Hot Dog Eating Record Set....Yuck

Well, there was some good sports that happened over the Fourth of July. The Sox won, the Yankees lost, the Mountaineers pulled one out, and a new speed eating record was set. Yes folks, for some reason, we now call speed eating a "sport".

On the fourth, in the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating slopfest at Coney Island, Joey Chestnut broke a world record by chomping down 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly; some glutton ate more hot dogs in 12 minutes than I do in five years. My question is, why in the world do we glorify how much someone can eat?

Have you all seen people walking in the streets these days? I swear, the average person I see has enough fat and goo on them to make a whale feel jealous. These are people who don't know the meaning of exercise, and their idea of a diet is to cut down to three trips to Burger King a day. I actually heard someone say, "Well, I am drinking a Diet Coke, so the pizza I am eating for lunch today balances things out." Are you serious??

One of the major health problems in the US today is obesity. People are exercising less and eating more in one day than most people eat in a week. Obesity leads to heart disease, diabetes, back problems, and countless other medical issues. To many, exercise is going from the couch to the fridge for another gallon of ice cream. Now I will admit, I don't get to the gym much due to my excuse for a knee, but, before I do a game, I walk the field at least once, and when I do Mountaineers games, I shag flies and catch for Manager Russo when he is hitting fungos. Is it enough? No, it isn't, but I do what my body is capable of on a certain day. I also do push ups and situps to compensate for the fact I can't do much because of my knee.

Am I tooting my own horn here? No, but I am pointing out that exercise and a decent diet is possible. To my original point, we are glorifying excessive eating as a "sport" when obesity is a major problem, and is bordering on a health epidemic. I can just see some 450 pound guy walking down the street, talking about Joey Chestnut and his 66 hot dog feat. "Hey Martha, now there is a sport I can do. I will train hard. I will eat and eat and eat until I can eat no more. I want to be just like him and I shore will be famous!!" "You do that Harry, and I will make sure I take on another job to pay the medical bills when your heart explodes so bad that George Bush thinks Vermont was the victim of a terrorist attack."

People! Stop eating! Coney Island and everyone else, stop promoting over-eating!! We have a problem on our hands that is draining the health care system of resources and is adding to our already skyrocketing insurance premiums. We are not sending a good message here. We are promoting gluttony and bad health.

Off to eat my apple for breakfast now.......