The new poll asks where you think Ben Monson will be ranked in the next IFOCE top 50.

September 16, 2009 at 9:56 am by ojrifkin · More posts about:Rankings | Permalink * Comments (17)

17 Comments »

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

    September 16, 2009 @ 10:21 am

    I think we need to let him eat in an IFOCE contest or two first, as I have absolutely no idea.

  2. Anonymous said

    September 16, 2009 @ 11:28 am

    this is the easiest poll yet. if e makes nathans, wherever he finishes is where he will be rankd. no other cotnest matters and the rankings wont be redone til thn

  3. A-Bomb said (Registered May 7, 2009)

    September 16, 2009 @ 11:31 am

    His first IFOCE event is burritos in New Mexico on Friday I believe.

  4. spraymucus said (Registered July 1, 2009)

    September 16, 2009 @ 11:37 am

    Yep, we’re heading out tomorrow morning from Cali.

    Hopefully we can get the names of some of the other eaters that will be there. It’s a big weekend and I see a lot of the headliners are either doing Krystals or Grits.

  5. Anonymous said

    September 16, 2009 @ 2:58 pm

    New rankings in 16 days according to Rich Shea, so clearly other contests do in fact matter.

  6. Mega Munch said

    September 16, 2009 @ 3:20 pm

    So they just released rankings three weeks ago and they’re going to release more rankings in two weeks? My guess is the new rankings won’t be out until after the new year. It just makes more sense.

    OJ – What’s the highest first-time rank ever?

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

    September 16, 2009 @ 3:27 pm

    Yeah, they all do matter, but they’re weighted differently in importance, and hence affect rankings differently. I think you’ll find a very positive correlation between purse size and the weight that contest carries in determining rankings.

    In the pre-Joey Chestnut era, an eater’s performance at Nathan’s dictated overall eating talent, and, in turn, how an eater would perform in other contests. For example, after Cookie set an American record for HDBs in 2003 with 30.5 (I think, but I’m not checking), he won the next five or six contests. Hence, the IFOCE story later that year, “Cookie on a Roll!”

    Nowadays, however, you can’t really go by that. The emergence of Sonya, Tim, Joey, Pat, Bob, and others brought with it the age of specialization. Just look at the results in the last year. With some exceptions, those five take turns topping each other, even though Joey has everyone’s number in the two major sandwich food-type contests, both of which have the largest purses.

    Sorry for the post’s length.

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

    September 16, 2009 @ 3:34 pm

    Mega, I’m quite sure it was Koby at # 1, after his July 4, 2001 performance, followed by Sonya being ranked # 8 after finishing 5th with 25 HDBs in 2003.

    Many articles claim that Sonya finished 4th that first year, but she did not. Rich finished a half dog ahead of her. Rich was a gentleman about the whole thing and never complained that I know of. He could have though. Who could blame him?

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

    September 16, 2009 @ 3:35 pm

    All right. I’m done for the day.

  10. Anonymous said

    September 16, 2009 @ 5:11 pm

    Who the hell is this guy and why should we care until he competes?

  11. Ben Monson said

    September 16, 2009 @ 5:54 pm

    Wow i feel like if i don’t devastate everyone that i have failed in your eyes. Maybe it’s just the humility talking but I really don’t know what is going to happen. I believe like Ms. Evans said I need to do a few contests first to validate myself amongst the competitive eating community.

  12. A-Bomb said (Registered May 7, 2009)

    September 16, 2009 @ 6:20 pm

    Yeah Ben, just eat and what happens is what happens.

  13. Anonymous Eatah said

    September 16, 2009 @ 6:43 pm

    Honestly, I think he’ll suck… It doesn’t matter what place he comes in at Burritos, but who he can beat. If nobody shows up who is in the Top 25, then we can’t reall assess him correctly.

  14. Paul Porkslap said (Registered June 16, 2008)

    September 16, 2009 @ 8:57 pm

    Ben, Im not a great eater but I have learned a bit about the CE world over the last year and a half. The MOST IMPORTANT thing that you can do about being one of the next great eaters is don’t jump into anything to quick. Really really take your time. Talk to everyone. Really sort it all out. If you ask anyone thats been around a while they will tell you what either end of the spectrum is like. You seem very intelligent. IFOCE seems great. Indi’s seem like total freedom, but it is two different worlds. Do you want freedom and a rough ride, or contracts and bigger publicity. Hard call dude. Take your time. Great eaters can last 10 years. You got a while to find the best way for yourself.

  15. Furious Pete said

    September 17, 2009 @ 3:03 am

    Paul, in Buffalo, George Shea stated you don’t need capacity, speed etc to be a great competitive eater. What you need is character. And you my friend are one awesome eater because of that.

    Ben kill it out there! There’s opportunities around every corner. IFOCE is just one of them…:)

  16. Anonymous said

    September 17, 2009 @ 8:43 am

    I think Eatah said it best if he doesn’t eat against the best you can’t really measure his skill. I think its awesome that people get so into new up and coming eaters like this man. Who many of us have never heard of. Give him time and we will see how far he goes

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

    September 17, 2009 @ 9:08 am

    Wiser words have rarely been spoken Paul. You should take them to heart Ben.

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