On the May 1 edition of ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning, co-host Mike Golic participated in a competitive eating contest in which he scarfed down 15 chicken wings, while professional competitive eaters around him ate significantly more.It was intended to be a lighthearted moment on the show. But some people took it seriously. Really, really seriously. Peter Finney Jr., a writer for the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, has this to say:
The hedonistic display was bad enough - Golic finished last to "professional" eaters Tim "Eater X" Janus, Pete "Pretty Boy" Davekos and "Crazy Legs" Conti - but the gluttony-as-sport, far from laughable, should sting any correctly formed conscience.I guess my conscience isn't correctly formed, then, because I don't feel the least bit stung by watching competitive eating.
Why should I feel stung? Here's the explanation:
Sorry, but that's absurd. There is a Peter Singer school of thought that says almost everything Americans spend money on is wasteful and would better be used treating the sick and feeding the starving, and I'm not unsympathetic to that school of thought. But to single Golic out as the one example of wasteful consumption is utterly ridiculous."I think it is a little obscene, especially right now given the fact that people are increasingly concerned about getting enough good food to eat," said Natalie Jayroe, director of Second Harvest Food Bank of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which since Hurricane Katrina has provided more than 151 million pounds of food to families and seniors.
"Encouraging people to engage in gluttony is not good for their lives."
