PittsburghLive.com has an article about Brian Subich in which “Big” Brian shares some of his training tips. There is also a section about how hot dogs are made.

PermalinkComments (1)

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.

PermalinkComments

(from Carey Poehlmann) Suntimes.com has an article about Tim Brown. Like Crazy Legs Conti, Brown works for a gentlemen’s club.

PermalinkComments

The bratwurst eating contest on the schedule for the Sheboygan Brat Days festival is a non-IFOCE contest limited to Wisconsin residents.

PermalinkComments (6)

From a Patrick Holbert email:

I’m throwing a party Friday night at The Underscore in NYC. Would you mind plugging this event on the blog since Badlands will be performing? I’m performing as well as my alter-ego Pat Miscellaneous. I’m a huge fan of competitive eating so I’m really excited that Badlands is on board for this show.

The Clams are playing as well and these guys are a riot. It’s going to be a really fun time so I’m trying to get everyone in the CE community to come out and have a good time.

www.myspace.com/badlandsbooker
www.myspace.com/patmiscellaneous
www.myspace.com/theclamsmusic
www.theunderscore.com

Badlands will go on around 10pm.

PermalinkComments

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

PermalinkComments

From a Bruce “the Hangman” Pobanz email:

“The Hangman” Bruce Pobanz has agreed to a Hot Dog Eating Exhibition in Brunswick, Georgia on Monday July 2. The event will be a one minute contest being filmed for the Brunswick News and will be aired at www.thebrunswicknews.com on Friday July 6. The webcast will be available all weekend.

Also the Brunswick News will be doing a story on “The Hangman” and the upcoming “Science of Speed Eating” Documentary. The news article will be published in the July 7 and 8 weekend edition of the Brunswick News.

PermalinkComments (1)

KansasCity.com notes that the Royals have started a new class of ticket:

This weekend, the Royals held the first of what will become a semi-regular promotion in which fans can buy a club-level seat with unlimited hot dogs, nachos, peanuts and soda.

“Oh, we’ve seen a lot of people through here who could do some damage (in competitive eating contests),” says Shawn, who worked the All-You-Can-Eat concession stand Friday night. “Especially peanuts and hot dogs.”

The article also has some quotes from “Humble” Bob Shoudt

PermalinkComments (4)

NYPost.com has an article about roommates Crazy Legs Conti and Tim “Eater X” Janus.

Best friends “Crazy Legs” Conti and Timothy “Eater X” Janus rigged their kitchen to emulate the famed Coney Island eatery, installing a replica of Nathan’s industrial grill, a red leather banquette, and red neon signs. They even replaced glassware with Nathan’s disposable cups.

Signs of their obsession are on every imaginable surface: the Oyster Eating belt, tiramisu trophy, and 40 other plaques and prizes from eating contests.

PermalinkComments (1)

The Seattle Times has a long article about Erik “the Red” Denmark with coverage of his victory at the Shea Stadium qualifier. Denmark had about $10,000 in travel expenses last year.

Rich Shea says he is unaware of any diabetic eaters, which would come as news to Pat Philbin.

PermalinkComments (5)

A video of Thursday’s Nathan’s qualifier at the QVC studio can be seen at http://youtube.com/watch?v=aaYPM12UizE

PermalinkComments (1)

The New York Times has an article assessing Kobayashi’s impact on competitive eating.

If Kobayashi loses, the contest runs the risk of losing its marquee star.

“People are attracted to the game by individuals, but then they become more familiar with the game and so there’s a path from being a fan of an individual to being a fan of the sport,” Mandelbaum said. “But I’m not sure if people watch this for the same reason people watch sports.”

Ruth passed the mantle of stardom in baseball to Lou Gehrig, among others, leaving baseball significantly stronger than it was when he started. Time will show whether the interest in hot dog-eating competitions will continue, but having Chestnut around to succeed Kobayashi may be important to keep fans watching.

PermalinkComments

HudsonReporter.com has an article with information about last weeks pigs feet eating contest at the New Jersey State Fair. Arturo Rios’ winning amount was 2.89 pounds, more than one pound more than the second place finisher.

update Erik Denmark also has a blog entry about the contest.

PermalinkComments (8)

From the EATORF calendar

Sat. June 30 @8pm The Stadium Club in Moosic Boneless Hot Wings ($200 first prize)
Fri. July 20 @ Gametime 7pm PNC Field in Moosic during Yankees game Hot Dogs
Wed. August 8 @ 9pm Joe Shags Restaurant in Pittston Square Pizz

PermalinkComments

Historical weather data from JFK airport (which presumably is the same as the weather on Coney Island) is available at wunderground.com. Using this archive, it is difficult to discern any connection between the weather and Kobayashi’s performance at the Nathan’s finals.

(weather data is from approximately 12:50 pm)

2001 50 HDB 71.1 °F / 21.7 °C 93% humidity, overcast
2002 50.5 HDB 96.1 °F / 35.6 °C 40% humidity, partly cloudy
2003 44.5 HDB 81.0 °F / 27.2 °C 72% humidity, clear
2004 53.5 HDB 77.0 °F / 25.0 °C 64% humidity, mostly cloudy
2005 49 HDB 78.1 °F / 25.6 °C 48% humidity, scattered clouds
2006 53.75 HDB 84.9 °F / 29.4 °C 65% humidity, haze

PermalinkComments (3)

Brian Seiken has uploaded a video of his 2 minute exhibition with Arturo Rios, Jr. on New York cable to http://hometown.aol.com/beautifulbrian43/msg.html

PermalinkComments

(Thanks Brian Cooley) The Chattanooga Times Free Press has an interview with Kobayashi conducted from his hotel in New York City. An audio clip of the interview is available. Kobayashi intends to compete in this fall’s Krystal Square Off IV regardless of whether he participates in the July 4 contest.

PermalinkComments (2)

AsianWeek has an article about last Saturday’s Nathan’s qualifier in Daly City, CA, won by Rich LeFevre. The controversy about the size of the hot dogs is mentioned.

PermalinkComments

Crazy Legs Conti appears on the front page of today’s amNY newspaper. An article about his training for the Nathan’s finals appears in that issue, along with a slideshow, video and chronology of hot dog eating innovations which lists Conti’s new technique

2007- Crazy Legs Conti turns the bun inside out for greater dunking surface area and calls the technique “Reverse Bunning.”

PermalinkComments (13)

From a Sean Gordon email:

1. 32 Bob Shoudt (21 halfway)
2. 26 Brad Sciullo
3. 19 Chris “the Mad greek” Abatsas

Paul s, russ keeler, justin mih, wild bill also in attendance.

PermalinkComments (14)

The New York Times blog has an entry about Kobayashi which mentions today’s Nathan’s qualifier held in Manhattan. The qualifier is called the Civil Service qualifier, but the winner was not a goverment worker:

At noon today in the food court of the Manhattan Mall in Midtown, Major League Eating held the second-to-last of 13 qualifiers for next week’s Nathan’s contest. Seven men took part; the winner was Arturo Rios Jr., 30, of Long Branch, N.J., a driver for The Daily News, who consumed 27.5 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes.

Allen Goldstein came in second with 26 HDB, giving him the wild card lead.

Tim Brown has considerable reason to be upset with Rios being allowed to compete, as this denied him the wild card slot.

update NY1 has an article and video about the contest

update #2 Metro and amNY have articles about the contest.

Metro says the contest was “billed as a chance for an “ordinary eater” or civil servant to join next week’s ultra-competitive field” Apparently Rios’ rank of #9 in the current IFOCE poll qualified him as an “ordinary eater”

PermalinkComments (36)

Jeannie Moos, who does reports about New York City for CNN, did a segment about Kobayashi’s possible absence from the Nathan’s finals which can be seen at http://www.cnn.com/offbeat/ (video will probably be available only on June 27) Joey Chestnut calls in with a phone interview.

PermalinkComments

From an email from Brian Seiken:

Around 5-6PM EST SNY the mets station on cable tv will show MLE hot dog exhibition live . Rios myself and possibly Shredder will take part in i think a one or two minute eatoff. on June 27th tommorow Thought i would pass it on.

PermalinkComments (13)

The Creative Loafing blog has an entry and picture of Dale Boone winning the Atlanta qualifier.

PermalinkComments (1)

LancasterOnline.com did an article about Sonya Thomas to preview the Shoo Fly Pie contest.

Though Thomas prefers salads and sushi, most days she has to eat on the job. She often avoids her favorite Korean restaurants, where too many fans recognize her.

“When I go eat, I don’t like the people bothering me,” she says. “When I eat, I want to enjoy my food.”

Thomas starts her day with coffee. After the lunch rush, she grabs a crispy chicken sandwich — hold the mayo — chicken tenders and king-sized french fries, washing it down with three or four king-sized Diet Cokes.

“Every day (it’s) the same food,” she says of the approximately 1,900-calorie midday meal. “It never changes.”

PermalinkComments (3)