Gersh Kuntzman on Nathan’s truncation
(from anon comment) Gersh Kuntzman has an article for the Brooklyn Papers about the shortening of Nathan’s qualifiers by 2 minutes which states that the July 4 finals will be 10 minutes as well. An anonymous eater repeats Rhonda Evans’ conjecture that the purpose of the reduction was to minimize the chances of a reversal. The article closes with a mention of the 3.5 minute contests in the 1970s.
Gothamist and Eater.com have posts about the article
update June 11 Serious eats has a blog entry about the shortening with quotes from Ryan Nerz
The Sheas say that a 1986 article from the New York Times was responsible for the truncation.
The note said the change for the upcoming July 4 contest comes after the discovery of a trove of “numerous old items and ephemera” near the Nathan’s stand at the historic corner of Surf and Stillwell avenues in Coney Island.
“It was in the form of random notes and contest-related scribblings that were apparently unearthed at Nathan’s,” said George Shea, chairman of Major League Eating.
“We put together a team of experts to determine its validity and then, through the use of what I believe scholars call ‘a Google search,’ we discovered a New York Times article from 1986 that referred to the contest as taking 10 minutes.”
Major League Eating President Richard Shea said the Times article was particularly compelling evidence that the contest’s traditional length was actually 10 minutes, not the 12 minutes that have been the standard for at least two decades.
That link first appeared on eatfeats in March 2007
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Anonymous said
June 10, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
All the records are at the 12 minute length. They should keep it there at least for the finals.
Anonymous said
June 10, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
Wen will the World Rib Eating Championship be?
Mega Munch said
June 10, 2008 @ 4:32 pm
To further reduce reversal risks, they should also make the hot dogs 80 percent smaller and inject them with Pepto Bismol.
I know said
June 10, 2008 @ 7:04 pm
kuntzman is a silent partner with the shea bros. He writes this stuff just to stir the pot so Nathans can get more publicity
Anonymous said
June 10, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
I remember at the 1st ice cream contest his nephew or niece remarked how they like my line of don lerman shirts , I sent then each a shirt all 3 with shipping it ran over $50 with the shipping I sent a package to Gersh at the post , some newspaper articles , that i thought that he would like to see and he flatly refused the parcel from the postman, not a mensch..don lerman
anonomous said
June 11, 2008 @ 8:08 am
he lives up to his name
Mega Munch said
June 11, 2008 @ 8:54 am
He may be, but the media usually have restrictions on receiving “gifts.” Some reporters are stricter about it than others.
Rhonda Evans said
June 11, 2008 @ 9:19 am
That’s a good point MM. If he accepts it he sets himself up for lots of criticism of being unethical. I can totally understand his action.
anonymous said
June 11, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
You people dont make any sense. Complimentary gifts are sent to reporters or media all the time. Lerman was nice enough to send him something for nothing . Personally he doesnt deserve shit. He must have thought gee god forbid i might have to give lerman a few bucks for this later on down the line.
Rhonda Evans said
June 12, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
Had there been no reversed at the finals last year, either the 1986 NY times article would not have surfaced, or nothing would have been made of it.
I said
June 12, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
i agree with rhonda 100% on that. anyone who buys the $hea$ explanations are morons.. koby throwing up and eating it — eating it well after time expired — was bad for tv, terrible for nathans, and it displayed how much of a sham the ifoce is.. normal people would not care about ifoce or mle or whatever but every eater reading this will agree the ifoce does not care about anything but the money it makes