Bearcats Aim For 2nd Straight AAC Lobster Eating Title With Bold New Strategy
By Chris Bains
This week begins the American Athletic Conference media days, which is of course accompanied by the annual lobster eating contest, a holdover from the ol’ Big East days. Last year Cincinnati walked away with a title by chowing down a whopping 21 shellfish, double all but one AAC school.
The main reason was UC’s heavy lineup with Tommy Tuberville bringing Brendon Kay, Greg Blair, Jordan Stepp, and Austen Bujnoch. The four combine for over 1,000 lbs of hungry Bearcat or 253 lbs per man. Few teams are capable of matching that kind of sheer eating power.
But this year Tuberville is going with a different strategy. Instead of bringing bulk with him from Cincinnati, he went lighter. Way lighter. Like 30% lighter. At the 2014 AAC lobster eating contest the Bearcats are represented by Munchie Legaux, Ralph David Abernathy, Nick Temple, and Adrian Witty who weigh in at an average of 192 lbs each.
On the surface, it looks like Tuberville has gone plum mad. But lighter, muscular contestants seem to be the the body type of choice in other eating competitions. Takeru Kobayashi pretty much proved that to be true. So maybe that’s what Cincinnati football’s fearless leader is thinking bringing a wide receiver, a quarterback, an outside linebacker, and a safety with him to Providence.
Will it work? We’ll just have to wait, see, and hope for the best!