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.

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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

NY1 has an article and video

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• Video of a Joey Chestnut training session for Time Magazine (link fixed)
• Video of a Pat Philbin training session with QVC qualifier footage for TVJersey
• Pictures from the weigh in.
• podcast of Crazy Legs Conti on WFAN this morning
• Interview with Joey Chestnut’s mother
• Pat Bertoletti profile in The Regional News
• Dave “U. S. Male” Goldstein article wins a prize
• History of competitive eating by Time Magazine
• Sonya Thomas is one fan’s favorite
• Nathan’s odds by covers.com – article thinks contest will be 12 minutes
• Fox News video of Atlanta bacon contest (from Paul Barlow)
• Juris Shibayama comments on the Wall Street Journal blog

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There will be a new competitive eating video game released in time for the Nathan’s finals. Page 2 on ESPN.com has a flash based game which involves clicking and dragging hot dogs moving at variable speed into an eater’s mouth.

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Articles about Nathan’s finalists

• Pat Philbin – NJ.com
• Hall Hunt – Orlando Sentinel
• Nate Biller – MySanAntonio.com
• Pete Davekos – Boston Herald
• Takeru Kobayashi – NY Daily News

• The Wall Street Journal’s health blog on competitive eating
• Will Millender and Sal Carbone expected at Peggy O’Neil’s hamburger eating contest
• IFOCE BBQ sandwich eating contest near Tulsa July 26 – registration opens Monday (from Crawfish)
• The Sporting News blog thinks Nathan’s hype is down in 2008

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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.

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Kobayashi was interviewed by the local cable news channel NY1 in Central Park today. An article and video are available

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(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

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• Video of bacon eating contest from Super Paul Barlow
• Video of a recent Pat Bertoletti practice session
• amNY article about Badlands Booker
• Video promoting upcoming “Hungry & Focused” apparel from Badlands Booker
• Synopsis of upcoming “Hurl” episodes on G4
• Crazy Legs and Eater X make the cover of the current Village Voice (from Liz K) – a gallery from their article
• MSNBC on extreme July 4 meals
• 2 for the price of 1 Nathan’s online coupon
• Slideshow of Henderson, MN sauerkraut competition
• Fox News article about Nathan’s
• Krystalist announces Krystal Square Off V
• Megamunch emails the following request for an upcoming Baltimore Examiner story:
  

  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

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Badlands Booker has emailed the following information about his performance tonight

July, 2 2008

Hungry & Focused 4 Fork Knife & Mic Concert Live @ Rehab

25 Ave B, Lower East Side (Formerly Club Midway), New York, New York
Cost : $5. More Info: www.clubmidway.com

Don’t even think about Sleeping on July 4th Week Because Badlands will be burning the midnight oil performing songs off the critically acclaimed CE Themed-Hip hop Album Hungry & Focused 4_Fork knife & Mic. I will also be performing hits from the previous H&F albums in anticipation of the upcoming 92nd. Annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. so come by Club Rehab The Day B4 the big show, Wednesday night at 11:33 PM. to experience Hungry & Focused Live Midnight Show. Don’t miss it and we’ll See u There!

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Pat Philbin commented that Joey Chestnut was interviewed on 660 WFAN this morning. If you missed that appearance, a podcast is available. Eater X also did an interview yesterday.

WFAN will hold an on air hot dog eating contest tomorrow morning. First prize is NY Jets tickets. Second prize is more Jets tickets hot dogs.

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Gersh Kuntzman has a new column in the Brooklyn Paper about the Nathan’s finals. The first half is about Kobayashi receiving a sponsor’s exemption. The second half is an encomium to George Shea which closes with the following statement:

So, sure, Joey Chestnut may down 60 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes on Friday, but without Shea, he’d just be a disgusting spectacle.

ABCNews also has a new interview with Kobayashi.

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Does anyone know if the traditional July 3 weigh in for Nathan’s finalists will take place tomorrow? I have not been able to find any coverage online about that event. The IFOCE.com websites have yet to be updated with any information about the upcoming Nathan’s finals (or Kevin Ross’ qualifier victory).

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The Chicago Tribune has an article in which Tim “Gravy” Brown’s describes his techniques for hot dog eating. The article also appears on the Chicago Tribune’s blog.

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ifiy has a link to MajorLeagueEating.asia, which announces that Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi will face off in an eating contest in Singapore July 27. Three qualifiers to select local entrants will be held and the purse is $3,000 (it is not stated if that is in US or Singapore dollars) Five different types of foods will be used in the contest, including fishballs, premium otah and sotong head.

Earthtimes has an article about the contest.

The contest might result in a schedule conflict for Joey Chestnut, who has been announced as the co-star for Nacho Mountain. Principal photography for that movie has been scheduled for July 20 through July 27.

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DelmarvaNow.com reports that Fish Tales restaurant at the Bahia Marina in Ocean City, MD will host a hot dog eating contest on July 4 that will award $1000 in prizes. Entrants will qualify at the restaurant by eating five hot dogs (cost $5).

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• Video of 2002 Nathan’s finals
• 2002 article by Gersh Kuntzman
• Evening magazine segment about 2005 Chinook Winds ribs contest. Ray Meduna appears.
• USA Today column suggesting Tiger Woods and Joey Chestnut switch sports
• Rich Shea podcast
• Furious Pete does 100 wings in 9:15 to prepare for Coney burgers

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According to the official history, the Nathan’s record before Frank Dellarossa ate 21 HDB in 1991 was 18.5 HDB by one armed carnival worker Peter Washburn in 1959. This mark is not mentioned in any article in the Google News archive about a pre-1991 contest.

• 1986 Record holder is listed as Walter Paul, who ate 17 in 1978. Walter Paul is the reported winner of a 1967 contest.
• 1986 title match – Record is mentioned as 13.5, set several years before
• 1982 – record is mentioned as 14 by Jim Mattner, who served as contest judge. (No article about a contest won by Mattner is present in the news archive)

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Steve Penhollow of The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has emailed the following request:

We have a hot dog eating contest coming up as part of our Three Rivers Fest. I think it’s the first competitive eating event we’ve had in the area.

What is the dominant strategy for eating the most hot dogs?

I’d love to quote someone in my article.

Thanks.

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The new issue of The Village Voice has a long article about Crazy Legs Conti and Tim “Eater X” Janus. The roommates will also be profiled in an upcoming issue of Italian Vogue

updated removed sentence about 33 gram bun

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EDave.com has a page about the bacon eating contest between “Super” Paul Barlow and Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough tomorrow morning on the Zakk Tyler show.

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The producer of the promotional contest that took place in Westbury, NY yesterday between Eric “Badlands” Booker and “Hungry” Charles Hardy has a blog entry and gallery of the event. Kobayashi does not appear in the pictures.

update (from Sean Gordon) Kobayashi’s most recent blog entry says he was too fatigued to appear at the Long Island event.

update #2 The news video clip is now available

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• “Humble” Bob article in Philly.com in which he says that Krystal Square Off V is his priority for 2008
• Beet eating contest in “The Office Games” in Scranton, PA July 19
• Micah “Wing Kong” Collins on his second place finish at QVC
• Blog entry about winner of Austin veggie dog contest
• Bodybuilding.com water drinking contest final results
• Bristol, RI hot dog contest
• Radio bacon eating contest between Paul Barlow and Bubba Yarbrough July 2 (details from Super Paul after the jump)

Read the rest of this entry »

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A comment by Crawfish contained a link about Dale Boone’s victory in the corndog eating contest at Corndogorama. In the pictures, Dale Boone is wearing a World League of Competitive Eating baseball cap and has a shirt with a .com address. Trying WLOCE.com reveals that a website has been set up at that address. The site has a standings list which Dale Boone leads. P.Thayagarajan, mentioned as an Indian giant and a possible entrant in last year’s Nathan’s finals on IFOCE.com, is #6. Most of the links on the page are inoperable, but a contact page and safety guidelines are available.

update The Salisbury Post has a report about Dale Boone’s victory in the Apple Ugly qualifier last night

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A listing of Nathan’s winners obtained from online news archives follows.

Some notes about the contests:

• 1986 title match, Hiroaki Tominaga was the first reported Japanese competitor in a Nathan’s contest. At 6 feet, 6 inches and 264 pounds, he is considerably larger than Nobuyuki “the Giant” Shirota. While in New York City, he competed in the Empire State Building staircase race and finished last.
• 1984 Birgit Felden is the only reported female winner of a July 4 contest. She is now a business professor unless there are multiple Birgit Feldens from Cologne.
• 1981 It was not clear from the contest report if the duration was 5 minutes or the winner stopped eating after that time and had a large enough margin to win.
• 1978 Co-champion Kevin Sinclair was 10 years old
• 1974 Atlantic City – this is the first reported contest outside Coney Island. The runner-up, Carmen Cordero, might be the winner of the first two Wing Bowls.
• 1972 Labor Day – After her victory, Melody Andorfer said “I’m determined not to let those male chauvinist pigs dominate us any longer.” She would model swimsuits in articles about Coney Island in 1973 and 1974.
• 1967 – this contest was held to commemorate the centennial of the hot dog. It is difficult to believe that Walter Paul ate 127 hot dogs in an hour, but that is what is in the news archive.

The following contests are mentioned in the news archives, but no winners were reported for them:

The 1973 labor day weekend contest was changed to a corn on the cob contest due to a lack of meat. The unnamed winner ate 4 ears in less than 3 minutes.

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