOT watch? I became less irritated when I realized that I'm part of the 0.1 percent of the American population who actually gives a shit about this stuff. My mom doesn't get mad at me for not watching the Westminster Dog Show. My co-worker friends in the IT department don't get made at me for not going to ComicCon.

In other news, there's a lot of talk in the competitive eating blogging community about Koby's reversal during the Nathan's hot dog contest. People are asking about the enforcement of rules. People are asking why the rules aren't written down for all to see and follow and live by. They blame this make-it-up-as-you go strategy for why competitive eating is struggling to gain acceptance as a legitimate sport.

It's a legitimate sport, right? At first I wondered why they ran a segment about the Coney Island freak show during the Nathan's telecast. Some guy pounding a nail into his face? Some woman eating fire? Did someone change the channel? What the hell does that have to do with competitive eating?