The annual local grotesqueriederisively –or affectionately depending on your perspective – knownas Wing Bowl has a new draw this year: Former NBA player, and friend of North Korea, Dennis Rodman! Sportsradio 94WIP, which organizes the event, announced the special guest on Thursday morning. Speaking about Rodman’s planned attendance, 94WIP host AngeloCataldiremarked that Rodmanwas a perfect fit for the yearly fete. Rodman is “politically incorrect like the event itself,” Cataldi said. “I’m not sure we’ve ever had anybody that embodies the Wing Bowl the way we do right now!” After the announcement, Rodman took to Twitter, musing, “Women, insanity, & @SportsRadioWIP: That’s my kind of place!” RELATED: Wing Bowl 22 a morning to remember in South Philly Over the past several years, Wing Bowl has become infamous nationwidefor scantily clad women traipsing about, attendees getting drunk before dawnand, of course, chicken wings being compulsivelyeaten – a helter-skelter mosaic of slapdashgluttony. The event’s puerile antics, and general offensivenessto thinking people everywhere, has led some to even wonder if the event should continue. Writing for Philadelphia magazine, Richard Rys called it a Likewise, Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky declared in 2014 that there was nothing more to the event than “gluttony, binge drinking, vomit and half-naked women.” Polaneczky attended Wing Bowl in 2014. “It wasn’t fun seeing so many men drunk beyond comprehension by 7 a.m., heads in hands, feet in pools of puke –some of it their own,” Polaneczkydetailed. “And it wasn’t fun being slapped on my ass by a guy who said, ‘Lookin’ good, babe!’because it will never be fun to be in a place where simply being female implies consent.” The criticism of the event notwithstanding, Wing Bowl has its fans. Each year, thousands pack the Wells Fargo to see the technical main event: the eating competition.
Last year, and presumably in between the lurid displays and vomit, Chicago’sPatrick Bertoletti won the competition, eating 444 wings in 26 minutes. This year, the event is on Feb. 5.
“drunken disgrace.”