Win or stay home for Nathan’s hopefuls

May 15, 2008 at 9:05 pm by ojrifkin · More posts about:Nathan's Hot Dog Contest

(From anon comment) An announcement on majorleagueeating.com states that there will be no wild card entrants into the upcoming Nathan’s finals.

Comments (16)

16 Comments »

  1. A. N. said

    May 15, 2008 @ 9:53 pm

    Would have been nice to know before all the qualifiers closed.

  2. Anonymous said

    May 15, 2008 @ 11:22 pm

    So if some1 eat 61 dogs and the 2nd place eat 60 he still won’t make it. THAT SUKS

  3. anonymous said

    May 16, 2008 @ 11:26 am

    That is great news. Those eaters that can’t make the grade looking for an angle to sneak in have to realize it’s over!

  4. Anonymous said

    May 16, 2008 @ 1:48 pm

    It should be announced who will be appearing at each qualifier. If people have to pay their own expenses they should at least know who the top competitors are going to be. It wouldn’t be fair for someone to put up three good numbers and lose to the likes of Tim, Bob, Chip, Sonya, Hall or Juliet (just six of the top eaters who haven’t qualified yet.

  5. North Pole said (Registered April 28, 2008)

    May 16, 2008 @ 3:08 pm

    I think they should just take the top 20, no matter what place you came in at each one. You want to be in the big show, put up the big numbers. You win one of the local qualifiers, you get your trophie, free hot dogs, whatever, but be in the top 20 to make it there. If there are people that win the qualifiers, but don’t make the top 20, then they could have an eatoff for a single wild card spot. So that would put the number to 21, but hey, this is just off the top of my head anyway.

    So, if something like this ever happens, remember you heard it here first, from me.

  6. Rhonda Evans said

    May 16, 2008 @ 3:11 pm

    You’ve apparently LOST the top of your head with that idea North Pole … you’re in brainstorming Antarctica. (I’m just giving you a hard time.)
    🙂

  7. KevinRoss said

    May 16, 2008 @ 3:37 pm

    North Pole. . .If they took just the top 20 people, there wouldn’t be a need for all the qualifiers. Most of the eaters on the circuit are friends and would try to show up at the same place on purposes. Maybe there would only need to be enough qualifiers for geographic distribution (west coast, east coast, south, midwest). I’m sure there is a reason for there being so many qualifiers, probably being that it is more profitable and a better marketing strategy than just having only 4 where everyone shows up to. I like how Krystal does it, in the sense that there is 4 wildcards, so people try to show up where they can win, but if they miscalculate their strategy, they can still get to the final with a big number. That is a nice middle of the road thing. . .of course, they only have qualifiers in the south which increases travel expensive of course (but at least you only have to go once instead of 3 times).

  8. North Pole said (Registered April 28, 2008)

    May 16, 2008 @ 4:07 pm

    I’ve got a bunch of ideas, not much else to do at the North Pole.

  9. A. Nonymous said

    May 16, 2008 @ 4:53 pm

    I understand what North Pole is trying to say, Kev. He means that the people with the top 20 AMOUNTS from the qualifiers get in, regardless of who wins the qualifiers, not the top 20 ranked people. I had to re-read it to get that. It’s not a bad idea, really. It’s like Krystal wild cards, but the whole field is based on your best performance, not just the wild card. And you could spend the money and go to every qualifier.

  10. ? said

    May 16, 2008 @ 6:02 pm

    how much does a krystals or whitecastles small burger cost?

  11. SPBBBMB said

    May 16, 2008 @ 7:11 pm

    They should take all the winners, the next 5 top qualifiers, and….any eater who is exactly 52 years old, and lives in Kennesaw, Georgia. This is obviously fair…who’s with one on this?!?!?….anyone…hello…anyone….is this thing on?

  12. Pat From Moonachie said

    May 16, 2008 @ 7:56 pm

    I like that idea NP, it takes the whole “who’s showing up, where??” nonsense out of the qualifiers.

  13. Carey said

    May 16, 2008 @ 8:26 pm

    North Pole has a good idea. If they did that, people would have to try their hardest at each qualifier, because just winning one wouldn’t be enough. Also, the top numbers would make the final totals more too. That would make watching them and following them so much more interesting. Only thing is, if you won one, would you be allowed to compete at another?

    I wonder who would (and wouldn’t have) been in last year if they did this?

  14. North Pole said (Registered April 28, 2008)

    May 16, 2008 @ 10:26 pm

    Wow, I’m glad some people like this. Of course some kinks would have to be worked out, like how many qualifiers you’d be allowed to enter, what would happen if you signed up for one but didn’t show up,… probably lots more things to think about too. It should be about getting the best eaters in the finals. The best people are always going to make it in, they are going to put up the big numbers anyway.

    Maybe it will make more press/exposure for the eaters and help them out. CE should be about the eaters, and they should get to do what they do where ever they want.

    OK, I’ll get off my little soapbox now. Continue with checking out the site…

  15. KevinRoss said

    May 16, 2008 @ 11:17 pm

    BTW, I agree with you that it would be nice if it worked out perfectly so that the 20 people who ate the most hot dogs (plus 52 year olds in Kennesaw Georgia whose name rhymes with Saul Parlow) were the ones to get in. But I can’t figure out a way that this wouldn’t result in far less qualifiers being run. And lots of qualifiers is good in a marketing sense. So I don’t think it’ll ever happen. But yeah, it really isn’t all that fair that some people don’t get to the big show that eat several more than some that do get to go. But nobody said life is fair 🙂

  16. anonymous said

    May 17, 2008 @ 1:58 am

    anony 1:48 If everyone knew who was going where, they would avoid qualifiers featuring top 10 eaters and it wouldnt be much of a show watching top ten eaters beat up on locals or mediocre competition. On the wild card issue i agree with the new idea of win or stay home. Wild card is a copout for eaters that just dont have what it takes to win a trophy . Wildcard winner should not be allowed to take home a year supply of hot dogs either.

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