Nathan's Philly Qualifier, Take Three (2008)

Tomorrow I attempt to make it to the IFOCE sanctioned Nathan's Famous July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, again. This will be my seventh (that's right, 7) attempt at qualifying, and I expect to come in third or possibly fourth. If it's a really good day, I may come in second, but Humble Bob Shoudt is expected to show, and I can't come anywhere close to his total tomorrow. So, I'll go, eat some hot dogs, collect my shirt, and look forward to the Shea Stadium qualifier on June 14 (oh, damn, I let out where I'm going to be) where I will be beaten by Tim "Eater X" Janus.

Wing Bowl 16 Musings, Part I

See me lose at Glen Macnow's Slack's Hoagie Shack Eat Off! We were eating The Godfather and Wild Thing subs, two seven minute rounds. The sub sections were supposed to be two inches, but four sections of each sub were about three inches wide, so for each four sections you ate, you ate a foot-long sub. I almost didn't make the second round; only four contestants would advance, but there was a three way tie after the first round for third place. I ate eight sections in the first round, tying for third, and ate six sections in the second round, placing second overall. Michael Sarian, who was in Wing Bowl 15 as Curly Von Burly, The Viking Pig, took first place with 16 sections.

Here's the link to the video:

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/wingbowl/wingbowl_in/13731487.html

Nathan's Philly Qualifier

Ok, so I'm a little slow at updating my blog. This past weekend, I competed in the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier in Philadelphia, PA. This contest marked the one-year anniversary of my competitive eating career. My numbers in HDBs (Hot Dogs w/ Buns) have improved considerably since that first contest; my total at that qualifier last year was 11.5, this year it was 16.5, a 43% increase. However, it was only 0.5 dogs better than my personal best of 16.
My next attempt will be at the Molly Pitcher Travel Plaza on the NJ Turnpike in Cranbury, NJ. This contest is midday on Friday, June 22, 2007. As always, I'm going to attempt to do the deuce (20 HDBs or better), but I would be happy with just beating my personal best again.
I have no illusions about making it to the Nathan's finals this year; the wild card will probably be in the 23 to 25 range, judging from the numbers I'm seeing.