Krystal Qualifier - Jackson, MS 10/15/06

Full Results from Jackson (IFOCE rank in paranthesis)

8 minute contest:

1st - Crazy Legs Conti(11) - 38 burgers
2nd - Arturo "the Natural" Rios(24) - 35
3rd - Erik the Red Denmark(12) - 32
4th - Ken "Mongo" Federighi(34) - 26
5th - Morris Mermelstein(NR) - 23
6th - Terry Brown(NR) - 20
7th - Damon Serignet(NR) - 19
7th - Kris Barnhart(NR) - 19
7th - Michael Parlaman(NR) - 19
10th - Mike Richardson(NR) - 18
11th - Justin Mih "So Hungry"(33) - DQ (had 37 in his mouth but could not swallow it)



I hate you Magic

What? What the hell happened here? Well, I fucked up and didn't make it in to the finals in Chattanooga on October 28. 32? I know it's pathetic. 32 is my new least favorite number and 37 (the number I needed to hit) is my new second least favorite number. Magic Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Jim Brown all wore number 32 - I hate you. Shaun Alexander, running back for the Seattle Seahawks wears number 37 - I don't hate you but I hate your jersey.

There were a number of circumstances that contributed to my poor performance - I was sick all week, my throat was soar, the burgers were dry and cold, the humidity was high, I lost something very important (medicine) prior to the contest, but honestly none of that shit mattered - I underachieved, and I know it.

So, now I am left to ponder, what if? What if I had made it to the finals? What would be my entrance for the ESPN crowd? How many burgers over 40 would I have eaten? How much could this nationally televised event and this contest boost the popularity of competitive eating? And how much of an impact could I have made? I think I could have made an impact for sure.

Well, I have confidence that the eaters who qualified will put on a good show and not disappoint the crowd. Kobayashi should be ready and as focused as he was at Bratwursts which means Joey, Sonya, Pat, Humble Bob, Chip, Tim and Rich will all need to raise their level beyond what any American eater ever has to have a chance in the end. The beautiful thing about this contest is there is hope, realistic hope that Kobayashi can be beaten and there will be more than just Joey to push him I believe. I'll be watching with bitterness and regret in my stomach that I can't be there. But soon after I will take the stage in Arizona and have a chance to take out my frusteration on fry bread.

I intend to use this most recent failure of mine as fuel and motivation - I will be back, I will be better, I will be stonger, I will make a difference, and I won't be denied again.

As for the DQ incident with Justin Mih in Jackson - I don't like the way that Krystal wrote up the competition recap . It makes it seem like it was my mission to get Justin DQ'd so that I would get third place, that I followed him around the corner and watched him throw up and then starting yelling profusely for his disqualification - this is not what happened. What actually happened is about two minutes after the contest had ended, Justin was still struggling to swallow his 37th burger, I wasn't paying attention to him, I was in my own world of frusteration when I looked over and saw Justin's body jerk and a force of burger chunks and liquid shoot out of his mouth directly on to the table. It wasn't like he let everything go and stomach bile was all over the place but it was clear that the stomach acids had reacted and forced an outward projectile of food from his mouth. Mike Castellano was standing in front of Justin on the stage but was half facing the crowd so he missed the moment but he could see the remains on the table. I asked Mike if he had just seen what happened and that Justin had just had a reversal. Mike investigated and then Kenny from Krystals reviewed the tape and determined that Justin would be discounted 1 burger for the reversal giving him a total of 36. After the contest results were announced I went to Kenny and Mike and asked them what they had seen and how it was determined to only discount 1 burger. They both reviewed the video again and they determined that Justin should in fact be disqualified.

The reason I pointed out the reversal was not for my own personal benefit, Justin did have a better contest than me and I thought for sure he would be able to get everything down. I didn't give a shit if I got third place or fourth place, I actually at first was thinking that it would affect Arturo Rios' wildcard position but I later remembered that since Crazy Legs had won, Arturo would still get a wilcard spot regardless of what happened with Justin. Basically, I think it comes down to maintaining the integrity of the sport to make sure that the rules are clearly set and are clearly followed and if I see something that is not right I am going to point it out, it's a reaction - it is up to the judges however to make the final decisions. I hope Justin does well in Chattanooga.