THE END OF A CHAMPION’S CAREER?

THE END OF A CHAMPION’S CAREER? Knowing my interest, Annalisa sent me a story which begins: “TOKYO — A Japanese man who set a world record by wolfing down dozens of hot dogs within minutes has suffered a severe jaw injury due to his rigorous training, making his next title uncertain. Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi said he can only open his mouth to make a gap the size of a fingertip after being diagnosed with jaw arthritis.” Arthritis sounds bad. This may be the end of a great career. Kobayashi has won the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest six years in a row, eating 50 or more hot dogs within twelve minutes in four of those years. Annalisa knows that I watched him on television last year when he won the world bratwurst eating contest in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He easily beat the defending bratwurst-eating champion, Sonya, “The Black Widow”, Thomas. Size is not a factor in competitive eating. Thomas weighs only 105 pounds and Kobayashi only weighs 144 pounds. It was considered an enormous upset when the pioneering champion in competitive eating, Ed, “the Maspeth Monster”, Krachie, who weighed 300 pounds, was defeated by a much smaller competitor. But now, as Krachie himself has argued in a scholarly paper, it is believed that adipose tissue around the stomach is a competitive disadvantage because it prevents the stomach from expanding.