Something seemed "a-fowl" at the 2009 Wing Bowl and guess what -- it tasted like chicken.
The wings were small -- really small in fact. And, despite being hailed as buffalo wings the wings had very little, if any, spice in the sauce.
More about the taste later -- let's first deal with the size.
Fans in the stands may have missed it (or just been too drunk to care) but up close the wings were puny.
How does this author know that the wings were so small? I tasted a couple afterwards and each one was about the size of the average man's thumb.
If the average football fan was served that tiny of a wing in a bar they might have to send it back in disgust.
The smaller wings didn't seem unappetizing to the eaters. Heck, Wing Bowl Champ John "Super" Squibb seemed to really enjoy inhaling the 203 wings no matter the size.
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Of course, he really might have only eaten half as many in the real world where wings seem bigger.
It makes sense to use smaller wings. This is like the competitive-eating version of smaller ballparks -- and we all know that just like home runs -- chicks dig more wings.
It used to be that 200 wings seemed absurd and now even a 23-year-old unknown can break the marker.
But it wasn't just the size -- there was a lack of heat to these wings.
For being sponsored by Frank's Red Hot sauce these wings seemed to lack spiciness. They were mild but incredibly tasty. The type of wing you might grab on a lazy Sunday while watching football, not the type you would expect to see eaten at the manly Wing Bowl.
And guess what: It's harder to eat hot food quickly, so the milder wing may have been another tool to push up eating totals.
Wing Bowl purists upset with the smaller wings driving up the records should do what many baseball fans have done -- compare an athlete to his or her era not to the entirety of the sport.
The best piece of advice -- don't worry about it. Just enjoy the fun that surrounds the gluttonous journey.
