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Friday, August 29, 2008
The two-time champion of the shrimp eating contest at Texas City’s annual Shrimp Boil and Dance won’t be there to defend his title at the Nessler Center on Saturday, but he’s content knowing he’s peeling out at the top of his game.
“There may be some people that debate whether I’m a good county judge, but nobody can debate whether I’m a good shrimp eater,” Yarbrough said.
Actually, that’s not entirely true.
According to the International Federation of Competitive Eating (www.ifoce.com), the shrimp-eating record in any officially sanctioned contest — Texas City’s event is not one of them — is Erik “The Red” Denmark, 29, of Seattle.
On Sept. 22, 2006, he packed away almost 5 pounds of shrimp in 12 minutes.
Confronted with this information, and with a photograph of Erik The Red with his maniacal countenance twisted around a mouthful of red chili peppers, Yarbrough declared, “I think I could take him!”
That remark could fuel a frenzy of speculation among analysts as to whether Yarbrough intends a Brett Favre-style return next shrimp season but, for now, he’ll have to make way for a new field of young, promising gustatory talents.
Yarbrough had been mentoring a county employee, but the man fell behind in his training and lost weight.
“He lost 100 pounds on me, and he doesn’t have the elasticity in his system anymore to properly compete,” Yarbrough said. “He’s not a power eater anymore.”
Also out of the picture is longtime Yarbrough rival Ron Plackemeier, who was rumored to be heading to College Station this weekend as Yarbrough heads for Austin. It wasn’t clear if the Texas A&M and University of Texas alumni would renew an annual football bet that in years past has had the loser jump into the courthouse fountain, among other embarrassments.
The absence of Yarbrough and Plackemeier leaves Frederick Moldofsky of BP as the only returning contestant, making him the de facto favorite.
Other entrants are James Lambert of Regent Care Center, Bill Caraway of Associated Federal Credit Union, Ruben Altamirano of Bay Electric, Cory Bush of Marathon Petroleum and County Tax Assessor-Collector Cheryl Johnson.
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