Larry “The Legend” McNeil has updated his rankings on his myspace blog. These rankings will probably be quite controversial for some people. It is difficult to see how Dale Boone can be ranked ahead of Pat Bertoletti after taking the results of the Atlanta Zoo qualifier into account.

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The website for Foreign Policy has an interview with IFOCE chairman George Shea that focuses on the international aspects of competitive eating. The European competitors for the 2006 finals will be from Sweden and the Czech republic.

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Advertising Age has an article about the difficulties IFOCE has experienced obtaining mainstream sponsors like national fast-food chains.

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justmyshow.com has a podcast of an interview with George Shea, chairman of IFOCE.

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The Wall Street Journal has an article on how Guinness is being challenged by alternate record-maintaining organizations including IFOCE. (Sonya Thomas is not the only woman from South Korea who can claim a world eating record)

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If the AICE leadership believes that they have been censored in the comments of this blog, I will post a link to whatever content on competitiveeaters.com they desire. (This will eliminate the possbility of impostors that is present with blog comments)

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The Journal News of Westchester County, NY has an article about competitive eating with quotes from Richard Shea and Tim Janus.

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The AICE news page lists the expected contestants for the United Pickle contest that will be held May 24 at the Carnegie Deli. According to that roster, “Krazy” Kevin Lipsitz will attempt to reclaim the pickle crown that he won in 2000. Joe Menchetti has also apparently decided that the contest is sufficiently lucrative to enter.

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bloomberg.com reports that Bayer AG, makers of Alka Seltzer, have severed ties with IFOCE and will not sponsor the 2006 US Open of Competitive Eating or any other future eating contests. Bayer’s US marketing executives apparently wanted to continue the sponsorship, but were vetoed by headquarters in Germany.

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speedeat.com has been updated after a one month hiatus. “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti downplays (but does not explicitly deny) reports that he has returned to AICE and says he does not intend to compete in an AICE event before the pickle contest on May 24. However, all the AICE contests in which he is listed as an expected entrant on the AICE news page are after that date.

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Brian Seiken has emailed me that there is a divergence of opinion regarding who controls entry into next month’s United Pickle eating contest at the Carnegie Deli. United Pickle, the contest sponsor, has given control of the contest field to Cookie Jarvis and Brian Seiken while the owner of the Carnegie Deli believes he will decide who will compete. Seiken says that he and Jarvis will not compete if any AICE members are entered and they are expecting other IFOCE members to honor their boycott.

comments are closed for this post

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The AICE news page announces that Adam Leffler intends to compete in their upcoming contests, making official his breach with IFOCE. Adam, who announced his retirement after December’s Atlantic City meatball contest, did not leave IFOCE on the best of terms according to this page on Brian Seiken’s website. In addition to joining AICE as an eater, Leffler says that he also hopes to work in the management side of that organization.

Comments are not allowed for this post. If Brian Seiken (or anyone else) would like to comment, he can put it on his home page or blog.

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For the first time in over six months, the IFOCE rankings have been updated. Congratulations to all the newly ranked eaters.

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AICE has dropped numeric rankings and has implemented a new system similar to movie and restaurant rankings (4 stars = top class.) There are listed criteria that an eater needs to achieve to obtain a particular ranking level. According to the AICE news page for March 23, one of the goals of the new ranking system is to take into account an “eater’s value as an entertainer” and not just his/her contest results. There are four levels in the rankings, 4 stars, 3 stars, 2 stars and honorable mention. Kobayashi is the only non-AICE eater in the 4 star classification.

(Comments are turned off for this post and comments about the AICE ranking system will not be allowed on other posts.)

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IFOCE.com has a graphic for the 2006 goldenpalace.net World Series of Competitive Eating with no additional information. It is not clear if the World Series will entail new contests or if it is just a term to describe all the contests sponsored by goldenpalace. There is also a graphic for Alka Seltzer, so top eaters should probably be making travel plans for Las Vegas in July for US Open II.

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The next post in the series about rankings lists impressive performances by unranked eaters since July. The best currently unranked eater is definitely Chip “The Phenom” Simpson who has three top 4 finishes in non-qualifiers and should definitely be ranked in the top 15 in the next rankings. Other notable eaters, listed alphabetically include:

Leland Collins – winner of ABQ GC (did not participate in finals)
Ryan Delano – lost OKC GC to Conti by 1/2 sandwich
Erik “The Red” Denmark – respectable performances in Big Daddy Burger & chili cheese fries
Jason “The Erbivore” Erb – top NW eater in Seattle Voicewing
Ken “Mongo” Federighi – respectable performances in chili cheese fries & meatballs
Shaun Kessler – 3 #3 finishes in Krystal qualifiers
Andrew “Skinnyboy” Lane – #3 in ABQ GC – #6 in Raleigh with better result
Mike Nafziger – #2 to Janus’ record performance, top local in Iowa smoked pork
Justin Mih – #2 & #3, lost only to LeFevre & Donahue
Bryan Miller – #2 & #3 finish in Krystal qualifiers
David Ray – #2 in Miss. Krystal
Joe “Donkey Kong” Zakerski – #3 in Nashville Krystal qualifier

If IFOCE had a female rookie of the year award for 2005, the best choice for that would probably be Alicia Garcia, who ate 10 sandwiches at the Nebraska State Fair

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The official IFOCE rankings have not been updated since September. I am going to do a series of posts providing information about the rankings which will help anyone who wants to create a more up to date listing.

I have not been able to find any information that the following eaters have competed since the US Open last July or earlier. This does not imply that the following eaters should be dropped from the rankings.

#13 Dale Boone
#17 Oleg Zhornitskiy
#29 Leon Feingold
#31 Randy Harrison
#32 Bill “Pit” Pendleton
#33 Lynn Curley
#37 Ken Tittle
#38 Cade Hardin
#41 Jason Kokoszka
#42 Ed Taboada, Jr.
#47 “Collard Green” Hughes
#48 Bob Ford
#49 Robert Brooks

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I have added polls to the site and the first question deals with how many competitors should be listed in the contest results. From “Beautiful” Brian Seiken’s comment from the meatball contest post:

I have requested official stats from the powers that be in regard to the contestants that finished out of the money 6 and up . However in the past my requests have gone unanswered with my assumption that if i post these stats it might cause friction amongst eaters that finished out of the money.

It is hard for me to see how accurately reported results could cause friction unless someone is ultra-thinskinned, in which case he/she should probably not be involved in competitive events. I am curious to see how widespread the desire for more complete contest results is for both competitors and fans.

I hope to have a new poll question about every two weeks.

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