Perseverance
I really like stories of people who passionately pursue these ridiculous hobbies. Like this Danny May guy who wanted to jump the Great Wall of China with his skateboard. The videos are here and they are pretty cool. Also this article here about the US Air Guitar National Championships, written by one of the competitors. Excerpt:

I know the glory of dressing up and fanatically playing an invisible instrument in front of a crowd is not something that everyone immediately grasps. When I tell people I've spent more than two years as a competitive air guitarist, they often look at me bewildered, like a dog tilting its head at an unfamiliar command.

And how about those competitive eaters. That's just amazing to me, the dedication that it must take to compete at that level.