The first Eats of Strength episode will be rerun 3 times next week:

• Eats of Strength
INHD, Tue Jul 04 06:00pm EDT
• Eats of Strength
INHD, Fri Jul 07 01:30am EDT
• Eats of Strength
INHD, Fri Jul 07 03:00pm EDT
• Eats of Strength
INHD, Sat Jul 08 06:00pm EDT

Don “Moses” Lerman is expecting big things from his Eats of Strength appearance.

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sportsnet.ca has a positive review of Eat This Book

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(Thanks Brian Subich) In Monday’s episode of Cheap Seats on ESPN Classic, at 7:30pm and 11:30 pm eastern, the Sklar brothers will offer commentary on the Alka Seltzer 2005 US Open of Competitive Eating.

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As of 12:30 pm, “Horsemen of the Esophagus” was being prominently advertised in the sports / athlete gossip blog Deadspin

Updated 11:27 pm Here is the NY Times review that Jason Fagone took offense to.

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(Thanks Ian Hickman) The video for the song “Round and Round,” which appears in the soundtrack for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, sung by Far East Movement has a headband-wearing Kobayashi impersonator, along with brief scenes of a female hot dog eating contest.

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Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough has emailed me that he appeared with Larry McNeil and Dale Boone on Fox 5 to promote the Atlanta Nathan’s qualifier. Yarbrough has uploaded a video clip of that appearance to youtube. Dale Boone does look notably lighter than he did last year.

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Liz announces that she will participate in Saturday’s Shoo Fly Pie contest, but not as an eater.

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The Philadelphia City Paper reprints Jason Fagone’s letter to the New York Times criticizing his book review.

Fagone has also set up a myspace site with excerpts from “Horsement of the Esophagus.” The page accepts comments if you have something about that book you would like to say.

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The Scorecard section of this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated has a short article about Joey Chestnut which follows:

Joey says in a comment to this post that he was misquoted and that he can do 40 and not 50 hot dogs in a 9 minute training session. Joey also says the author excised his quotes praising other IFOCE members.

Weenie Boast

America’s new hot-dog-loving hope wants to restore the U.S. to competitive-eating glory.

Like any great sporting achievement, what Joey Chestnut pulled off on May 18 in Las Vegas required skill, drive and near-perfect-conditions. He had enough water. His body behaved exactly as he had hoped. And all his hot dogs were cooked exactly to his liking: not too hot, not too cold. In 12 minutes Chestnut, 22, a civil engineering major at San Jose State, downed 50 wieners at a qualifier for the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4. Chestnut shattered the U.S. record by 13 and set up a Coney Island showdown with the world-record holder, Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi.

A victory by Chestnut would return glory to these shores after six consecutive Nathan’s wins by foreigners, a sore subject for U.S. competitive eaters. “This is America, where people love to eat,” says Chestnut, who finished third at Nathan’s in 2005. “For us to keep losing on a day with some meaning, it’s almost humiliating.”

Chestnut knows he must improve to beat Kobayashi. He says he’s increased his capacity and speed (he can now consume 50 hot dogs in nine minutes) by practicing with a kitchen timer. A win might help curry favor with U.S. competitors, who resent his quick success. “A lot of the veterans hate me,” says Chestnut, who began eating competitively in 2005. “I’m sure I would make a few new friends.” Maybe he could take them out to dinner. -A.D.

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If you have ever wondered what exactly is urbanhonking.com, this article from Willamette Weekly will help inform you. Liz Kellermeyer has a captioned picture and praise for her (and Krista’s) article on the (February) grilled cheese contest in New York City.

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A review of “Eat This Book” by Ryan Nerz appears in MSNBC’s roundup of non-fiction books suitable for summer vacation reading.

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TV Tokyo has a program called “TV Champion” which tries to determine who is best in a particular field such as brick laying or eating. A program similar to “TV Champion” called “World Records” on the Nippon Television Network will be adapted into the program “Master of Champions” which will air this summer on ABC. The home page for “Master of Champions” does not say if any eating contests will be televised.

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A brief article about “Horsemen of the Esophagus” (more a description than a review) appears in the “Airplane Reading” box of the book review page of this weekend’s edition of The Wall Street Journal. (Article is not available online without subscription)

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The following data about Joey Chestnut comprise a row in the factoids matrix in the current issue of Sports Illustrated (page 37):

Person I’d most like to meet: Bill Clinton
Nickname as a kid: Puff (the Magic Dragon)
Most scared I’ve ever been: Being chased by a pack of wild dogs at age 6
Song that reminds me of summer: Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Book I’m currently reading: Eat This Book (Ryan Nerz)
Superhero I’m most like: Wolverine

(Perhaps Joey’s scary experience has resulted in a hatred of “dogs” which he displays at Nathan’s contests)

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NPR.org has an article and audio from Jason Fagone’s interview Saturday morning.

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nbc30 has an article, gallery and video of Pat Bertoletti at Friday’s goldenpalace.net ice cream contest. The article confuses pounds with gallons.

ESPN displayed a very brief clip of Pat Bertoletti (1 second at most) at the goldenpalace.net ice cream eating contest was shown on the Monday night / Tuesday morning Sportcenter. There might have been a longer video on an earlier edition of sportscenter.

Pat Bertoletti was also named athlete of the week by a Saint Louis Post Dispatch columnist.

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Video from Jason Fagone’s interview on CNN Tuesday morning promoting “Horsmen of the Esophagus” is available at http://www.cnn.com/video/ (Bottom of page under Best of TV)

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Philly.com reports that “Swallow Your Pride”, a documentary about Bill “El Wingador” Simmons winning his fifth Wing Bowl crown in Wing Bowl 13, will be screened at the First Glance Film Festival in Philadelphia on Sunday night. Tickets are $10. Porn star/ former California gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey stars in a movie to be screened Saturday night.

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The Los Angeles Times has a review of “Eat This Book” and “Horsemen of the Esophagus”

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Jason Fagone will appear on NPR’s Weekend Edition – Saturday tomorrow. He expects his segment will start at 8:40 am. A podcast should be available after the broadcast.

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Fans waiting for a competitive eating movie might not need to wait for the Josh Heald and Wing Bowl projects to hit the multiplexes. The Dallas Morning News reports that “Taxidermia”, a Hungarian movie directed by György Pálfi in which one of the protagonists is a competitive eater was screened at the Cannes Film Festival last Thursday. It appears unlikely that the IFOCE will endorse this movie based on this description at msn. Pictures and trailers for the movie (in French and Hungarian) are available.

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A clip of the hot dog contest between “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti and Boyd Bulot from “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” is available at:

http://eatfeats.com/GJoevsBulot.WMV

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The clip from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not of the steak contest at the Big Texan steakhouse in which Rich LeFevre almost finished two 72 ounce steaks and Carlene sets a women’s record is available at:

http://eatfeats.com/LeFevresSteak.WMV

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Hall Hunt googled Josh Heald, who was listed as a screenwriter who ate 11 hot dogs in the Las Vegas qualfier in the IFOCE report, and found he had written a movie about competitive eating for Disney called “All You Can Eat.” The movie is supposed to come out later this year, but apparently it has not been cast yet.

Articles about studio pickup and director hiring for the movie.

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The 11th Hour, a sketch comedy group, has uploaded a 6 minute “mockumentary” about a female competitive eater to youtube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=CZ2oZgtbpAg The video includes footage of last year’s goldenpalace.com grilled cheese finals at Venice Beach and Sonya Thomas and other IFOCE members make cameos.

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