New Poll: 2008 IFOCE rookie of the year
The new poll asks who you think is the leading candidate to be named the IFOCE rookie of the year at the 2008 Nathan’s finals. I am defining rookie as someone who emerged in 2007.
Major League Eating video game announced
A press release announces that Mastiff Games has acquired the rights to make a video game based on Major League Eating.
Major League Eating: The Game features the world’s greatest gurgitory athletes competing across twelve different food types. Built much like a fighting game, MLE: The Game requires players to show brilliant on-screen eating; a mastery of offensive and defensive weapons including burps, belches, and mustard gas; and of course the technical mastery necessary to avoid emptying one’s stomach in a vividly colored reversal of fortune.
ifoce.com has no additional information except for a link in the sidebar to the Mastiff home page. The platforms and expected release date for the game were not announced.
It will be interesting to see how much eaters receive, if any, for use of their electronic likenesses.
update This AFP article reports that Mastiff hopes to release the game in time for the July 4 Nathan’s finals.
Kotaku has a blog entry with 77 comments currently
Japanese article about the game
update #2 ripten has an interview with game developer Bill Swartz He says that eaters will have signature moves (Will the “Baby Bird” be one of them? 😉 ) and evades the question of whether game characters will be based on real world eaters.
update #3 The San Jose Mercury reports that Joey Chestnut will appear in the game.
update #4 SoupyTrumpet produced a demo of the game box (see above)
Fox Business on competitive eating
Fox Business has an article about the economics of competitive eating with quotes from George Shea, Arnie “Chowhound” Chapman and Crazy Legs Conti.
The article reports that the IFOCE has five full time employees. Shea claims that the 2007 Nathan’s hot dog contest produced $100 million worth of media for the restaurant chain. Joey received %0.01 corrected percent of that amount ($10,000) as his first place prize, which might be why has yet to commit to the defense of his title.
The article lists Chapman as the winner of the 1991 Nathan’s contest:
Chapman, a 46-year-old better known in the eating world as “Chowhound,†holds the record for downing the most pickles. He ate 2.94 pounds of sweet hard sour pickles in 3 minutes and 45 seconds.
“Sometimes I don’t know what I am thinking, it’s such an unforgiving food, †Chapman said. Chapman won the Nathan’s contest in 1991 by eating 11.5 dogs in six minutes, which today seems like a meager amount.
“Eat the Meat” qualifier winner banned from finals
According to a recent email, the person in the gray shirt cropped out of the above two pictures was the top finisher in a recent qualifier for WPLR’s Eat the Meat II chicken wing contest with a result of 80 wings in 9 minutes. Due to having previously competed in a Nathan’s qualifier, the winner was not only prohibited from competing in the January 26 finals, he was excised from the radio station’s website pictures above. The contest rules have the following restrictions for “professional” eaters:
Professional eaters, persons recognized by AICE , the IFOCE or members of any professional eating organization or participants in any professional eating competition are not eligible. The decision of professional eater status will be determined by a WPLR Eat the Meat Official and is final.
If former competitors in a professional eating competition are not eligible, then this restriction could be interpreted as prohibiting all competitors in last year’s “Eat the Meat” contest (who were allowed to compete) as it awarded a prize of $1,000. The original winner (whose name was not given in the email) might have a basis for filing an FCC complaint.
Joe Menchetti won a qualifier for last year’s contest, and was also prohibited from competing in the finals.
The final qualifier will take place on January 24 and requires Connecticut residency to enter.
update I received an email from the original winner of the qualifier, Michael Springer. He competed Nathan’s East Hartford Qualifier and came in fifth with 17.5 HDB and also the Ash Creek Ribs contest where he finished second to last with 1.8 lbs. He informed the radio station of those contests and they said that would not block his participation. After he won the qualifier, the radio station disqualified him for being a “professional” eater despite not having won any prizes in his previous contests.
One month anniversary of bogus baseball list
It has now been one month since a bogus list of Major League Baseball players who were reportedly in the Mitchell report appeared on competitiveeatingnews.com Despite inclusion of names such as Albert Pujols and Johnny Damon that did not appear in the actual report, no corrections or other updates have been made to the CE News list in the previous month.
Rich Shea Phantom Gourmet podcast
Rich Shea’s interview on the January 5 Phantom Gourmet radio show mentioned by GJoe in a comment is available online. The interview is mainly about the buffet controversy in Louisiana, but Rich Shea does say that the next IFOCE event will be a Major League Eating program televised on Spike TV at halftime of the Super Bowl (Rich predicts that the Cowboys will be the NFC representative for that game). The program will be 30 minutes long, so “Ham & Eggs” will need to be truncated if it is broadcast.
November / December IFOCE contests
A listing of all IFOCE contests in the eatfeats database held in November or December follows after the jump. Even though the winter is often called the IFOCE “offseason”, there has been at least three contests in the last two months of the previous four years.
CE News: Pujols, Damon, Bagwell in Mitchell report
A list of Major League Baseball players expected by “a team of Competitive Eating News reporters and one CEN web editor” to be in the Mitchell report about performance enhancing drugs in baseball appears on CompetitiveEatingNews.com. Some of the players, such as Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada and Andy Pettite actually appear in the report, but some, including Albert Pujols, Jeff Bagwell and Johnny Damon, are not present.
update Note the similarity of the CE News list with the list in comment #2 of this baseballthinkfactory thread
update #2 AOL FanHouse has more on the bogus list.
The full CE News list follows after the jump:
Read the rest of this entry »
More on AICE vs. Japan
Jill Stoler says she will be competing in Japan with several other AICE eaters from December 13 to December 19 on her myspace page.
AICE news has possible matchups. One of the American eaters is “Baby Doll†Deptkowitz.
New Poll: next IFOCE contest
The new poll asks what month you think the next IFOCE contest will take place that is not related to the Wing Bowl or Nathan’s hot dog contest.
IFOCE monthly contest streak ends at 55
According to the eatfeats database, last month was the first month since March 2003 in which no IFOCE/MLE contests were held.
Tim Janus eats Thanksgiving meal
The associated press reports that Tim Janus ate an entire Thanksgiving meal to draw attention to New York City’s hungry. The article reports that Major League Eating has given $10,000 to hunger related charities over the past two weeks.
Gelf Magazine: MLE has “scripted storylines”
Gelf magazine has a good report on the Nathan’s finals which equates Major League Eating with professional wrestling:
With its carefully scripted storylines and constructed characters, Major League Eating is becoming a marketing force. And with all the organized hoopla surrounding it, the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest straddles a thin line between sport and spectacle. In all of sports, that line has become increasingly blurred. Is the focus on Kobayashi’s jaw all that different than the attention given to Donovan McNabb’s right knee? Is Eater X’s mask any less intimidating than Rip Hamilton’s? Is Crazy Legs’ fame, thanks to his media savvy as much as his competitive accomplishments, any less deserving than James Blake’s?
The article has several mini profiles of Pat Philbin, Dale Boone and others. There is also a gallery associated with the article.
Next UEPa meeting December 1 in Nanty Glo
Megamunch has a post on the date & site of the next UEPa meeting which will probably take place on December 1 at the Niner Diner in Nanty Glo, PA. The diner offers a 3 pound burger challenge which includes 5 pounds of fries along with a pancake challenge. At $5.95, the pancake challenge is the cheapest eating challenge that will be free if eaten under a time limit I am aware of.
Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub has fallen out of favor with some UEPa members due to lack of notification about the team 15 pound burger contest and confusion on whether the Wall of Fame has been updated to include the successful challenges at the last UEPa meeting at Denny’s. DennysBeerBarrelPub.com has an online wall of fame, but it has been completely empty for at least 6 months.
Upcoming contests on IFOCE.com empty
The list of future events on IFOCE.com is now empty. I think this is the first time that there have been no upcoming contests listed since this blog was started.
IFOCE announces $100K hunger charity initiative
From IFOCE.com
Major League Eating and the International Federation of Competitive Eating have donated $10,000 to Second Harvest and selected organizations to kick off a campaign to raise $100,000 for hunger charities.
The initiative, which will include donations from the league, eaters, clients and fans, follows IFOCEgives, a similar effort that raised more than $50,000 for charities including Second Harvest and the American Red Cross.
New Poll: founding member of new eating organization
A recent megamunch blog entry says:
My point is, if you begin to rate eaters based on these categories, you can begin to see why some eaters were chosen for the Spike contest and how some eaters are actually more valuable performers than higher ranked guys like Joey Chestnut and, dare I say, Takeru Kobayashi? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, If I were starting a new CE league and had the opportunity to draft one MLE eater, it would be either Eater X or Crazy Legs.
The new poll asks what eater you would choose as the cornerstone of a new competitive eating organization. You can choose whatever factor you like: current eating ability, projected future eating ability, stage presence, likability, etc. The top 12 ranked IFOCE members were listed along with 3 AICE and 3 Japanese eaters. The poll allows a maximum of 20 choices.
BeautifulBrian.com on Spike TV field
BeautifulBrian.com has a page on why he thinks that certain eaters were chosen or passed over for Spike TV’s “Wedges & Wings” contest along with a commentary on the selection process.
New commentary on the MLE DVD
BeautifulBrian.com and MosesNews.com have updated entries about the Major League Eating DVD.
New Poll: Legality of IFOCE contract
The new poll asks what you think the result would be if the IFOCE contract was challenged in court.
STBW.com starts commentary page
A page called “Sonya’s View: A Peek Inside the Web” has been started on SonyaTheBlackWidow.com. The initial column concerns Sonya’s relationship with the IFOCE/MLE:
Oftentimes when I visit various competitive eating- (CE-) related Web sites, regarding some of the differences between Major League Eating (MLE) / International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) and independently affiliated CE organizations, I ask myself where I feel I belong. That question was easily answered in the past, as no organization could have treated me any better than the most highly esteemed IFOCE — and the people in that organization — as they continue to be the best of the best!
Does that mean that there have not been challenges? No, not at all, as is the case with anything in life. But since life is about variety and broadening one’s experiences, I look forward to the possibility of new relationships and new challenges.
Cookie Jarvis gives thumbs down to MLE DVD
(From BeautifulBrian.com) Cookie Jarvis is upset that IFOCE used footage of him in the MLE DVD without requesting permission:
This is the last straw IFOCE! It’s no longer a joke and neither are our feelings. If someone requests an interview with us we have to first call the IFOCE and get their permission so they can profit at our expense. If the IFOCE wants to put out a movie with us in it they feel we don’t need to be told. Is that fair? NOOOOOOO!
I think its time for us to have a spokesperson on how we are treated and the events that our portrayed with our likenesses. I believe it’s also time for us to have input in what we are shown in. Maybe it’s even time for a class action law suit against the IFOCE because we wont take it anymore. This is an outrage!
New Poll: evolution of IFOCE contract
The new poll asks how you think the restrictions in the IFOCE contract will change over time.
IFOCE contract analysis by WIOR?
This post is for the breakdown of the IFOCE contract by “Who Is OJ Rifkin?” which begins:
Let’s talk about the “lovely little contract†that these guys make you sign. I will be dedicating my next few postings to this issue. Of course those eaters who have sworn undying allegiance to MLE will dismiss or disregard this issue. For those of you who might care about things like ownership of your name and fair compensation may wish to read and comment on this issue. Perhaps the best way to proceed is to break it up in a few pieces and analyze what it really means. You may not like the author of this posting but realize this: I did not create this contract the Shea brothers did:
Here we go part 1 of the contract:
IFOCE
Membership AgreementThis agreement (The “Agreementâ€) is made and entered into this __________day of__________,
2004, by and between International Federation of Competitive Eating, Inc., with its principle offices
At 151 W. 25 street, 4th floor, New York NY 10001 (“IFOCEâ€), and ______________ an, individual residing at _________________(“Performerâ€) upon the following Terms and conditions.1. The term of this agreement shall commence as of the date hereof and shall continue for a period of eighteen (18) months thereafter.
OK, so far so good…next part:
2. (a) Performer shall have official status of an “IFOCE Eater†during the term with eligibility to participate in IFOCE events. Performer recognizes the benefits of the eligibility and status of an IFOCE eater and in consideration of such benefits, performer agrees to participate solely and exclusively in organized competitive eating events, exhibitions and appearances of any kind in the media related to eating (collectively “Eating Eventsâ€) Which are sanctioned and approved by the IFOCE. Performer shall notify IFOCE in advance of competing or appearing in any eating events not sanctioned by the IFOCE and must obtain IFOCE’s prior in order to participate or appear. This approval maybe withheld in IFOCE’s sole judgement based on safety of such Eating Events, competition with other organizations or other conflict with the reasonable objectives of IFOCE.
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE SECTION ABOVE: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN AND IS THIS AN ETHICAL CONTRACT? If so why or why not?
GJoe competes in Krystal prequalifier
(From anonymous comment) KrystalSquareOff.com reports that “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti ate 24 burgers in 2 minutes in a Krystal prequalifier in Nashville, 4 off the record held by Joey Chestnut and Bob Shoudt. The article mentions Menchetti’s estrangement from the IFOCE, but does not say if he will be allowed to compete in the 8 minute qualifier on Sunday. GJoe is in Tennessee to compete in the Backyard Burgers finals tomorrow in Memphis.
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