Coney Island, NY - July 4, 2007
12 Minute Contest, IFOCE rank in paranthesis:
1 - Joey Chestnut(2): 66, $10,000
2 -Takeru Kobayashi(1): 63, $5,000
3 - Pat Bertoletti(3): 49, $2,500
4 - Tim "Eater X" Janus(7): 43.5, $1,500
5 - Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas(4): 39, $1,000
6 - Bob Shoudt(5): 35
6 -Chip Simpson(6): 35
8 - Rich LeFevre(8): 31
9 - Hall Hunt(16): 29
10 - Juliet Lee(37): 26
11 - Dale Boone(12): 25
12 - Pat Philbin(24): 24
13 - Crazy Legs Conti(11): 23.5
14 - Erik the Red Denmark(14): 23
15 - Tim Brown(47): 22.5
16 - Arturo Rios, Jr(9): 21
16 - Allen Goldstein(25): 21
Joey is swarmed by media and fans after his victory
We were all witness to these amazing feats. Joey and Kobayashi were the focus, Kobayashi gave a herculian effort to overcome his jaw troubles (which were legitimate) and Mount Joey. Joey looked confident, unbreakable and determined throughout, finally overcoming the most prolific eater in history and representing an American dream on July 4th.
Four eaters broke 40 including Pat with 49 and Eater X with 43.5 - these were both PR's and unfathonable performances even in a time when the unfathonable is expected. Sonya finally got past her two year watermark of 37 and almost broke 40 for the first time; the best performance ever by a woman - surely we cannot overlook her accomplishments. Bob Shoudt, who for the longest time in his career struggled to even qualify for Nathan's, put up a PR of 35 along with Chip Simpson, who still managed an incredible number despite spending the last three weeks in Italy and completely removed from CE. Rich LeFevre, who did his training on the qualifying circuit, takes the award for the highest total HDB's eaten this year with 131. Hall Hunt finally found the speed to match his capacity and came the closest out of the rest of us to reach the next plateau of 30 - he separated himself this year on the 4th.
I finally got a chance to watch the replay on ESPN just last night for the first time. Of course, the replay version is edited to cut out Kobayashi's reversal in the last 5 seconds. If Kobayashi's reversal was enough to be edited out of the show, doesn't that imply that he should have been DQ'd? I have seen the video of Kobayashi's incident, I saw his T-shirt soaked in vomit as he ran off stage to get a clean shirt.
This one the IFOCE definitely got wrong. There are no excuses, no explanations why. It would have been a hard decision to DQ Kobayashi considering what effort he put out but one that the judges should have and needed to make considering that prize money was involved and other eaters who did not throw up were screwed.
The vast majority of people who watched the show, including the ESPN announcers and Rich Shea, assumed that Kobayashi and Joey were tied at the end of regulation and that the eventual three hot dog victory margin for Joey was a result of an imposed deduction on Kobayashi. In actuality, kobayashi was not deducted anything for the reversal although I am pretty sure he was not credited with the hot dog that he continued to eat after he had thrown up on it (both a disguistingly prideful and impressive action).
I heard from someone who was watching Joey on stage that he was eating from multiple plates at the same time. This was more than likely a ploy to make it difficult for Kobayashi to determine where Chestnut's actual numbers were at. This was a brilliant tactic by Joey because not only did it confuse Kobayashi, the judges totally messed up his count as well. Joey maintained at least a 3-5 hot dog lead throughout the competition. Joey's counter was off by as many as 5 hot dogs for the entire second half of the contest when it looked like Kobayashi was catching up. The contest was never tied, not even close. Joey cleared his mouth with amazing ease in about 10 seconds after his final stuff, partly because he was so infuriated with his judge for screwing up his count, he wanted to tell him. If you read Joey's lips he can be seen clearly telling his counter that his count was off by five repeadtedly when he clears his mouth at the end of the contest.
I wanted to bring up the point that we do not need two judges in front of us to count each person. Clearly it did not help in Joey or kobayashi's circumstance. When there are two judges it just means that one of them will almost always be paying attention to other action especially if they are not on one of the eaters at the middle of the table. Having two judges in front crowded the stage and made it even more difficult for dedicated fans and media to see the action. George Shea literally threatened to throw any judge off the stage if they did not get down with about 4 minutes left in the contest. What we really need is one judge in front and a counter/bunnette behind everyone at the table instead of two half-baked judges stealing the best seats from the fans.
I don't blame Kobayashi for what happened at the end of the contest, he was not fighting for second place, he put it all on the line. I admire him for eating to the point of reversal, it is not a shame at all. Kobayashi was not bitter or upset after the contest, he was very respectful and humble. In fact he stayed on stage for almost one hour after the contest to shake hands, sign autographs, and take pictures with every fan who wanted one. Kobayashi will always be a true champion.
As for my performance of 23 hot dogs. I could eat 23 HDB's in my sleep which apparently I did. I really wanted to put up an awesome number but the day just was too slow for me. I didn't get in to any rhythym and I have to say I was a bit distracted by the battle between Joey and Kobayashi. I had a lot of strong emotions througout the day that made me think of my Mom who passed away earlier this year. I know what she would have said to me after the contest. That is why I am not going to be upset or dissapointed with anything that happened on stage on the 4th - it was an honor to be there. I know maybe some eaters did not reach there expectations for the day but we should all be proud of the show and for being part of a memorable and unique contest, the best to date for Major League Eaters.
The Road to Nathan's has been traveled for this year, there were many who took the road in great triumph and some who ended in supreme dissapointment. Most of all, It was an amazing ride, and before we know it the pathway will be cleared once again for next year. But for now I am taking a break from hot dogs - thank God.
I have many pictures to post and video of the entire contest taken by my Dad yet to come...
Click Here to watch Youtube video of the last five minutes of the unedited ESPN broadcast
Click Here to read post contest article/interview in the Seattle Times
4 comments:
Great insight, man. Koby really ran off stage to change his shirt? That's crazy.
And I'll bet Joey's HDB count being off throughout the contest was no accident. The judges were probably told to keep it close thoughout the contest to make it more dramatic for TV. I never thought about that because I didn't know Joey's total was off throughout the contest. Thanks for pointing that out.
One thing I appreciate about you Erik, is that you're not afraid to call BS on something in CE when you see it. A lot of eaters aren't as open with their opinions.
I think you're forgetting the real first time you watched the ESPN replay, though I don't blame you for not being able to hear much :-)
The competition this year was really phenomenal; everyone's enthusiasm and dedication really shone through.
Good write up Erik. Awesome to hear the inside going-on's at Nathan's from someone who is willing to tell it like it is.
Good Job Eric BTW you got a nice ovation from the crowd during the intro's especially from the females. Another eater that was told to flex his muscles recieved a couple of laughs from the crowd. If you are not really buff expect to pay the price
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