The current projected path of tropical storm Ernesto has it passing over western New York state Saturday afternoon and evening.

Updated 9/1 8:28 am - The Buffalo Wing Festival has an inclement weather plan that says they will have several huge tents.

Hall Hunt has a new nickname and blog at http://hallhooverhunt.blogspot.com/

The Reno Gazette Journal has a report on last night’s rib eating competition listing the top four finishers:

1st: Joey Chestnut, $2,500, 4.5 lbs. of ribs
2nd: Pat Bertoletti, $1,500, 4 lbs.
3rd: Rich LeFevre, $750, 3.8 lbs.
4th: Jed Donahue, $250, 3.3 lbs.

Updated 3:57 pm IFOCE.com has full results. It is interesting they are noting Joey’s 6 month non-Kobayashi winning streak when no attention at all was paid to Sonya’s 7 month (Wing Bowl to Buffalo Wing Festival) streak last year.

azcentral.com has a preview of this weekend’s college football games which says that Eric “Badlands” Booker will do a wing eating contest against students before the University of Buffalo game against Temple. The two teams combined to go 1-21 last season.

Booker has a statement on his retirement on his myspace blog. He says that his third album is expected around Thanksgiving and it will include the anti-AICE track.

Liz has informed me that someone claiming to be Dale Boone’s cousin named Susan Henderson has recently posted a comment to the urbanhonking Digest interview with Pat Bertoletti following the Atlanta Nathan’s qualifier requesting contact information for Dale. If Dale does not read this, I assume that someone who knows Dale will see it and forward it to him and then he can decide how or if he wants to respond.

The Reno Gazette Journal has a preview of the West Nugget Rib Cook-off and Eating Contest. The eating contest will run from 5 to 7 pm pacific (8 to 10 pm eastern).

courier-gazette.com has a preview of Saturday’s tamale eating contest in Lewisville, TX. Expected competitors include Tim “Eater X” Janus (who returns to his college (SMU) metropolitan area), Hall Hunt, Seaver Miller and Larry McNeil.

Joey Chestnut appeared on Adam Corolla’s radio show yesterday. This blog entry has a recap of his appearance. The blog says that there will be yet another rib contest in September.

Krystal Lover’s blog and The Chattanoogan have galleries of Sunday’s Krystal Square Off qualifier where Sonya Thomas almost doubled the runner up by eating a personal record 62 burgers.

Don “Moses” Lerman has some pictures from Saturday’s jalapeno pepper eating contest on his blog.

Full official results from the GoldenPalace.net horseshoe sandwich contest at the Illinois State Fair have been posted. Hopefully official full results from the ND Rhubarb Pie contest (which were never announced) and the July 3 Memphis rib contest (which were mentioned only in a preview for another rib contest) will appear in the not too distant future.

The new poll asks what the best competitive eating themed video podcast of 2005-6 is. All the choices are Brian Seiken shows because those are the only eating themed podcasts I am aware of.

Brian Seiken has put together a gallery of last year’s Buffalo Wing Festival eating contests at http://www.flickr.com/photos/39781226@N00/sets/72157594254310077

The Columbus Dispatch has a review of “This Is Not Chick Lit,” a collection of short stories by female authors. The reviewer has the following comments on one of the short stories in that book:

Most delightfully surprising is The Seventy-two-Ounce Steak Challenge by Dika Lam, who has published only a few short stories in small magazines. Her touching and hilarious story follows two Chinese-Canadian sisters on a working vacation in Calgary, Alberta, where one of them starts down the path that will take her into becoming “the champion you know and love — winner of the International Matzo-Ball-Eating Contest, title-holder of the Conch Fritter Invitational, the girl who downed nine sticks of butter in five minutes.”

A review in econoculture says that Ms. Lam is working on extending her short story into a novel.

(Thanks Pad Thai Princess) The Pad Thai Princess / Foodie Fashionista has an account of her interview / date with Pat Bertoletti on her blog.

KrystalSquareOff.com has complete results from today’s qualifier in Chattanooga. The top 3 finishers are:

1st-Sonya Thomas (62)
2nd-Chris Abatsas (32)
3rd-Shaun Kesler (23)

Sonya ties the US record set by Joey Chestnut in last year’s finals and beats her personal (and allover qualifier) record of 57 she set last year.

Updated 9:47 pm - The Chattanoogan has an article about the qualifier

krystalsquareoff.com has the roster for today’s qualifier. Josh Neal and Jesse Crick won the prequalifier slots. The only ranked eater besides Sonya in the field is Nathan Kunce (#48). Shaun Kesler, who finished third in the Chattanooga qualifier last year will also attend.

from IFOCE.com

GoldenPalace.net World Sausage Sandwich Eating Championship, New York State Fair, Syracuse, NY

Chip Simpson–13.25 sandwiches, $2000
Humble Bob–13 sandwiches, $1000
Tim Janus–12.5 sandwiches, $750
Crazy Legs Conti–9 sandwiches, $250

Full results are available on IFOCE.com

Pat Bertoletti 177
Rich LeFevre 155
Jed Donahue 144
Erik the Red Denmark 107
Jim Reeves 73

Results match up with an IFOCE contest report which says the contest was 15 minutes (the preview said it would be 12)

The Rafu Shimpo, a publication for Los Angeles Japanese Americans, has an article about last Saturday’s gyoza contest which contains an interview with Sonya Thomas. Sonya claims that her stomach capacity is now up to 18-20 pounds and that she never gets full. There is a funny picture of Queen of Nisei Week loooking at Sonya in disbelief. Joey Chestnut says he will do the rib contest in Reno on Wednesday.

(Thanks Ian Hickman) Don “Moses” Lerman’s article in Esquire, in which he describes what it is like to eat butter competitively, is available online at msn. A brief clip of Lerman eating butter in the Glutton Bowl is available on youtube.

(From Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough) A video podcast of Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough and Larry “the Legend” McNeil in a 3 minute Krystal burger contest on the Noonan Now show is available.

The Cibola Beacon’s calendar has a preview of tomorrow’s jalapeno pepper eating contest at the Sky City Casino. The contest will start at 4pm local time. The top five eaters will receive Acoma pot (which I assume is short for pottery) in addition to a cash prize.

In his most recent blog entry, Kobayashi says he is resuming lifting weights. It will be interesting if he weighs more than the 172 lb. he weighed at the 2005 Krystal Square Off contest in Krystal Square Off III.

baynewsbrooklyn.com has a report on last Saturdays Frank’s Red Hot Battle to the Bone wing eating competition held at the beach volleyball tournament in Brooklyn. The top three finishers (who are all unknown) are listed without their places.

While two competitive eating movie projects will not reach the theaters until at least 2007, “Beerfest”, a movie in which an American beer drinking team tries to win a German contest, opens today. gwinnettdailypost.com reports that one of the drinking team members is also a competitive eater.