After viewing the headlines, I wasn’t going to read this story, but temptation got the best of me. A man in Miami died immediately after winning a cockroach-eating contest, sponsored by a pet shop that specializes in reptiles. Now, before you jump to any conclusions, entomologists have weighed in with the educated opinion that, absent outside bacteria or pathogens, there is nothing toxic about a cockroach or related bugs. Indeed, these were organic roaches, raised to feed the stock at Ben Siegel Reptile Store. No other contestants suffered any ill effects. First prize in the contest was a python, which will go to the deceased’s estate. I simply am reporting the salient facts of this story; I am not going out of my way to make light of someone’s misfortune. What I wonder is how anyone survives those hot-dog eating contests at Coney Island every 4th of July!