A Cup of Joe: Guitar heroes
Joe Nguyen, editor
July 10, 2007

When Japan's Takeru Kobayashi lost to Joey Chestnut on July 4 at the Nathan’s Famous Fourth Of July Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York, it marked the end of an era.

It wasn't just the end of Kobayashi's six years of dominance, but also the end of years of Asian reign in the sport of competitive eating.

As a fellow competitive eater – I was part of the championship team at the 2006 Taste of Colorado ice-cream-eating competition – it cast a heavy shadow on my heart. I won't lie, I shed a tear when it happened. My hero was defeated.

But as soon as Kobayashi lost, I discovered a sport that has been dominated by Asians in the U.S. – more specifically by Asian Americans. It’s a sport that's been dominated by us for years, a sport that takes us away from the stereotype of quiet, passive people and shows that we were born to rock.

It is the sport of air guitar.

Legends such as David “C-Diddy” Jung, MiRi “Sonyk Rok” Park and Fatima “Rockness Monster” Hoang captured the U.S. Air Guitar Championship from 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively. Jung and Park went on to become world champions.

Alas Jung and Park have since retired, but Hoang is still going strong. After winning his third regional title in four years, Hoang goes on to face 14 others for the national championship on Aug. 16 in New York City.

His chances look good. Currently Hoang's ranked third in the U.S. rankings, behind only the retired Jung and Park on the U.S. Air Guitar website. In his performance in Los Angeles, laist.com contributor Nikki Bazar said that he “pretty much has it all, technical merit, stage presence and that je ne sais quoi that makes a true air guitar champion.”

But winning the nationals is only the first step. If he wins the Air Guitar World Championships on Sept. 5-7, he will be immortalized as an air rock god.

If he doesn’t, well, it’s only another 11 months until the next Nathan’s hot dog contest.

Joe Nguyen is the editor in chief for AsiaXpress.com. Joe can be reached at joe@asiaxpress.com.