Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest category

Nathan's 2009 qualifier winners & defending champion
2008 Jul 459Joey "Jaws" Chestnut Brooklyn, NY
2009 May 225Crazy Legs Conti Biloxi, MS
2009 May 726Rich "The Locust" LeFevre Las Vegas, NV
2009 May 926Sean "Flash" Gordon Foxborough (Boston), MA
2009 May 1650Tim "Eater X" Janus East Hartford, CT
2009 May 1738"Humble" Bob Shoudt Allentown, PA
2009 May 2330.5Juliet Lee Atlantic City, NJ
2009 May 3033Hall "Hoover" Hunt Tampa, FL
2009 May 3028Erik "The Red" Denmark Tempe, AZ
2009 Jun 636Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas Norfolk, VA
2009 Jun 632Tim "Gravy" Brown Overland Park, KS
2009 Jun 626Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti Plymouth, MN
2009 Jun 1330Marco "Mongo" Marquez Denver, CO
2009 Jun 1323Micah "Wing Kong" Collins Charlotte, NC
2009 Jun 2040Eric "Badlands" Booker Queens, NY
2009 Jun 2722"Buffalo" Jim Reeves Newnan, GA
2009 Jun 2725Peter "Pretty Boy" Davekos San Jose, CA
2009 Jun 279Bob Cocadrillo Brooklyn, NY
Louskum has several behind the scenes videos from the 2008 Nathan's finals, including the pre-contest eaters meeting.

Jets vs. Colts & Nader vs. Handwerker

The Google News Archive has an article from 1969 about hot dog consumption during the first meeting between the Jets and Colts in Super Bowl III containing Nathan’s president Murray Handwerker’s response to Ralph Nader’s allegations of poor meat quality in hot dogs:

Nader has done some great things for safety in automobiles. I believe he said he would give up driving in cars. I get the impression he now intends to give up eating in New York.

The next thing you know he will no longer wear clothes because of defective labeling, and that could result in his total exposure.

The article also mentions Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Cook Book.

Trivia Time The Jets’ linebacker coach in Super Bowl III was Buddy Ryan, father of current head coach Rex Ryan, a possible entrant in the 2010 Nathan’s finals.

The Colts’ head coach in Super Bowl III was Don Shula, who would later lead the Miami Dolphins to an undefeated season and found a chain of steak houses offering a 48 ounce steak challenge which has been completed almost 35,000 times.

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(via usaplayers.com) Intertops is now taking bets on the 2010 Nathan's finals for most of the 2009 finalists. The odds do not appear to take into account Bob Shoudt's recent emergence.
The Nathan's finals in Coney Island appears in LIFE magazine's gallery of 35 must see sports events and venues.

Derek Jeter & Will Ferrell film movie at Nathan’s

The New York Post has a gallery of Derek Jeter filming the Will Ferrell movie “The Other Guys” at Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island yesterday. The movie has the following plot summary:

In the comedy, Ferrell and notorious Red Sox fan Mark Wahlberg play cops who spend their careers as desk jockeys. The two are permanently benched after Wahlberg’s character wrongly shoots Jeter in the leg after seeing him walking around with a bat, sources said.

The scene shot at Nathan’s takes place years later, when a down-on-his-luck Jeter — wearing a filthy hobo’s jacket and sporting stringy gray hair — encounters the crime-fighting duo.

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NWEMail.com reports that Ladbroke's is already taking bets on the 2010 Nathan's finals: Joey Chestnut is a 1/2 favorite and Kobayashi is listed at 7/4 to regain the title.
Nathan's hot dog eating contest is used as an example in the Wall Street Journal's list of the three best ways to win community support for small businesses.
Zoe, winner of the Bunnette Bootcamp contest, reports she received a check from the IFOCE.

Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Cook Book

(Via Liz K) The Riverfront Times has a blog entry about making a recipe from the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Cookbook from 1968:

Hot Dog Salad Dressing. For six servings, grind eight hot dogs with one-half teaspoon dry mustard, two tablespoons milk, one tablespoon pickle relish and one-third cup of mayo. Think about that for a second. That’s 1.3 hot dogs per salad serving. This is nothing more than a ploy to sell hot dogs.

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In memory of the events of 8 years ago, here's the NY Daily News article about the 1998 Nathan's qualifier for civil servants held in the Windows on the World restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center.
The new poll asks if you think Nathan's hot dog eating contest should adopt a ban on dunking food.
The Freakonomics blog has an entry comparing Usain Bolt's track records with Takeru Kobayashi doubling the Nathan's record in 2001.
Pat Bertoletti has posted a blog entry about his experience at this year's Nathan's finals to his home page.
Mcall has a blog entry about the "Largest Carbon Footprint" award "Wild" Bill Myers award received at the Nathan's finals primarily written by Bill's fiancee Melissa Savoy.
Joey Chestnut has posted an entry to his Yardbarker blog about winning Nathan's for the third year in a row. The San Jose Mercury also has an article about Joey Chestnut participating in the Tour de French Fry on Sunday.

SI’s Peter King visits the urologist(s)

(via KissingSuzyKolber) The most recent Monday Morning QB column on the Sports Illustrated web site contains Peter King’s annual criticism of Nathan’s hot dog eating contest:

Whoever at ESPN thought of televising the Fourth of July contest from Coney Island and giving it some form of sporting glory ought to not only be fired but also sent to a class for education on world hunger. Here’s a stat for you, according to world hunger organization Bread For The World: One in seven people on earth suffer from severe hunger daily. That’s 963 MILLION people. The ratings suggest we are all guilty of promoting this grotesque custom. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves for giving ESPN reason for showing this.

The column contains a diary of King’s summer vacation. His July 20 entry:

Trip to the urologist. Regular checkup. Two docs. First doc examines me, and I should say he examines me thoroughly. He leaves and the other doc comes in. Very nice fellow, just like the first one. He puts on the rubber glove. Whoa! Whoa! This, uh, already happened! Second urologist wants to check out the situation for himself. Examines me a little more thoroughly. Other than the self-inflicted left-hand bite mark, all’s right with the world. Gosh, I love vacation.

Probably more than 1/7 of the world’s population lacks access to a single medical specialist, let alone a team of them.

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Ken Hoffman on judging Davekos

Ken Hoffman of the Houston Chronicle has a column about serving as Pete Davekos’ judge in the recent Nathan’s finals which reports that officials were told to look out for hidden regurgitation:

“The thing you have to look for,” the head judge told us, “is when the eaters hold a big cup of water to their mouth. Some of the eaters have been spitting hot dogs into the cup, and some have been vomiting in the cup. That’s against the rules, and they have to be penalized.”

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The new poll asks when will the Nathan's finals have its next female champion. Birgit Felden in 1984 is the most recent woman to win the contest.
The Mount Vernon Gazette has an article about the new female Nathan's record set by Sonya Thomas, who did not return its phone call.
"Humble" Bob Shoudt and Erik "the Red" Denmark have posted reports on their experience at the Nathan's finals. Shoudt wishes he received a personal spotter / coach, which he believes provides a significant advantage.
Val Broman has posted her report and gallery from the 2009 Nathan's finals.

Indian communists mistake Nathan’s dogs for canines

The Hindustan Times has an article about another Indian newspaper:

A man devouring 68 dogs in 10 minutes definitely makes Page 1 news – even in a staid Communist Party of India (Marxist) mouthpiece. And if the voracious dog-eater happens to be an American and the feat a world record, so much the better.

“US man gobbles 68 dogs in 10 minutes, creates world record”, screamed a headline on the front page of Kerala CPI(M) mouthpiece Deshabhimani, which loses no opportunity to paint Americans as decadent and uncouth, on Tuesday.

Nijumohan has an image of the front page, which has an picture of Joey Chestnut with a bone in his mouth. (Image on left from JoCalling)

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The Hungry Sisters have posted their report on the 2009 Nathan's finals.
NYCGo.com has interviews with Pat Bertoletti and Badlands Booker's judge Ken Podziba.
Val Bromann and the Hungry Sisters have blog entries about the MLE eaters vs. elephants contest held on July 3.
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