# I don't care how long I live, I will never understand the appeal of competitive eating. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 28, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005 "2018-05-28T23:14:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/21 "2018-05-30T18:13:07Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Eh, still better than baseball. > > šŸ˜‰ Baseball has much more interesting statistics, so Iā€™d have to give it the edge. But reading an encyclopedia has better statistics yet, so itā€™s way more fun than a baseball game. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/22 "2018-05-30T18:13:23Z")
Neither more nor less disgusting than boxing, UFC, or any other contact sport. Itā€™s about enjoying watching the competitors suffer. ---
**Author:** ![LAZombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b38774/32.png) [@LAZombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LAZombie)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/23 "2018-05-30T18:52:41Z")
An animal had to be slaughtered for these vile competitions. Maybe the notion of not wasting food was drilled into my head that I canā€™t see things another way. An eating competition is flat out immoral in my view. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/24 "2018-05-30T18:59:26Z")
See also: Lawnmower races Speed walking ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/25 "2018-05-30T19:31:02Z")
Fat people need hobbies too. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/26 "2018-05-30T19:36:44Z")
It doesnā€™t bother me at all, but I tend to understand that many things are part of the human condition, and creating competition out of whole cloth and competing is one of them. Also, cheering on these warriors is part of the human condition. Yeahā€¦ ā€˜warriorsā€™ ā€¦ ha. People who know they can eat a lot, but donā€™t look like they can can, have an easy time riling up competition from much bigger guys quite easily, and now we have one or more actual ā€˜ā€˜competitive eating leaguesā€™ā€™ as a result. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/27 "2018-05-30T19:38:29Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Fat people need hobbies too. The best competitive eaters are mostly small, though. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/28 "2018-05-30T19:44:34Z")
These competitions really ought to be paired with competitive excreting ā€¦ šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/29 "2018-05-30T20:05:57Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > These competitions really ought to be paired with competitive excreting ā€¦ šŸ˜ƒ Donā€™t suggest that to Japanese game shows! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/30 "2018-05-30T21:03:18Z")
I wouldnā€™t go so far as to call it disgusting, but then, Iā€™ve never watched one before. Iā€™m quite content to consider it absolutely stupid and refuse to observe or in any way participate based on that assumption. It rates right up there with competitive trepanning. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/31 "2018-05-31T17:38:54Z")
I used to follow the Nathanā€™s Hot Dog contest for a few years until Kobayashi started to blow everyone away. It was no longer a ā€œcompetitionā€ but how much can the human body take. Also, I used to watch Man vs. Food mainly because I found Adam Richmanā€™s reviews entertaining. He genuinely seemed to be interested in the food he was reviewing. I recently watched the last half of the new version with Casey Webb and actually found the food challenge disgusting because of his personality. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005/32 "2018-05-31T21:37:36Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The best competitive eaters are mostly small, though. Yep ā€“ in fact, being fat has proved to be a major disadvantage. Visceral body fat gets in the way of stomach expansion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-care-how-long-i-live-i-will-never-understand-the-appeal-of-competitive-eating/815005.md?page=1)