Though Philadelphians were not able to celebrate an Eagles Super Bowl yesterday, they were able to celebrate a different sort of holiday over the weekend.
Created as a diversion to the nation's most popular sporting event, radio station WIP 610 AM hosts its own championship -- a buffalo wing-eating competition known as the "Wing Bowl."
This year's winner was Sonya Thomas, who is known in the competitive eating world as the "Black Widow." Thomas, a 5-foot-5, 99-pound South Korean, took the contest in overtime, against competition that included some of the world's best competitive eaters.
Thomas consumed 167 wings.
The audience was enthusiastic from the start, many arriving as early as 3 a.m. to begin tailgating the event in the parking lot at the Wachovia Center that was packed by about 24,000 screaming fans.
"The whole thing was just a spectacle," Engineering senior Matt Sklar said.
"Some competitors started out really fast," Sklar added. But Thomas "just ate at the same constant, fast rate the whole time."
Other Penn students in attendance were impressed by Thomas' eating abilities.
"Anytime I see somebody fit 5 percent of their body weight into them, I'm impressed," College junior Rich Eisenberg said.
However, Thomas, ranked third in the International Federation of Competitive Eating, was not a completely unexpected victor. In fact, going into the competition, the odds of her winning were the same as those given to Bill "El Wingador" Simmons, the reigning four-time Wing Bowl champion.
Simmons came in third behind Thomas and Ed "Cookie" Jarvis, who are both members of the IFOCE, an elite organization that ranks eaters and organizes eating competitions.
The event is held the Friday before the Super Bowl, and buffalo wings are eaten because at the time of the Bowl's creation in 1993, the Buffalo Bills had made the Super Bowl for four straight years.
The competition consists of two 14-minute periods of eating, and another two-minute-long "showdown" period at the end. This year, both Thomas and Jarvis had eaten 153 wings during the 30-minute regulation time, so a two-minute sudden death overtime period was necessary to decide the victor.
This was the first time the competition had come down to an overtime round.
During this period, Jarvis ate 12 wings, falling just short of Thomas' 14.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Thomas had the edge in the overtime period because she concentrated on eating the drumstick-style wings, which are easier to eat.
Although Simmons said he will retire from the competition due to health reasons, Thomas has announced that she will return next year to defend her crown.
"It was one of the greatest events I have ever seen," Sklar concluded.
