The new poll asks if you think whether the judges should have declared Joey Chestnut or Takeru Kobayashi the winner of the Nathan’s finals and whether the contest should have gone into overtime. If you think that Kobayashi and/or Chestnut should have been disqualified, that option is also available.
Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics, attended the Nathan’s finals and has a short blog entry about that event with a picture of post-contest hot dog debris.
Kobayashi says he dined with an unnamed author who is probably Dubner before the Nathan’s finals and has a blog entry about meeting him .
Dubner says that competitive eating might be a topic of SuperFreakonomics. Will the IFOCE have Ryan Nerz write another book to counter that project?
The Nathan’s finals will be rerun tonight on ESPN at 3am eastern. This is the only rerun that currently appears in the online TV schedules.
Valerie Bromann, who previously photographed the Krystal Square Off finals, attended last week’s Nathan’s finals and posted a blog entry and gallery with over 100 pictures.
Kobayashi has written two blog entries containing English about the recent Nathan’s finals. One thanks fans for their support, the other contains Kobayashi’s thoughts on the overtime format (not automatically translated):
In this case, I think the correct approach is to look at the situation as this: we decided the winner through a different event (rather than that we decided the winner in an extension of the 10-minute battle).
So for me, deciding the champion in a five hot dog challenge is no different to deciding the champion by playing “rock, scissors, paper”.
Kobayashi also has a blog entry comparing winning qualifier totals with the amounts eaten in the finals.
Ken Hoffman of the Houston Chronicle has a column about serving as a judge at the Nathan’s finals, where he was assigned to keep track of Juris Shibayama’s total. Hoffman did not focus 100% on counting the amount of hot dogs eaten by “Dr. Big Time”:
Even though I was counting Shibayama’s hot dogs, I was videotaping Chestnut and Kobayashi’s furious assault on processed meat and enriched white bread. I looked like a total tourist with my badge and camera dangling from my neck.
While the contest was going on, my cell phone rang. It was my buddy Sean Pendergast. “I’m watching on TV — which judge are you?”
The column reports that the Major League Eating Wii game will be released next week, which would give it a Bastille Day release date and set up the possibility of a crepe eating contest to promote its launch.
George Shea describes how the overtime format was decided on:
“In most matches, we use a one-minute overtime to decide ties,” Shea said. “However, the speed with which Kobayashi and Chestnut eat would have made it very difficult to judge who had eaten more. I felt it would be more decisive to have a five-hot-dog eat-off.”
Juliet Lee has updated her WriteNow page with news from her trip to the Nathan’s finals where she received the 2008 IFOCE Rookie of the Year award. She also announced that she finished recording a documentary being produced by the Food Network.
The pictures above are from valjean615’s flickr gallery from the Nathan’s finals, which includes pictures of all competitors entrances (Arturo Rios also removed his shirt like Juris Shibayama) along with the Rookie of the Year ceremony. Patrick Vandam and Juris Shibayama were apparently the other finalists for that award.
A rerun of the last Friday’s Nathan’s finals will be televised on ESPN on July 11 at 3am eastern.
Results from the Nathan’s finals
1. Joey Chestnut 59, won 5 hot dog eat off
2. Takeru Kobayashi 59
3. Tim Janus 42
4. Pat Bertoletti 38
5. Sonya Thomas 34
Online news archives contradict Rich Shea’s claim that the contest was the first to be tied at the end of regulation time: 1990, 1980, 1978 (Memorial Day weekend)
Comments on this post are now closed. Please use the second place poll thread to comment on the Nathan’s finals.
update #4
Gothamist blog entry and gallery
Sports Illustrated article and gallery
Joey Chestnut’s mother prepares for her son’s return
Jill Stoler blog entry about Coney Island contest
July 5 update #3
Yardbarker report from Coney Island. Juliet Lee was named rookie of the year.
Newsday article and gallery
New York Post report
San Jose Mercury article
Calorie Lab blog entry
ABC News article
Wackbag thread with Pat Philbin pictures
Times and Democrat column
Southtown Star article about Pat Bertoletti
BBC news video
Kobayashi’s blog entry about the contest
Praise for Rich LeFevre
Anti-CE thread in Serious Eats from Raphael Brion
update #2 IFOCE.com has full results (from Crawfish)
AP article
Gersh Kuntzman column
ESPN.com video
flickr gallery by dietrich (from TechCrunch)
update NECN.com has the contest video in its entirety
The teleblog follows after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
A list of all competitors in the Nathan’s finals along with their qualifier date, location and amount eaten is available after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
Q: Do you and Kobayashi actually hate each other?
A: We might like each other in 15 years when we’re done. A lot of us are close friends.
Dale Boone appears on a poster promoting tomorrow’s contest on TheNathansRematch.com even though he will not compete (and was exiled from the IFOCE before qualifying started)
A commenter noted yesterday that the competitors on the landing page on IFOCE.com are all from the 2007 Nathan’s finals. Dale Boone does not appear, but Chip Simpson remains.
amNY has an article and gallery from this afternoon’s weigh in. The finals have been officially shortened to 10 minutes. The listed weights in the article:
Joey Chestnut, 210 lb.
Takeru Kobayashi, 128 lb.
Juliet Lee 110 lb.
Gersh Kuntzman has a new column disparaging Kobayashi’s chances at reclaiming the belt.
The Big Lead sport blog has a preview of the Nathan’s finals
Sarah DiGregorio, who wrote the Village Voice article about Conti & Janus, will appear on the Ron Kuby show on Air America this evening at 5:45
update
Gothamist has a blog entry about the weigh in
The following statement appeared in the Wall Street Journal’s obituary (full version) for Eddie “Bozo” Miller earlier this year:
George Shea, chairman of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, says the organization will have a moment of silence to honor Mr. Miller at its Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island this July 4.
We will see if that is followed through with on Friday.
(From Nate Biller) World Sportsbook has posted odds for the upcoming Nathan’s finals. The current odds are:
Field 3 - 1
Joey Chestnut 5 - 6
Takeru Kobayashi 10 - 11
Gambling911.com says that Bookmaker.com has an over/under bet
The new poll asks who you think will win the Nathan’s finals
Are there any long-term health effects of competitive eating? What about just short-term effects? Should people take certain precautions if they are competitively eating? Are there warning signs someone should look out for if they compete frequently? Contact: Sara Michael, smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com
Loading ...| 2008 Jul 20 A Bowie, MD
Bowie Baysox Burger Bonanza |
| 1st 8.875 Ian "The Invader" Hickman |
| 2nd 8.875 Elizabeth "Rubber Gut" Canady |
| 3rd 6.5 Mark "The Human Vacuum" Lyle |
| 2008 Jul 19 Chicago, IL
Bacci World Pizza Eating Championship |
| 1st "Gentleman" Joe Menchetti |
| 2008 Jul 19 A Akron, OH
Hamburger Eating Contest |
| 1st 13 Pete "Broken Wing" Maurizio |
| 2nd 13 Kevin Kordalski |
| 2008 Jul 19 Bayonne, NJ
Hot Dog Eating Contest |
| 1st Frank Paulyzn |
| 2008 Jul 19 Dixon, CA
Lamb Rib Eating Contest |
| 1st 2.375 Chris Kilkenny |
| $15000 | Joey "Jaws" Chestnut |
| $12250 | Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti |
| $8550 | "Gentleman" Joe Menchetti |
| $6000 | Tim "Eater X" Janus |
| $5750 | "Furious" Pete Czerwinski |
| $5000 | Takeru Kobayashi |
| $4500 | Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas |
| $2100 | Ian "The Invader" Hickman |
| $1500 | Russ "The Black Hole" Keeler |
| $1500 | Erik "The Red" Denmark |