DonSturdy.com has started a power ranking system for competitive eaters. The top 5 are 1) Pat Bertoletti 2) Joey Chestnut 3) Bob Shoudt 4) Sonya Thomas and 5) Eric "Badlands" Booker. Takeru Kobayashi is #29.

September 13, 2011 at 2:40 pm by ojrifkin · More posts about:Rankings | Permalink * Comments (34)

34 Comments »

  1. anonymous said

    September 13, 2011 @ 2:53 pm

    what a wonderful idea unique and most importantly fair

  2. Anonymous said

    September 13, 2011 @ 3:00 pm

    get a clue donsturdy.com, your ranking system sucks

  3. NReda said

    September 13, 2011 @ 3:50 pm

    The unified ranking system is an interesting start. It’s not clear what it actually proves besides that Pat is active as hell. I think many will resent it because of the perceived anti-IFOCE introductory comments (little monetary incentive for eaters to join the federation).

  4. Phil LaMignon said

    September 13, 2011 @ 3:57 pm

    What is his criteria?

  5. Anonymous said

    September 13, 2011 @ 4:29 pm

    I agree with anonymous 3:00 PM – there are other eaters that are considerably more active (and have had better results) than say, Klucken, Brockert, and Bello, and yet they aren’t even on the list.

    Hall Hunt has only one contest this year.

  6. bigbrett said

    September 13, 2011 @ 4:39 pm

    First things first, we’d love to have feedback on the overall ranking and process. We won’t make everyone happy, but we’re willing to listen to constructive criticism.

    A little background…
    This all sprung out of our desire to have a fantasy league for competitive eating, which we might or might not do for 2012. Once we started compiling data and trying to figure out a way of ranking eaters we decided that it might be worthwhile to compile a years data and look at how it plays out in a “ranking” format. We wanted to look at data in an analytical format, objective and not subjective. There are plenty of ways that we weighted the points that put our closer friends higher in the rankings, but decided against those formulas.

    When it became obvious that Pat Bertoletti was both a) putting up great numbers and b) entering more events than anyone, posted the results became even more interesting. Obviously, this isn’t a poll where we all decide who’s the best eater. If the answer to that question isn’t Joey or Kobayashi, the poll wouldn’t be valid by most people’s opinion. Also, we thought it was terribly interesting who the Independent Eaters are that would bubble up to the top. Based on results, it’s clear that Tom and Kobayashi would easily be top 10 in the Power Rankings if they entered more events.

    Here’s a quick summary of the formula – you calculate the total prize pool, this is the Contest Power Rating (the bigger the prize pool, the bigger the Rating). The total prize pool is capped at $10k. Each eater is given points based on quantity/speed/placement. If the winner eats 8 oysters and the last place person eats 1 (what a bad contest, btw), the loser would get 1/8th the points of the winner. The winner gets additional points (always the same, no matter the size of the contest). At some points we may share month by month points totals or weight more recent results higher.

    We sort of think of this as the BCS, where there are certain conferences that have preferential treatment (MLE), but there are still the Boise State’s of the world that are better than most of the BCS, but don’t really have a way of proving that. Obviously, we aren’t fans of the BCS and we would love to see a playoff system for NCAA football. But it turns out that we have about as much control over the BCS as we do over the eating world and there are just as powerful bodies that are not interested in having a playoff system between different competitive bodies.

    As for the anti-IFOCE comments. I don’t think they are anti-IFOCE. IFOCE has bigger prize pools and bigger events. We’re still fans of IFOCE events and huge fans of some of the eaters that are a part of the league. But the point that we were trying to make is that there actually are other options. I don’t think it’s any secret that we want Competitive Eating to be bigger and educating the greater public that there are many great eaters is a positive thing for all involved. It was meant to be neutral commentary, but we admit that we consider ourselves friends with eaters both in and out of MLE, and we don’t think either are getting a fair shake.

    As noted in our post, we would like to find a way to include Eating Challenges into the data, but haven’t come up with a reasonable way of doing that, yet. We would love suggestions on this, as well.

  7. Wrecking Ball said (Registered May 6, 2010)

    September 13, 2011 @ 5:29 pm

    Awesome job! I am both honored and surprised to be included in the list! I know the a while back I tried to do a similar idea with a CE friend but nothing ever came of it. Great job again and it shows your dedication to CE!

  8. Matt "Mega Toad" Stonie said (Registered June 22, 2010)

    September 13, 2011 @ 6:35 pm

    Well, at least I’m the only eater where the two party’s agree upon…

  9. Anonymous said

    September 13, 2011 @ 7:25 pm

    If possible you should try to find out the weight of the food consumed to help standardize the value of each contest. A 4th place finish eating 8 lbs of food should be worth more than a 2nd place finish with 5 lbs.

  10. bigbrett said (Registered February 15, 2011)

    September 13, 2011 @ 7:41 pm

    @wrecking ball – thanks!

    @matt – Wrecking Ball and Larell Marie are also ranked the same in both

    @ 7:25 – that is a great idea and one that I can’t imagine implementing at the moment! That would be a ton of work, but I like it. I’m not sure if it’s all equal – 3 lbs of on the bone ribs vs 3 lbs of boneless wings are not equal. Heck – nathan’s qualifiers vary so much that based on the way the dogs are cooked and location of the event that we couldn’t even necessarily equate hot dogs to hot dogs. But i like the notion – keep thinking of stuff like that

  11. Larellmarie said (Registered May 9, 2010)

    September 13, 2011 @ 9:32 pm

    Wow, cannot imagine the.work that went into this! Very impressive. I noticed the same rankings for us as well. Don’t understand how this stuff works but thank u for.putting.so much effort into this project.for.all of us!

  12. anonymous said

    September 13, 2011 @ 10:01 pm

    See, It is possible for Brian Seiken to beat Will the Champ in something.

  13. UnSturdy said

    September 13, 2011 @ 11:59 pm

    Sturdy is a psycho… his mysterious formula puts Kobi 29th, psycho PLEASE!

  14. Anonymous said

    September 14, 2011 @ 12:39 am

    Anybody else see a problem with Don Sturdy’s list… Kobi 29th. You’re joking right?

  15. Anonymous said

    September 14, 2011 @ 12:52 am

    No offense, DonSturdy.com, but your formula stinks. It produces results that very clearly don’t reflect the real talents of the eaters you purport to rank. So what’s the point? Why even bother to share the results with us. They’re crazy. Go back to the drawing board.

  16. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    September 14, 2011 @ 7:08 am

    A-7:25: You can’t go by weight. Many above average eaters can eat 10+ lbs of grits in less than 8 minutes, or 6 lbs of baked beans in less than 3 minutes. However, considering a more chewy food like toasted ravioli, that same person would do well to eat over 4 lbs in 10 minutes.

  17. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    September 14, 2011 @ 7:18 am

    Don, I applaud your effort, and you must have put a lot of work into it, but something’s amiss. I can’t think of two eaters who are better than Koby. Joey might be (even that’s arguable), but certainly no one else.

    I’d be willing to bet a month of my pay to a week of yours that Koby’s total would be greater than the combined totals of any two eaters you have below the top 10, beginning with Denmark and Menchetti, in any food, in a contest of 8 minutes or longer. That’s not a slam against them either; that’s how good Koby is.

  18. Math & Reading Are Hard said

    September 14, 2011 @ 10:06 am

    @Anon 12:39 & 12:52 – You probably also continue to think Tiger Woods is the best golfer, and picked Peyton Manning 1st in your fantasy football league. Yeah, they may be (or at one point were) the best, but neither of them is going to do much for you today. This list clearly doesn’t purport to list the “best” or “top” eaters, it analyzes current results and rewards action.

  19. Blizzz said (Registered July 16, 2008)

    September 14, 2011 @ 10:10 am

    You would have to remove the frequency, or weigh it much less to get better results. I think it’s a pretty cool idea, but Koby should not be #29, and the frequency must be killing him there.

  20. pmk-one said (Registered March 3, 2011)

    September 14, 2011 @ 10:55 am

    @anon 4:29 pm and others with similar thoughts – Can you send us examples of eaters “that are considerably more active (and have had better results) . . . .” at donsturdy@gmail.com? I agree that under reporting is likely a big issue; we included all the results we could get our hands, but know that we have not captured all results. As Brett also mentioned, the published list does not include all of the eaters we have in the rankings database, so if we have some examples we may be able to look into the reasons why an eater was ranked lower than you may have expected.

    There also continues to be a lot of perhaps intentional ignorance about what the rankings captured. As has been repeatedly stated, this is not a “top 60” list, and does not claim to say this list shows the “best” eaters in a particular order. To give a current example from the NFL, I doubt many of you think that either Chad Henne or Cam Newton are better QBs than Drew Brees, or that Ben Roethlisberger is the 3rd worst QB in the league, but that is what the first week fantasy rankings show: http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leaders?seasonId=2011&slotCategoryId=0. Hopefully, this example will help to demonstrate why comments like “Roethlisberger should not be ranked __” or “Koby should not be 29” miss the mark.

  21. stop complainin said

    September 14, 2011 @ 11:34 am

    ahh shutup the ones that are bitchin are the ones that Seiken was ranked ahead of cause its a fact hes a better eater than ALL of them

  22. Anonymous said

    September 14, 2011 @ 12:19 pm

    Pink-one, of course nobody thinks Cam Newton is better than Drew Brees, but as you said, that’s after one week. How many weeks worth of data did the Don Sturdy-formula account for? Answer: Way too many for it’s crazy results to be taken seriously. This formula shouldn’t be considered a starting point. It should be considered a dead end.

  23. bigbrett said (Registered February 15, 2011)

    September 14, 2011 @ 4:44 pm

    @12:19 What if Drew Brees doesn’t play for a year? That’s essentially what’s gone on with some of these guys that are undoubtedly some of the best in the world. We’re comparing results over the last twelve months, that’s it. We know there are some talented guys out there that aren’t in the top 20, but they haven’t put up the best results over this time span.

    Kobayashi will be jumping up in the ranks after his recent win, but he’s going to have to keep competing to maintain his position.

    The best way to prove your a top eater is to compete and beat people, it’s that simple.

  24. Anonymous said

    September 14, 2011 @ 4:47 pm

    It’s stupid to have a ranking system that penalizes guys for only eating 10 to 15 times a year. It’s dumb. That’s a full enough calendar to give someone the credit they deserve as an eater.

  25. NReda said

    September 14, 2011 @ 4:59 pm

    Ranking systems are all so different. Some vary wildly in their criteria. For example, rating systems used in competitive chess generally do not penalize players for inactivity. I haven’t played in a tournament for years, but my rating has held steady. If I played again and did well, my rating would increase. I’d get more points for beating stronger talent, fewer points for beating weaker talent. But bottom line, I could sit on my laurels and keep my rating. Donsturdy’s rating system operates as a 12-month snapshot rather than a meter for absolute strength or ability. You gotta stay decently active in money-paying events to get a high rank here. It’s stirring the pot big time because we know that Kobyashi could demolish most of the 28 people coming ahead of him, it’s just that he competes in so few events.

  26. LOOKER said

    September 14, 2011 @ 6:07 pm

    LETS BE REALISTIC. THE REAL RANKINGS ARE AS FOLLOWS. 1-10
    1.Joey Chestnut
    2.Kobayashi
    3.Bertoletti
    4.Tim Janus/Matt Stonie TIE
    6. Bob Shoudt
    7. Sonya Thomas
    8. Tom Gilbert
    9. Furious Pete/ Erik Denmark TIE

    If someone disagrees, then you are just delusional.

  27. Anonymous said

    September 14, 2011 @ 7:21 pm

    Looks close to me, but I’d put Juliet and Bob in the top five.

  28. bigbrett said (Registered February 15, 2011)

    September 14, 2011 @ 9:33 pm

    @4:47 Thanks for the constructive criticism. Even if we only include the Top 10 finishes for each eater, the results are almost identical.

    @looker – i’d love to see the math you used to come up with that list. Again, this is a objective ranking system, not subjective. I would imagine we’d be pretty similar if I gave my opinion

  29. LOOKER said

    September 14, 2011 @ 9:55 pm

    I think 95% of people that are up to date with CE would agree with MY personal ranking. OOH YEA!

  30. Digger said

    September 14, 2011 @ 10:02 pm

    9:55 You got it really close to perfect. Right on!

  31. BigWillTheChamp said (Registered February 1, 2009)

    September 14, 2011 @ 11:43 pm

    Don’t care who agrees or disagrees. Here is my idea of a unified top 25:

    1 Joey Chestnut
    2 Takeru Kobayashi
    3 Pat Bertoletti
    4 Bob Shoudt
    5 Sonya Thomas
    6 Tim “Eater X” Janus
    7 Matt Stonie
    8 Tom “Goose” Gilbert
    9 Aaron “A-Train” Osthoff
    10 Badlands Booker
    11 Furious Pete Czerwinski
    12 Johnnie Excel
    13 Eric “The Red” Denmark
    14 David “Wings and Things” Brunelli
    15 Gentleman Joe Manchetti
    16 Stephanie Torres
    17 Dale Boone
    18 Sean Gordon
    19 Adrian Morgan
    20 Juliet Lee
    21 Jonathan “Super Squibb” Squibb
    22 Joe LaRue
    23 Chris “The Mad Greek” Abatsas
    24 Pete “Pretty Boy” Davekos
    25 Tim “Gravy” Brown

  32. Anonymous said

    September 15, 2011 @ 12:56 am

    NReda, 12 months is not a snapshot. That’s a whole year! Snapshot implies a very short period of time.

  33. Anonymous said

    September 15, 2011 @ 6:42 am

    1. Berty
    2. Joey
    3. Bob
    4. Koby
    5. Pete
    6. Gilbert
    7. Menchetti
    8. Janus.
    9. Stonie
    10. Denmark

  34. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    September 15, 2011 @ 6:59 am

    Someone said it before and I’ll repeat. You won’t be too far off looking at money earned, at least for the top 10. That speaks for itself.

    Anyway, you all keep conjecturing. I need to hit the can.

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