Usually, when the Chicago Bulls play basketball, Michael Jordan is the main attraction. But in a recent loss to Portland at the United Center, MJ unexpectedly had to share the limelight with a guy named Eddie “Cookie Man” Rivera.
MJ can stuff a basketball, but Eddie can stuff his face, like, really fast.
The 29-year-old Chicagoan demonstrated this ability in a halftime contest sponsored by the Bulls and Nabisco, the folks who make Oreo cookies. The object was to eat as many cookies as possible in four minutes. Eddie, egged on by a wildly cheering capacity crowd, put away 37.
Without hurling.
His closest competitor ate only 28.
After force-feeding himself an average of one Oreo every 6.5 seconds (don’t try this at home, kids!), Eddie didn’t even have a stomachache. “I went back upstairs and ate a hot dog,” he said matter-of-factly.
Eddie’s 15, uh, make that four, minutes of fame came by chance.
“I was walking down an aisle and this guy asked me if I liked Oreo cookies. I said that I hadn’t eaten them since I was a kid, but that I liked ’em. So he asked me if I wanted to be in this contest.”
Eddie agreed, and at halftime he and five other contestants made their way to the floor. Each was given a clear plastic raincoat to keep their clothes dry, a package of Oreos, a quart of milk and a plastic-lined garbage can in case of an accident.
Eddie left the competition in his cookie crumbs.
So how did he do it?
“I have a big appetite,” a modest Eddie told KidNews after the contest.
Eddie said his strategy was to stay relaxed and focused. “I’d put four cookies in my mouth at a time, then take a drink of milk; four cookies, then milk,” he said. “I didn’t slow down until the final seconds when I was feeling kind of full.”
The other contestants tentatively nibbled or gagged grossly on cookies. One guy actually oozed Oreo from his mouth like lava from a volcano.
Eddie, unlike the human volcano who Eddie called “disgusting” – barely shed a cookie crumb.
Even Jim Nelson, the Nabisco employee who organized the contest, thought Eddie was something special. “He was so focused,” Jim said. “He seemed to know when the camera was on him because he would stick more cookies in his mouth. It looked like he was swallowing them whole.”
The crowd, a bit let down by the Bulls’ lethargic play in the first half, certainly appreciated Eddie’s efforts.
“Everyone was cheering, and after the contest, people were coming up to me and giving me high-fives and calling me `Cookie Man,’ ” said Eddie, who won a Bulls towel and a year’s supply of Oreos. (Yes, really.)
When we said Eddie should quit his regular job to enter Oreo-eating contests nationwide, he reluctantly turned down our idea (even though we’re sure such a gig would earn him an appearance on “Letterman”).
For now Eddie is content with his Oreos. Not that he has actually eaten any since the contest. When his first shipment arrived shortly after the contest, Eddie gave them to his mom.
“I don’t think I’ll be eating any Oreos, not for a while,” he admitted.
