The Totally Serious Sports News Network has an article about Cleveland Indians pitcher Masahide Kobayashi being mistaken for someone else with that surname:

Needless to say, Kobayashi is already questioning whether signing with Cleveland was the best thing for him.

“Seriously, the fact that no one knew Kobayashi is a common Japanese name is kind of offensive,” he said. “It’s amazing to me that a team called the ‘Indians’ can be so racially insensitive.”

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AICE News reports that Ian Hickman set the AICE chili record today by eating 10 pounds and 2 ounces of chili in five minutes at the Chili Open in Canton, Ohio. The top 3:

1. Ian “the Invader” Hickman – 10 lbs, 2 oz (1.27 Gal)
2. Mark Lyle-The Human Vacuum- 8 lbs, 10 oz
3. Bob “Killer” Kuhns- 8 lbs, 9 oz

Hickman’s 5 minute mark is .23 gallons off Rich Lefevre’s IFOCE chili record of 1.5 gallons in 10 minutes.

update CantonRep.com has an article and gallery about the contest

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The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s blog has an entry about relief pitcher Masahide “Masa” Kobayashi and his more famous namesake:

In case you’re wondering: No, The Tsunami and Masa are not related. But Masa was amused when Plain Dealer sports guy Dennis Manoloff put the question to him through an interpreter.

Kobayashi is the eighth-most-popular surname in Japan, the equivalent of O’Connor in Ireland, Zhou in China, Becker in Germany, Ramirez in Mexico, Popov in Russia, Svensson in Sweden, Macdonald in Scotland and (sorpresa, y’all) Rodriguez in the United States.

Dozens of notable people, one Japanese city and one “Star Trek” spaceship all bear the name that translates as “small forest,” including haiku master Issa Kobayashi (1763-1828).

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The Kobayashi the MLB.com article refers to is relief pitcher Masahide Kobayashi, who signed a two year contract with the Cleveland Indians.

Masahide will not be the first Kobayashi to throw a pitch at Jacobs Field. Takeru Kobayashi threw the first pitch at an Indians game in 2005.

Other links: baseballthinkfactory thread, cleveland.com blog entry

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(From competitiveeatingnews) Cleveland.com reports that a fire on November 8 destroyed a building owned by Chris Abatsas which housed his adult entertainment club, Monroe’s Cabaret, and a dry cleaners. No injuries were reported but a witness believed someone was trapped in the fire. Two other fires have destroyed buildings in Cleveland this month, one started several hours after Abatsas’ building burned and one the week before. Abatsas did not have insurance. The cause of the conflagration is unknown, but police will investigate it as if it was arson.

A 1999 article in the Cleveland Scene reports efforts by the police to shut down Monroe’s Cabaret due to alleged drug transactions and safety inspection violations.

Fox TV article & video

WKYC video

fire gallery

Cleveland.com blog entry

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Cleveland.com has a long article about competitive eating which focuses on the locally televised contests from the early 1970s.

Before LeBron James, Cleveland sports was the domain of another king — Mariano “Mushmouth” Pachetti. In the 1970s, he could devour an entire pie in 30 seconds. He was unstoppable, a royal glutton.

That is, until Mushmouth met his match: Chris, the Fairview Fireball. In 1972, the saucy German shepherd jawed its title away in a pizza duel.

“Her slices fell to the floor,” says “Big Chuck” Schodowski, who presided over the event. “But she reached down and ate them; she really wanted to win.”

A cleveland.com columnist also tried his hand at competitive eating

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Josh Camerote, director of the Wing Bowl 13 documentary, “Swallow Your Pride” has set up a website and blog at http://www.joshcamerote.com/home.html The blog announces that a viewing of “Swallow Your Pride” has been scheduled for May 31 in Cleveland, but details have not been finalized yet.

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From AICE news:

1. Mark “The Human Vacuum” Lyle 8.3 lb
2. Bob “Killer” Kuhns 8.2 lb
3. “Dr. Delicious” (rookie) 7.9 lb

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cantonrep.com has a brief preview of the AICE chili contest to be held February 17. One of the eaters expected to attend is “Pete Broken.”

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Ohio.com has a report from yesterday’s House of Blues Wing Eating Championship at the BBQ and Music Fest at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Chip Simpson easily won the contest, beating out David “Brickhouse” Braunstein.

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The IFOCE website lists two new contests that will be held this week. The goldenpalace.net ice cream eating contest will be held in New York City on Friday ($4000 in prizes) and the House of Blues Wing Eating championship ($1000) in prizes will be held in Cleveland on Saturday.

Corrected 6:24 pm – Thanks Pat Bertoletti

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