Published: September 28, 2009 03:13 pm      

GARY'S WORLD: A sport I can finally reckon with

The champion is back!

What a great weekend it must have been in Chattanooga. I'm sure the fans were celebrating and shooting off fireworks in Japan, too.

Who is all this fuss about you ask? Takeru Kobayashi.

OK, maybe it's not a common household name, but Kobayashi has earned the respect of thousands — not to mention walking away with a hefty $20,000 cash prize. Not a bad take for eight minutes of work and several months of intense training.

Kobayashi captured national headlines over the weekend after he defeated his rival and the reigning champ Joey Chestnut to reclaim the world hamburger eating title in the Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship in Chattanooga.

He told the Chattanooga Times Free Press, "My feeling is back," he said. "I feel like a champion again."

I read about this amazing feat Monday morning.

Kobayashi reclaimed the title after eating a total of 68 Krystal burgers and five Big Angus Burgers equaling a total of 93. Each Big Angus Burger is equal to five Krystals. The second place winner, Joey Chestnut of California, earned $10,000 for eating 56 Krystals and five Big Angus Burgers for a total of 81. Chestnut has won the contest the past two years.

I've heard about this competition before, as well as a few other eating competitions, but I had no idea there was an opportunity for a career in this field.

George Shea, chairman of Major League Eating, the sports franchise that oversees these competitive eating contests, said he thought Kobayashi's career was over after last year's loss and a few other high-profile contest losses.

"Career?" I thought. "Wow, where did I go wrong?"

I mean back in the day when I was in my prime in high school, I could eat about 14 White Castles — that's the Northern version of a Krystal.

You see, White Castle opened first in 1929, then Krystal opened in 1932 — a subject that's been highly debated by me several times with some of my Southern friends who claim the Krystal came first.

I won't go there now, though.

Heck, I was on the right track to becoming a champion eater. All those late-night burger eating matches my friends and I had at White Castle. I had no idea I was onto something big. But, I had to give those days up, though. I mean, one night of eating 14 burgers wasn't worth three days of sickness.

However, I do still consider myself legendary eater at times — depending on what the main course is, or the holiday.

But a career? It never dawned upon me. I never knew there was a competitive eating sport.

Here I've been an athlete for all these years and never even knew it. I have been a major league eater for years — I just haven't been active in competitions.

Of course, I'm not fast like these guys, though.

I'm not a fast eater — a sprinter.

I'm a slower eater — more of a distance-type eater. Cross country style.

Heck, if they had a cross country or distance-type eating competition I could probably place in the top 10 prize earners. This could be a good revenue source for retirement or funding college for the kids.

I've got lots of research ahead of me.

Not only that, but I'm going to have to go into some serious training.

After all, I am an athlete, you know.