(from Laura Flynn) The website for the Chinook Winds Casino, the site of this weekend’s rib eating contest, has a video clip of a “Big Bertha” burger contest in which the LeFevres and Joey Chestnut competed. I am not sure what year the contest took place.

update from Rich Lefevre The contest took place in 2007 and the top 3 were:
Joey Chestnut 9:30
Rich LeFevre 9:45
Carlene LeFevre 15:15, first competition in almost 2 years.

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(From Carey Poehlmann) The blogger for whatpushesmybuttons attended the P’Zone challenge and wrote a blog entry about it. He had to agree to not disclose the results of the challenge.

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A press release about today’s P’Zone exhibition is available.

Chestnut, the #2-ranked eater in the world, consumed 4.82 pounds of P’Zones, six times the amount eaten by Marivic Stewart, the upstart rookie, who could only stomach ¾ of a P’Zone, or .8 pounds. Marivic won the right to compete against Joey, as well as an all-expense paid vacation to New York, after submitting photos and an enthusiastic essay to Pizza Hut’s “Dare You to Still Be Hungry” contest in mid-June.

Kobayashi served as judge. Tim Janus was also present.

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The splash page for ifoce.com announces that Joey Chestnut will compete in the P’Zone contest to be held in New York City on July 10. I am not sure if this means that Joey & Kobayashi will compete in that event or if Kobayashi has withdrawn.

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Kobayashi has the following quote in today’s New York Times wrap-up of Nathan’s contest.

Mr. Kobayashi bowed and was humble in defeat. But he also pointed straight at Mr. Chestnut and yelled, “I will definitely beat him next year.”

It is not clear how Kobayashi will gain entry into the 2008 finals since he no longer receives a bye as defending champion and no qualifier was held in Tokyo this year.

Other post contest links
SJ Mercury article about Joey Chestnut’s victory – Joey will attend Kobayashi’s P’Zone exhibition next week.
Joey Chestnut podcast on KCBS
Erik Denmark article from the Seattle Times
WNBC article and raw video
Video clip of Kobayashi’s reversal from theblogofhilarity (via thebiglead.com)
audience video showing what was going on during the last commercial break from cyber fyber
news video from News 12 Brooklyn
Gothamist blog entry
Observations from Megamunch about ESPN censorship – the reversal was not mentioned on SportsCenter either
Commentary from Wing Tut

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A video starting with five minutes remaining in the Nathan’s finals and continuing until the end of the broadcast can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V-2NKUlzns Kobayashi appears to have a minor reversal with about 40 seconds left.

Yahoo has local news video clips from WCBS (from the Hangman)

The Hangman also has some video captures on his website.

(From Billy of supersizedmeals) news.com.au has a picture of Kobayashi’s reversal. Someone has said that Kobayashi should not have been DQed because he caught all the food before it hit the floor or table, but the picture makes clear that some material escaped.

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Nathan’s Finals results

1. Joey Chestnut 66 HDB (listed at 63 when contest ended), $10000
2. Takeru Kobayashi 63 HDB (appeared to have a reversal near contest end), $5000
3. Pat Bertoletti 49 HDB, $2500
4. Tim “Eater X” Janus 43.5 HDB, $1500
5. Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas: 39 HDB (new female record, breaks 37 HDB plateau), $1000
6. Bob Shoudt 35 HDB
6. Chip Simpson 35 HDB
8. Rich LeFevre 31 HDB
9. Hall Hunt: 29 HDB
10. Juliet Lee 26 HDB (finals record for rookie female)
11. Dale Boone 25 HDB
12. Pat Philbin 24 HDB
13. Crazy Legs Conti 23.5 HDB
14. Erik “the Red” Denmark 23 HDB
15. Tim Brown 22.5 HDB
16. Arturo Rios, Jr. 21 HDB
16. Allen “Shredder” Goldstein 21 HDB

update Full results are available on IFOCE. The IFOCE report mentions neither Kobayashi’s possible reversal nor Joey’s “phantom” extra 3 HDB. The reported attendance is 50,000.

NYTimes.com has an article mentioning the post contest jump in Joey Chestnut’s result. You would think that scraps would result in a deduction and not an increment:

After both men appeared to finish with 63 hot dogs eaten, the judges spent several minutes in a somewhat bizarre recount. To determine a winner, the judges counted the scraps left on the plates.

The liveblog of the telecast follows after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

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Sports Illustrated did an article about Joey Chestnut which has a gallery of the top 10 ranked eaters.

Joey Chestnut was like any other nervous 23-year-old on a first date as he drove to San Francisco with Nikki, a fellow San Jose State student he’d met at a party earlier that week. The two hit it off instantly. She was immediately attracted to how normal and down to earth he seemed. Though the choice of venue for the couple’s first date — a wing eating contest — was a little odd, she loved sports and had never witnessed people eat so much so quickly.

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WCBS has an article and video of today’s weigh in for the Nathan’s finals. Kobayashi says that he is still undecided on whether he will compete tomorrow.

amNY also has an article about the weigh in which says that 17 eaters will compete, so Kobayashi will be the eater from outside the United States present.

update
NY1 has an article and video of the weigh in
Gothamist has a blog entry containing a picture of Kobayashi opening his mouth rather widely
The NY Times blog has an entry describing Dale Boone’s current project:

Dale Boone said he spends several months a year in India, where he is filming “House of Brahmins,” a romantic comedy about an ethnically mismatched couple. “America guy comes to India, runs into a Brahmin girl,” Mr. Boone explained. “You want both sides to laugh at the same time. It’s a very hard thing to do.”

update #2
Brian Seiken has a video of the entire weigh in
MSNBC has an AP article and Darren Rovell video
myfoxNY has an article with four videos and a slideshow
FoxSports has a column (from MegaMunch)

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MercuryNews.com has both an article and an editorial about Joey Chestnut’s quest to dethrone Kobayashi. The editorial makes the following proposal:

The city of Chestnut’s girth should do something to honor a famous resident. Since there is no big eating contest on the West Coast, there’s opportunity for San Jose. The city has spent millions of dollars bringing the Grand Prix auto race to town; it could get cheaper mileage by sponsoring Chestnut at an eat-off with burritos or Vietnamese spring rolls.

Tens of thousands would flood downtown restaurants. And those fans would surely know how to eat.

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A song praising Joey “Jaws” Chestnut by Billy Sugarfix can be listened to on the Independent Weekly website. The song has considerably higher production values than what you might expect.

Like a savant, Billy seizes upon a section of an interview where Chestnut discusses his two-handed eating process and compares it to a marathoner. “I need to find my rhythm: Bite, bite, swallow. Bite, bite, swallow,” Billy says, reading it to me. We toss a couple of ideas on how to approach the meter back and forth before settling on a ballad to Chestnut’s burgeoning legend, like a combination of Billy Jack and Davy Crocket. Billy gets back to me within 24 hours with music, the above verse, and this resplendent chorus, with the grace of a look from an eagle’s eye.

He’s a stomach-centric thousandaire
feeling the rhythm of a Krystal’s square
Coney Island here he comes
bite bite swallow,
even the crumbs are afraid.

Like anyone with less musical talent than William Hung, I’m at first shocked at how good it sounds, and immediately set about ruining it by increasing my participation. I pen another verse for the song, and call Billy back. He immediately notes that my verse in the first person, whereas, hitherto, the song has been in the third person. I somewhat clumsily admit I have thought of this, but figured the first half could be introduction, like on “Shaft,” when the background girls say how he’s a mean mofo. Ever gracious, he takes my suggestions and promises a final version by the weekend. And, lo and behold, he brings it home. Just like ol’ Joey “Jaws” Chestnut—the (potential) real American hero—damn well better.

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The Mainichi Daily News has an English article about Joey Chestnut breaking Takeru Kobayashi’s record. The article contains a translation of the quote from Kobayashi’s manager found in the Weekly Today article about Joey Chestnut’s record.

He’s due to go for his seventh Nathan’s crown next month, but his manager Kumi Ozeki suggests that Kobayashi’s title defense might be in danger.

“Kobayashi’s mother died in March and he’s currently taking a sabbatical. He’s not even in training,” the hot dog eating champion’s manager tells Shukan Gendai. “I haven’t heard a word from him about whether he’s going to take part in the July contest and there’s no way that I know to get in touch with him.”

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In his chat today, Bill “The Sports Guy” Simmons of ESPN.com was asked a question about Joey Chestnut:

Eric (New York City): Bill, did you read about that guy who broke the Japanese guy’s record for hot dog eating. Will you be tuning in to ESPN2 to watch USA vs. Japan in hot dog eating?

Bill Simmons: Heard about this! We really need to get behind this guy… it’s like the ’80 Olympic Hockey team all over again.

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(From theOnlineWire) Pinnacle.sports has posted their odds on Kobayashi winning the Nathan’s finals and the over/under on the winning amount:

Tue 7/3	Will Takeru Kobayashi win?
12:00 PM	101 Yes	-102
	102 No	-114
Tue 7/3	How many hot dogs will the winner eat?
12:00 PM	103 Over	57 hot dogs -141
	104 Under	57 hot dogs +125

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Gersh Kuntzman has written an article for the Brooklyn Papers about Joey’s record breaking performance in Tempe another how air conditioning benefited his performance. There is also a cartoon about the feat.

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(from noaphex) LiveLeak has a one minute video of footage from Saturday’s Nathan’s qualifier at Arizona Mills at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=01d_1180994817

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NY Times blog entry, currently 29 comments (Liz’s youtube video is embedded)
Vallejo Times Herald article
Skinnyboy’s Tempe travelog

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On Covers.com, SportsBook.com has posted the following odds for the Nathan’s finals:

Takeru Kobayashi 1-1
Joey Chestnut 4-5
Field 20-1

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(From JapanProbe) A Japanese news clip about Joey Chestnut’s record breaking performance in the Tempe Nathan’s qualifier has been uploaded to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BdsD4DgESM

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(From GerberDaisee) A two minute podcast of Joey Chestnut’s interview this morning on the Today Show is available on the NBC news website.

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The IFOCE.com results for the Shea Stadium qualifier says that Joey Chestnut will be on NBC’s Today Show on Monday sometime between 7 am and 10 am.

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Results from Laura & Beautiful Brian & other commenters
updated from Andrew “Skinnyboy” Lane

1) Joey Chestnut 59.5 (breaks previous record of 53.75 HDB)
2) Rich LeFevre 33
3) Tim Brown 25
4) Justin Mih 21
4) Mongo Marquez 21
6) Mad Stork 16
7) Andrew “Skinnyboy” Lane 14
7) Jason Erb 14
9) Russell Blackwell 13.75
10) Todd “The Butler” Yeates 7

According to wikipedia, the last American to hold the Nathan’s record was Ed Krachie w/ 22.25 HDB from 1996 to 1997

updated
Todd “the Butler” Yeates’ gallery
AZ Republic article
ESPN.com article from AP
Russell Blackwell blog entry

Joey Chestnut will throw out the first pitch at tomorrow’s game at Shea Stadium according to this USA today article

A contest video can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEpvZUqkTss

update #2
The East Valley Tribune has a slideshow with a sound track
The SF Chronicle has an article about Joey’s performance in which he describes his training regimen:

Chestnut, 23, started training six weeks ago with what he calls a “hot dog run” two days per week. Each time, he consumed as many hot dogs as possible in 12 minutes, doing his “weird” dance, flexing and wiggling to push the food down.

Then, he didn’t eat for three days to prepare for the next time.

“You have to mentally have a reason to eat that much and maybe convince my body that it’s OK — it’s not going to hurt it,” he said.

One day each week he ate normally. He also took “tons of vitamins,” amino acids and protein supplements.

Before Saturday’s contest, he didn’t eat Thursday or Friday.

update #3
Live Spaces gallery
Deadspin thread

update #4
Local news TV clip (from Todd “the Butler”)
Joey’s post contest interview
BBC News video (from Brazen) (Video is most popular BBC video for June 3)

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AZCentral.com has an interview with Joey Chestnut. Joey states he plans to compete in the Tempe, Arizona qualifier on June 2. He will practice for that event in the Los Angeles Dodgers All You Can Eat pavilion this weekend. Joey expresses confidence about his upcoming performances:

Meanwhile, Chestnut believes he’s prepared to shock the eating world.

“I’ve definitely been able to break the record in practice,” he said, adding that for competitive reasons he doesn’t want to say exactly how many hot dogs he has devoured.

“Unless I have a bad day, I’ll break the record.”

And he is convinced that Kobayashi is approaching his gastrointestinal zenith.

“Kobayashi is amazing, but he’s been at it about six years and he’s hovering at about the same amount,” he said. “I don’t know if he can go much higher. If I can get to 55 or 56 I have a chance to beat him.”

updateAZCentral has another article about the qualifier

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Yahoo Sports has a one minute video report about the TripRewards hot wing eating contest produced by the Associated Press.

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(From Megamunch and Brian Subich) Joey Chestnut’s victory at the TripRewards wing contest yesterday was the #2 play of the day on ESPN Sportcenter.

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