sonya does it again!

congratulations to my hero, sonya thomas, for setting a new american hot dog eating record. she ate 37 (beating her own record she set last year!) and was second only to the great one, takeru kobayashi, who ate 49.

it was the smallest margin of victory for the reigning champ, who two days prior showed off his new hairdo at shea stadium where he threw out the first pitch.

listmaker and i attended sunday's game where the mets stunk it up, so we missed out. we did however get to see the D-Train pitch and received stars and stripes mets caps.

sorry, hot tub

would you throw beer cans and blocks of cheese at this woman?

apparently if you're a sports fan in philly, you would. my hero, the one and only sonya thomas, failed to defend her wing bowl crown last night much to the delight of the portly sports fans who had gathered at the wachovia center to watch the annual event. when she entered the event floor, she and her crew were greeted with a shower of boos and beer cans.

thomas shocked the crowd last year by outeating local favorite (and multiple past champion), el wingador. by the way, this local fave is not even from philadelphia, but from south jersey. it would have been one thing if thomas emerged wearing a patriots jersey which another contestant did and which also elicited edible offerings from the rowdy spectators. anyone who follows competitive eating knows that sonya thomas is one of the most classy and gracious competitors around. thomas has not forgotten the humble beginnings from from which she has risen to become the #2 competitive eater in the world. she is not showy, nor is she boastful. she is confident with the accolades to back that up. i thought philly was supposed to be the city that loved the underdog. who in the world of competitive eating is more of an underdog than a 99lb woman who grew up dirt poor in korea, i ask?

cheer on your "native son," of course, but shame on you philadelphia for condemning a true winner you had the privelege to witness. i'll still be rooting for your football team tomorrow, because i actually do pull for the underdog.