Competitive Eating

Planning to gorge yourself this Thanksgiving? Don't flatter yourself, amateur.

As Americans stuff themselves with turkey on Thursday, professional eaters will take center stage in a nationally televised competition, gobbling 20-pound birds in eight minutes.

While some shudder at the sight of contestants racing to devour food at a time when a third of Americans are obese, competitors just shrug.

"Doing it once in a while isn't bad for you, when you do it responsibly," champion eater Tim Janus said.

Others have had their fill of such events.

This fall, the University of Iowa canceled its annual corn-eating contest, held the week of the Iowa-Iowa State football game. Many saw the contest as a fun nod to the state's hallmark crop, but Phillip Jones, Iowa's vice president of student services, viewed it as an act of gluttony.

"It was something I thought was reasonable based on the data and stories I've seen about obesity and the proportion of people who are overweight," Jones said. "I don't know ... if it is dangerous, but it was a symbolic gesture to get people to address changes in our lifestyle."

Last year, organizers of the World Pie Eating Championship in Wigan, England, gave in to pressure from health advocates and cut back on contestants' consumption.

Competitors converged on the northwestern English town for 15 years to see who could eat the most meat pies in three minutes. But organizers changed the rules in 2006, presenting the award to the person who could eat a single meat pie in the fastest time. They also added a vegetarian category.

In the U.S., the International Federation of Competitive Eating organizes about 80 eating contests a year, including The Turkey Bowl, scheduled to air Thursday on cable's Spike TV.

The group's chairman, George Shea, said competitive eaters are athletes who train for their sport, working to improve jaw strength and increasing their stomach capacity.

"This is an entertainment product that has its roots in fairs and festivals and not a celebration of excess," Shea said. "It's a comedic thing -- a combination of Coney Island hucksterism and sports commentary."

Janus said criticism of his sport demonstrates that people misunderstand the nation's obesity problem.

"Most of us are pretty thin and in pretty good shape. To say we're bad examples is misleading," the 5-foot-10, 165-pound Janus said.

A 30-year-old stock trader from New York City, he competes in about 30 contests a year and holds records in several categories, including tamales (71 in 12 minutes) and cannoli (28 in 6 minutes).

Dr. Lee Kaplan, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center in Boston, said concerns over the link between the contests and obesity aren't well founded.

"I think these competitions are somewhat caricatures of eating behavior ... and don't have much relevance to the obesity problem," he said.

Brian Wansink, a food science and psychology professor at Cornell University, compared competitive eaters to other extreme athletes.

"It's the same sort of person who, let's say, would train really hard and compete really hard in a marathon," said Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think."

"It has the same level of competitiveness and compulsiveness," he said. "One we label crazy and one we label as noble, but in reality it's the same sort of process that drives both these people."

Shea said there's no reason to be embarrassed about such events.

"Seeing these guys go at a 20 pound turkey is like poetry," he said. "It's like a dance."

The Sporting Year 2007

Sports fans have a high threshold for misdeeds. However, 2007 featured several buzzworthy stories that could turn off some fans forever. Memorable scandals drove searches all summer long, culminating in August when Atlanta Falcons star quarterback Michael Vick was sacked for his involvement in a dogfighting ring.

Around the same time, basketball ref Tim Donaghy fouled up the NBA's buzz, which was coming off LeBron James' playoff heroics and an influx of new talent via the draft. Donaghy's role in a gambling ring damaged the integrity of a league already waist-deep in image problems. And just when we thought heralded rookie Greg Oden would jump in and build some positive buzz, he went out for the season with a bum knee.

Speaking of bums, baseball's steroid problem caused pinpoint search spikes throughout the year. As player names surfaced in various investigations, searches would surge. One notable exception was Barry Bonds, the center of the steroid storm. We weren't surprised that fans ignored baseball's new home run king, and the dearth of Bonds searches spoke volumes.

But amidst the scandals, there were a few sports stories that warmed the hearts of searchers. The Indianapolis Colts' triumph in Super Bowl XLI spurred interest in Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy, and of course, the commercials. And let's not forget everyone's favorite Super Bowl flop-searches on "rex grossman sucks" still linger in Buzz.

Always lacking in sports searches is soccer. Sure, we saw spikes for UEFA, Euro 2008, and Copa America, but nothing that indicated feverish interest from American shores. Well, that changed this summer when ultra-famous footballer David Beckham came to America. Becks' on-field accomplishments weren't so hot, but he did manage to warm a few casual sports fans to the joys of soccer.

In a final ode to joy, the Boston Red Sox capped the year with a fantastic finish to the baseball season. They fought the New York Yankees all year long for searches. At season's end, the Yankees built buzz over their stunning collapse and messy management bickering. But in the end, the Red Sox triumphed over their hated foes in Search, thanks to their stellar on-field accomplishments.

So where do we go from here? Will UFC continue to destroy the last vestiges of boxing's buzz? Will NASCAR keep motoring along on a comfy plateau? What scandals and surprises await us in 2008? Those are just a few of the questions that will play a part in next year's always-evolving buzz riddle...

Busted Sports Hunter

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Director Bruce Thompson was charged with hunting deer on private land without permission and illegal possession of a deer in connection with a Nov. 17 incident in which he allegedly killed a deer on private land without permission.

Investigators determined based on evidence and witness accounts that both misdemeanors were committed unintentionally. However, New Mexico law does not make allowances for lack of intent. If convicted, Thompson faces $400 fines and up to 6 months in jail for each offense. He also could face a civil penalty of $250 to reimburse the state for the deer.

"I have cooperated with the investigation and I will accept the consequences of my honest mistake," Director Thompson said. "I apparently used an incorrect entry in my GPS unit while conducting my hunt, but that is no excuse, and I expect to be treated like any other hunter who unintentionally violates wildlife regulations."

According to investigating conservation officers, Thompson allegedly killed a buck deer the afternoon of Nov. 17 on the Diamond T Ranch west of Roswell in Lincoln County.

Arm Wrestling Competition

More than a hundred contestants have been gathering in Warsaw for the arm wrestling World Cup.

It's the eighth edition of the Nemiroff World Cup and contestants compete in seven weight categories from sixty three kilograms to more than ninety five. One of the stars of this year's event is John Brzenk, the Guinness Book of Records' World's strongest man.

Gatorade Inventor Dies at 80

Dr. J. Robert Cade, who invented the sports drink Gatorade and launched a multibillion-dollar industry that the beverage continues to dominate, died of kidney failure. He was 80.

His death was announced by the University of Florida, where he and other researchers created Gatorade in 1965 to help the school's football players replace carbohydrates and electrolytes lost through sweat while playing in swamp-like heat.

"Today with his passing, the University of Florida lost a legend, lost one of its best friends and lost a creative genius," said Dr. Edward Block, chairman of the department of medicine in the College of Medicine. "Losing any one of those is huge. When you lose all three in one person, it's something you cannot recoup."

Olympic Ticketing Blunder

The director of the Beijing Olympic ticketing department has been sacked in the wake of the chaos surrounding the second round of ticket sales for the 2008 Games.

The sale of 1.85 million tickets on a first come, first served basis was abandoned after less than a day last month when overwhelming demand caused the ticketing system to collapse.

Rong Jun admitted organizers had underestimated demand but his apology to the Chinese people earlier this month was clearly not sufficient to save his job.

Zhu Yan was introduced as his successor at a news conference on Friday.

Zhu, who works for the city government as head of the "Digital Beijing" project, said Rong remained with the department in another role.

"Rong Jun is still my colleague working with us," he said.

"In the past year the department has done a lot of fundamental work but ticketing is a complicated job which involves the policy, public interests and concerns, and technological solutions."