Maine Burrito preview

September 10, 2007 at 1:18 pm by ojrifkin · More posts about:Contest Previews, Portland, ME

MaineToday.com has a preview of the September 22 Costa Vida World Burrito Eating Championship. Sonya Thomas, Tim Janus, Tim Brown, Chip Simpson and Crazy Legs Conti are listed as expected entrants.

Comments (13)

13 Comments »

  1. Carey said

    September 10, 2007 @ 1:29 pm

    The world burrito eating championship. Well, no better place to have it but in Maine. I also wonder how fitting the world title is, since it isn’t open to everyone in the world to compete. It should just be called the IFOCE burrito championship.

  2. Mr Geography said

    September 10, 2007 @ 1:44 pm

    you are wrong there carey. anyone in the world could go on the ifoce page and register…… anyone can get a passport, anyone can book a flight, anyone…………… by your logic there should never ever never be a ‘world championship’ anything……….

  3. Carey said

    September 10, 2007 @ 3:35 pm

    Mr Geography, I am correct because the IFOCE has already told me that I couldn’t participate in their contests. This was back when I signed up for the Nathan’s qualifiers. I had confirmation on three qualifiers, and then got a message saying that because I participated in an outside event, what they called a rival league contest, they withdrew my eligibility for Nathan’s. This is because it was run by AICE. I am sure that the same would be true with this contest, so therefore, I don’t believe that they would allow anyone to enter. Never ever never? What, are you a kindergartener?

  4. Mega Munch said

    September 10, 2007 @ 5:36 pm

    I think he’s referring to the AICE ban. Regardless, that type of hype is present in other sports. Baseball calls it a “World Series” and refers to winning teams as “World Champions” even though only Major League Baseball teams are eligible to participate.

  5. Who is OJ Rifkin said

    September 10, 2007 @ 8:42 pm

    Good point Carey. AICE is the only legitimate eating organization. The IFOCE, although having great eaters is a freak show (food mutilation). ALSO, WHAT THE OTHER IFOCE EATERS FAIL TO RECOGNIZE OR ADMIT IS THAT AICE HAS ALWAYS HELD OUT AN INVITATION FOR ANYBODY TO COMPETE.

    So tell me, who is the number 1 organization? The one that is willing compete against anybody (and has made this offer) or the one who prevents the competitions from occuring? I don’t want to hear the bullshit about IFOCE contracts. If you do not belly-up to the table and compete against someone who has made the challenge you can’t say you are better than them and use your contract as an excuse. If AICE makes claims to being better it can’t be disputed when we make the challenge and they dont show-up. This was the same kind of mentality that existed when sports were racially divided and the wealthier white leagues would claim to be superior although they would refuse to compete against other leagues. Also, this is the mentality that existed in golf when golf courses were exclusive but claim superiority.

    let’s hear some feedback

  6. Who is OJ Rifkin said

    September 10, 2007 @ 8:49 pm

    Mega Munch:

    I have heard this comparisome before about American baseball vs. Japaneese. This comparisome is not accurate. Everybody understands the logistical difficulties in trying to coordinate the two baseball leagues and determine a true championship.(Although it could be done) In the case with AICE vs. IFOCE, IFOCE’s exclusionary policies simply mean that they are not willing to accurately measure themselves against all other eaters, despite the abundance of opportunity. AICE, with it’s open door policy is a true open contest. Again, exclusionary contests disqualify themselves from this consideration.

    Food for thought

  7. Who is OJ Rifkin said

    September 10, 2007 @ 8:50 pm

    IFOCE practices Aparthied

  8. Who is OJ Rifkin said

    September 10, 2007 @ 8:52 pm

    Stay tuned for the long list of people prevented from contests…..

  9. Philly Guy said

    September 10, 2007 @ 11:42 pm

    http://www.philly.com/philly/news/weird_news/20070910_ap_blackwidowtotryhandatburritos.html

  10. Carey said

    September 11, 2007 @ 6:58 am

    I see what MM is saying, and afterwards thought of a lot of examples like that. I never thought of it the same because there are no ‘world records’ put out by major league baseball. They refer to them correctly as league records.

  11. Rhonda Evans said

    September 11, 2007 @ 8:23 am

    Who is OJ Rifkin: MLE is a business. Personally, I see APE as a nice little, country-bumpkin style run “organization” where friends get together and eat at picnics for prizes. There’s nothing wrong with that. But don’t use mudlinging emotionally charged rhetoric towards MLE. Just sit back, eat, drink, be merry, and have fun. Isn’t that what you’re about? Yet, you complain so vehemently.

    When you use such tactics (on your Web site and the Internet, for example) you’re likely making things worse for your eaters, and losing potential sponsors. If I were a potential sponsor, after examining the Web sites of both organizations, I would go with MLE every time, hands-down — no contest.

    Name one independent eater that people can associate with. You can’t because there isn’t one. That’s about sponsors and marketing. Conversely, Kobayashi and Sonya are household names, and Chestnut and Bertoletti are becoming that way — whether they can out eat your top eaters or not … that does not matter. Nor do I even care.

    Do you think after 3 years some changes might be in order? If you don’t think so, then you already have the biggest reason for your dissatisfaction.

  12. Rhonda Evans said

    September 11, 2007 @ 9:51 am

    Carey, I agree with that. How can they be “World” records when when all possible contenders are not able to compete. However, that’s all part of marketing and organizational recognition.

    Honestly, I do not embrace the fact that independent eaters can’t compete in MLE events. But that’s part of MLE’s business culture and it will not change.

    I do (honestly) hope that APE is able to grow in recognition and sponsorship, so that they can begin to rival MLE. Because, let’s face it, like it or not, MLE monopolozes the CE world, and that’s good for no one, except MLE.

    But, then again, George and Rich are entrepreneurs who first capitalized on the business of CE, and if I were them, I doubt I would run things too differently. They have a right to protect their interests.

    And sure, some eaters have extra perks. That’s because they have something extra to offer in the way of talent (Joey, Pat, Sonya, Koby, Tim), fan appeal (Koby, Sonya, Tim, Crazy Legs), or communicative skills/broadcast booth abilities (Legs, Seiken, Tim, Hall Hunt, Erik the Red). They have EARNED those perks, because they bring extra people to the sport.

    Professional sports or sports entertainment is a business. MLE is a business, and is treated as such.

  13. Square Meal said

    September 11, 2007 @ 12:21 pm

    Who is Jason “Crazy-Legs” Conti? There is only one Houdini of Cuisinie and his name is just Crazy Legs. Who is this Jason imposter?

RSS feed for comments on this post

Leave a Comment

Log in | Register | Comments by users who have not logged in will be held for approval