610wip.com has been updated with Wing Bowl 15 information. The only apparent difference between Wing Bowl 15 and 14 is that veterans are allowed back in and the Philadelphia area winner will also receive a car regardless of his/her overall finish. The contest rules say that the duration remains 30 minutes and AICE eaters are still explicitly banned. 5 IFOCE eaters gain entrance automatically to the contest.

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The logo for Wing Bowl 15 appears at the top of 610wip.com The only information offered is that there will be eating & wingettes; other details will be provided tomorrow morning.

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Angelo Cataldi has more information about Wing Bowl 15 in his new blog entry:

On November 27, the new theme (which will provide an advantage to locals at the expense of out of towners) will be announced and requests to perform qualifiying stunts will be taken.

On December 4 (the day of the Eagles/Panthers Monday Night Football game), tickets will go on sale and a new commissioner to replace the late Eric Gregg will be named. Tickets will still be $5 and the event will be held at the Wachovia Center on Feb 2 The prizes will reportedly be better than the previous year and better than any other competitive eating event in the US, meaning the purse value will have to exceed the $30,000 paid out in Krystal Square Off III.

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If Yao Wing intends to compete in Wing Bowl 15, he should probably update yaowing.com, or at least remove the cartoon on the home page, before he attempts his stunt.

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Angelo Cataldi says that the format for the upcoming Wing Bowl will be changed, and this alteration will benefit local eaters at the expense of out of towners. The new poll asks what change do you think is most likely.

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As of November 13, Wing Bowl 15 has yet to be listed on the Wachovia Center Schedule. If the Wing Bowl is held the Friday morning before the Super Bowl on February 2, the Wachovia Center will have to switch from a hockey rink to the Wing Bowl configuration to basketball in 24 hours.

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WIP host Angelo Cataldi answers a question about Wing Bowl 15 in his blog. He says that tickets will probably go on sale the first week of December and a new contest theme and commisioner to replace the late Eric Gregg will be named at that time. The new theme will “address growing concerns that Wing Bowl has become too much of a national event, at the expense of Philadelphia.” We will have to wait until next month to see if those concerns will be addressed by banning or discouraging out of market eaters from competing.

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It is surprising that absolutely no information about Wing Bowl 15 regarding eligibility, format, tickets or other aspects of that event have been made public yet given that qualifying stunts usually begin the week after Thanksgiving. WIP’s Wing Bowl page still only has information about Wing Bowl 14. Last year, tickets had been sold out by October 24.

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The United Eaters of Pennsylvania will have a new possible road trip destination in several days. nj.com has a column about Bill “El Wingador” Simmons which says the five time Wing Bowl champion’s restaurant, El Wingador’s To Go, is expected to open November 1 at 4th and Girard in Philadelphia. The eatery’s menu wil feature “Home-cooking, Cuban sandwiches, Spanish dishes, pork dishes, and, of course, jumbo wings.” Bill Simmons says he does not plan to try for a sixth Wing Bowl title, but he is still doing eating challenges. He recently won $1000 of free pizza and set a record of 19 minutes for the 6 pound pizza at the 3 Brothers Pizza at Ocean City.

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(from meathaus) Jenny Drumgoole has opened a website showcasing her artwork at JennyDrumgoole.com The full version of “Husky” can be viewed there, which has Jenny appearing as plaintiff and defendant in Judge Mathis’ court. The Wing Bowl 13 documentary is also hosted there, but there is no additional footage not present in the youtube clip. Ms. Drumgoole’s photographs are also available for viewing.

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(Thanks Rhonda Evans) Philly.com has a list of highlights from the first ten years of the Wachovia Center. Sonya’s victory in Wing Bowl 12 appears under “Nonsports highlights”

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(From anonymous comment) – A video of Joey Chestnut drinking a gallon of milk in 41 seconds in the WIP studios to qualifiy for Wing Bowl 14 is available on youtube.

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While several competitive eaters hope to eventually run their own restaurants, Bill “El Wingador” Simmons will apparently be the first to do so. Philly.com reports that Simmons signed a lease on the former KFC restaurant at Fourth Street and Girard Avenue where he intends to open El Wingador’s To Go, which will serve chicken wings, cheesesteaks, hoagies and Latin food. One of Simmon’s partners is his uncle Pete Rodriguez, who was the original cook at Jim’s Steaks in the 1970s and might have prepared the sandwiches Lynda Kuerth ate to set the record. The restaurant is expected to open in October.

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(from humblebob.com) An article about “Humble” Bob Shoudt appears in the most recent issue of the Philadelphia City Paper.

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(This is the post with id # 1000. There are actually fewer posts available on this blog due to deletions and cancelations, but I thought it still deserved a more significant entry than just a one sentence post linking to another article.)

If you have a Guinness Book of World Records from the late 1970s or 80s, there are several pages devoted to eating records in it, and in that section, there is probably a picture of Olivet, Michigan native Lynda Kuerth standing over a plate of hot dogs at a contest at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia in 1977. Ms. Kuerth won that event by eating 23 bunless hot dogs in 3 minutes and 10 seconds (at bottom of link). Her victory is mentioned in an article about Sharon Scholten, another female hot dog eating champion. This mark compares reasonably well with current eaters’ results. Humble Bob Shoudt ate 20 bunless hot dogs in 3 minutes and 40 seconds in his successful qualifying stunt for the the 2005 Wing Bowl. It is interesting that a female competitive eater surprised a Philadelphia stadium crowd over a quarter century before Sonya Thomas shocked Wing Bowl 12 spectators at Wachovia Center in 2004.

Lynda Kuerth showed that her talents extended to long duration events when she set the cheesesteak eating record at Jim’s Steaks in Philadelphia by eating 11 sandwiches in 90 minutes in 1978 or 1979. (I am not sure if this record still holds, but it lasted at least two decades if it has been broken. Her trips from Michigan to Philadelphia invalidate Don “Moses” Lerman’s claim that he is the first competitive eater to travel outside his or her home region for contests. Gregg Kirk wrote an article about Jerry Lehane III’s attempt to break Ms. Kuerth’s cheesesteak record (he finished with 7 sandwiches) around 2000 which is not available on the web. The last paragraph offers a description of Lynda and her feats:

In 1978, in an effort to generate publicity for his establishment, [Jim’s Steaks owner] Abner Silver decided to have an eating contest. One night on the news, he saw a human-interest story on Olivet, MI native Lynda Kuerth who had broken the Guiness Book of World Records title for banana split eating. After making a few phone calls to the television station, Abner got in touch with Lynda and agreed to fly her to Philly and give her a place to stay for the competition. That year, Lynda ate 10 1/2 steaks in an hour and a half, and later that year she appeared in Veteran’s Stadium and broke the Guiness Book of World Records in hot dog eating (without the bun). She ate 23 hot dogs in a minute and a half. The next year, she returned to Jim’s to break her own record by eating 11 steaks. No one has been able to come close since. Oh, and how big is Lynda, who now lives a quiet life in Michigan with a husband and two kids? “She was about five ft., eight and about 135 lbs.,” says Abner. “She had an amazing metabolism.”

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A clip of Jenny Drumgoole’s documentary about Sonya Thomas at Wing Bowl 13 has been uploaded to youtube. If the documentary will not be released theatrically or direct to DVD, I hope all segments will be available on youtube like the “Chili Dawg” documentary.

(I do not have broadband this week, so I have not watched the documentary and am not sure if it is safe for work)

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A documentary about Fino “Chili Dawg” Cachola at Wing Bowl X in 2002 has been uploaded to youtube. The film shows the challenges a Wing Bowl hopeful faces as Chili Dawg attempts to improve his third place finish in Wing Bowl IX. The program lasts about an hour and merits a PG rating, so it is not suitable for all workplaces. Don “Moses” Lerman and “Krazy” Kevin Lipsitz have cameos.

Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Qualifying stunt – two chickens & mashed potatos
Part 3 – Training
Part 4 – Weigh In
Part 5 – Pre Contest
Part 6 – First Round
Part 7 – Conclusion

Part 1 hung up on me on two computers so the video file might be corrupt. Parts 2-7 work fine.

Chili Dawg died on December 26, 2004 after qualifying for Wing Bowl XIII. His qualifying stunt is described in Horsemen of the Esophagus and his death is one of the more compelling segments of that book. The documentary provides a lasting tribute to Chili Dawg’s enthusiasm and fighting spirit.

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Thanks steakbellie, who has already written a blog entry about the contest

QVC Nathan’s qualifier results

1. Seaver “The Achiever” Miller – 21.5 HBD’s
2. Buffalo Jim Reeves – 20
3. Steakbellie – 18
? Super Paul – ?
? Justin Mih – ?
? Brandon “Thunder Lips” – ?

I will check the recording I made of QVC and see if there is any coverage of the contest.

Updated June 23, 2:08 pm
Steakbellie has uploaded his gallery to flickr

Liz has an interview with Seaver Miller at Digest

I did not see any coverage or even mention of the contest when I watched the recording of QVC. Nathan’s hot dogs were one of the products on sale during 11am-noon yesterday.

5:39 pm KYW has a brief article about the contest

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Philly.com has a few paragraphs on Thursday’s QVC studio Nathan’s qualifier. The article says that the contest will not be broadcast live. “Super” Paul Barlow and steakbellie are expected to compete.

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Steakbellie has uploaded his Wing Bowl pictures from February to http://www.flickr.com/photos/steakbellie/sets/72157594170484655/ There are 668 pictures in total. Some photographs of Wingettes are not safe for all workplaces.

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Philly.com has a column about the life of former Wing Bowl commissioner and major league umpire Eric Gregg, who died of a stroke on Monday.

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Yahoo! sports reports that former major league umpire and Wing Bowl commissioner Eric Gregg has died at age 55 of a stroke he suffered yesterday.

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Steakbellie has uploaded a gallery of the Philadelphia Nathan’s qualifier at http://www.flickr.com/photos/steakbellie/sets/72157594155903732/

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Philly.com reports that Eric Gregg, chief Wing Bowl judge and former Major League umpire, experienced a stroke Sunday morning. While the competitive eating community may not have always agreed with Gregg’s Wing Bowl decisions, we can all offer our prayers and support to the Gregg family.

ESPN.com article

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The Philadelphia City Paper has a report on last Saturday’s Nathan’s qualifier held at Independence Hall won by Sonya Thomas. (If any root beer float contests are held, do not expect Sonya to participate). The article’s author, Drew Lazor, has an entry on his personal blog in which he list some of the anti-meat statements in the pamphlet he received from the PETA members protesting the contest.

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