I don’t know if it really happened or is one of those many rock’n’roll legends, but when Jimi Hendrix was asked how it feels to be the best guitar player of the world, he answered “Ask Rory”.
ETA: and now I have to listen to “Irish Tour”…
Watching paint dry is more fun than watching long distance running.
But running 100 miles up and down mountains that add up to greater than the height of Everest is a far more impressive feat than cramming a shit-ton of hot dogs down your pie hole.
Again, much more impressive but not as good tv. Neither one is going to do much to change the world.
Yeah, but it’s still a niche activity. I find competitive eating disgusting to the point where it’s hard for me to watch, but I get the carnival appeal.
“The thing I’m interested in is much more impressive than the thing I’m not interested in.”
As best I can tell, ultramarathoners and competitive eaters have quite a lot in common. They’re both capable of physical feats far beyond what most people can do even with training.
I run marathons, but I’m going to agree with @hajario. A 100-mile race isn’t very compelling to watch on TV, but I can spare 10 minutes to watch Major League Eating athletes doing what they do best.
I think you mean "beyond what most people would ever have the slightest desire to train in order to do: 
Yeah, I’m not really surprised that no one’s heard of the stars of the fringe sport I follow. And ultrarunning certainly doesn’t have freakshow appeal of a hot dog-eating contest. My post that started all this was just my saltiness that some truly remarkable athletes, who have done amazing things - in 2023, no athlete, in any sport, dominated their field the way Courtney Dauwalter did ultramarathoning; she did the equivalent of winning the US Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon on consecutive weekends - don’t get much recognition.
Yeah, I get that.
The live match between Chestnut and Kobayashi is on right now, 6 minutes to the main event.
2 minutes, Joey Chestnut looks just unbeatable.
Chestnut 83. Kobayashi 67. You-ess-ay! You-ess-ay!
Why isn’t this in the Olympics yet?
It’s pretty amazing. I think one problem is the future of the sport. Back when Federer began to dominate tennis, there was some concern briefly about having such a dominant player. Then, we got Nadal, Djokovic, and even Murray.
Joey seems to stand well above anyone else and has for years. He did lose one time on July 4, but pretty much dominates.
It is amazing. Once upon a time I could easily eat 4 hot dogs for lunch. Put 100 grand on the line and I would have eaten many more. There’s a sushi restaurant nearby that remembers the time I ate a whole sushi boat for two. I’m not a little guy but I can’t imagine ever being able to shove 83 hot dogs down my throat in 10 minutes. Not 67 either. I’d be amazed if I could ever have eaten 20 even with all that money on the line.
Joey stopped eating with time left too. He can look for another big payday to break the new record he just set.
Despite Kobayashi saying this is his last event, I could see him train for a year and re-challenge Joey next year.
Knowing that Joey got 83 might give Kobayashi the goal for his practice and so forth.
I can certainly see a case for running being a more laudable pursuit (mostly on account of, you know, not being grossly cynical), but what is the meaning of ‘more impressive’ here? Both carry an ordinary human pursuit to ridiculous extremes; indeed, it’s not even clear to me whether it is harder to be a top-level runner than a top-level eater, nor, if it is, why that should be grounds for a higher valuation. Even if we accept it as just a quirk of human nature, of perhaps some evolutionary origin, that we just value being better at things than others, even if there is no immediate benefit gained from that, why is one way of being better better than another (morality aside)?
I’m just picturing how much space 83 hot dogs takes up, and I can’t see how to fit all that in a human being. It doesn’t seem possible.
Obviously it is, since it happened, but it doesn’t seem like it should be.
And I’m not even talking about doing it in 10 minutes, I mean doing it at all.
Whoa. That’s a huge amount of sushi. I share a boat with my gf. She eats a bit less than half and I finish what’s left. It leaves us both stuffed. (We eat the soup and salad that comes with it also)
I was more than 10 years younger and particularly hungry after a long active day. Still surprised myself that I could finish it. My wife and I share a somewhat smaller platter for two now and there will be pieces left over.