Please excuse this momentary lapse in judgement. On Tuesday night my friend David and I participated in the Wall of Flame 25 hot wing challenge at the Pluckers restaurant near my house. Pluckers is a local chain of chicken-themed sports restaurants. Pluckers is a guilty pleasure to me, to say the least--bordering on a guilty sin, a dirty secret shame.

Toasting the Wall of Flame challenge

In order to achieve the honorable Wall of Flame distinction, you must eat 25 of the hottest wings in one sitting. Dubbed "Fire-in-the-hole," you can only imagine the kind of havoc these wings wreak on your digestive system. Hotter by many degrees than anything on the menu at Hooters, these wings are truly miserable. But when there's a challenge issued, resolve trumps reason.

Doping for the Wall of Flame challenge

To assist us in ingesting this many hot wings, we employed the help of The Mother Plucker. This is the 34-oz draft beer which is a gluttonous portion, but nonetheless a perfect way to kick back on a hot summer night. On this night it was not just a libation but an analgesic.

A Mother Plucker of Fireman's 4 Ale, a welcom ingestif

We opted to order our wings first in increments of ten, then the final five. We took on the challenge on a Tuesday night because that is when the wings are only $.50/ea. (It may surprise some readers that participants who succeed in this challenge still have to pay for their wings--in more ways than one. There is no free dessert, no t-shirt or koozie. Just a Polaroid picture on the wall, and a day of g-i distress.)

Getting pinned at Pluckers

Though it was an absolutely disgusting experience, I am still glad that I did it, however I suppose I will never know what prompted me to channel this inner frat boy. Whatever it is, I'm glad its gone, that my inner Brett is safely stored away--that is, perhaps, until the next gastronomical idiocy challenge.