Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Heroes vs. Villains: The Villains Take the Crown


The world admires a hero but has a love affair with a villain. Maybe it is a love that is filled with hatred or dissent but at the very least we love to hate a villain. In the arena of sports and entertainment there has been and will always be heroes and there will always be villains. And despite what an organization or an entertainment/media company will tell you, the real everyday story lines are usually focused on the villains. Competitive eating is no different.

To be a successful villain, you have to have some endearing or unique characteristics along with the antagonism. Villains cause controversy and heroes dissolve controversy. But often it is the villain who gets the bulk of the attention because it takes balls to put your reputation on the line, to say fuck you to those who may have at once helped you, to be a spiraling-out-of-control-side-show that everyone loves. Carrying out a villain's personality comes at a price, a high price usually. Usually you have to sacrifice the respect and kinship of those in your sport or industry in exchange for public popularity.

Maybe I am being a bit unfair including the whole world in my analogy because I am generally basing my opinion on American popular culture. Before I go further in my analysis of heroes and villains in CE, let me describe some top villains in some other sports:

The first person who comes to mind is Barry Bonds - he is the quintessential sports villain, raked with controversy and talent. Barry has long been a nemesis of the media and has often been referred to as a selfish and arrogant a-hole. He has obviously split fans and formed a cloud of darkness over himself with the allegations and inevitable conclusion that he used steroids. But what makes Barry so interesting and likable (in terms of a story) is that he may be the best power hitter to ever play the game and when he breaks Hank Aarons career home run record, the most revered record in baseball, he will be the biggest and most popular villain the sport has ever seen. As much as the media and the casual fans may dislike Barry as a person and discredit his talent because of his steroids use, he is still always the biggest story in baseball, on the field and off the field.

Dennis Rodman was also a classic sports villain during his illustrious basketball career. Rodman made a name for himself as a bad boy on a team full of villains including Bill Lambeer in Detroit in the late 80's and early 90's. Rodman led the NBA in rebounds and led the Pistons to two championships before going loony, dying his hair like a rainbow flavored snow cone, and dominating the league in tattoos, body piercings, and technical fouls while winning three more championships with the Chicago Bulls. Rodman, despite being hated by opposing teams because of his dirty play and antics, was loved by the fans and always created headlines with his behavior. But people cared because Rodman had talent and validity as a player as well not just a freak show.

In the NFL, Terrell Owens stands out as public fascination No. 1. Owens has loads of talent as a receiver and can seemingly put up hall of fame numbers without trying or caring but his love of the spotlight has made him the big headlines. He drove himself out of San Francisco and Philadelphia because of his selfishness. It seems as though he drove one of the most respected coaches in NFL history, Bill Parcels, out of Dallas because of his on the field and off the field controversies which included an alleged suicide attempt. He has maybe alienated all if not the majority of his teammates, gathered numerous league and team punishments because of misbehavior, and pissed off all of the fans in every place that he has ever been; but who is the top story in the NFL?: Terrell Owens and the Dallas Cowboys.
Boxing has Mike Tyson - a model villain. Tyson's antics go beyond a call for attention, they border on frightening, a literal and figurative villain. Tyson's impressive resume include dominace as a heavyweight fighter, multiple incarcerations and suspensions, and bitting the ear off of Evander Holyfield. But my favorite Tyson villain moment is when he started rambling and spouting out threats in the direction of Lennox Lewis leading up to their title fight in the ring; Mike's closing statements went like this "Lennox Lewis, I'm coming for you man. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat your children." - that is a true villain.

In the world of women's sports, figure skater Tanya Harding has to be on the top of the list of villains. Tanya took a pretty bold route to gaining popularity as a villain when she hired her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and a group of hit men to take out her main American rival, Nancy Kerrigan's knees with a baseball bat before the 1994 Winter Olympics. Tanya had a bit of a reputation as a bad girl prior to the planned hit on Kerrigan but that move shinned a solar sized spotlight on Harding. After her involvement in the incident, Tanya Harding and women's figure skating was front page news.

So the question is, are there any true villains in the sport of Competitive Eating?

The first name that comes to mind is obviously Dale Boone. Dale fit’s most of the criteria – controversial, unpredictable, arrogant, boastful, antagonistic and he has been suspended multiple times for misbehavior as well. The one thing lacking in Boone’s resume as a villain is legitimacy as a top eater. He may have been in the top ten in talent at one time but now his shouts of self confidence and guarantees of victory seem more like mere antics than real threats. Don Lerman definitely walked the line between hero and villain throughout his career and was always a fan favorite because of it. Don's late career and post career antics have been less than successful however as well.

Another potential CE villain candidate could be Sonya Thomas. Sonya’s nickname, the Black Widow, certainly carries weight as a villainous character. But Sonya, despite being one of the most interesting stories and still possibly the biggest enigma in CE, does not have the appeal of a villain. She is not regularly boastful or arrogant before contests, she does not break rules purposefully or insult other eaters - she is rather cordial, polite and humble in almost all of her interactions in person and online. She is a fierce competitor and often losing has brought out the worst in her but her stock as a villain is pretty low.

Are there any other current top eaters that could be villains instead of heroes?

Joey Chestnut? American HERO
Eater X? Mysterious HERO
Pat Bertoletti? Punk HERO
Humble Bob? Humble HERO
Rich LeFevre? Retired HERO
Chip Simpson? Dr. HERO
Crazy Legs? Obvious HERO
Seaver Miller? Literal HERO
Arturo Rios? Natural HERO
Me? Wanna be Viking HERO

Which brings me to Kobayashi. Is Kobayashi a villain? His off the plate antics would not indicate Kobayashi as a villain – he is very respectful, he is truly committed to advancing competitive eating as a sport, he has revolutionized the sport. So, he can’t be a villain, right? He is not a villain in the true sense of the definition laid out by other sports, but to many in America, he is a patriotic villain for stealing the coveted Nathan’s Hot Dog title on America’s Independence Day for the last 6 years.
I know Kobayashi wants to be a hero, not a villain, but part of what makes him so interesting is that rebellion against the establishment of America. And it has to be considered that when Kobayashi first came to American on Coney Island in 2001, he had to be thinking – “I am going to destroy all of you.” When it comes to the table of competitive eating, it is us against him and he continues to thrive despite our efforts. Of course, I respect him for this, for his talent and his showmanship, but he is the closest thing that CE has to a legitimate villain and it has brought the sport to a new level.

Current and future competitive eaters should consider their persona before embarking on a career. I noticed some eaters trying this lately - El Toro and Ron Koch for example, but once again results at the table have to provide interest as well. I think competitive eating could probably use more legitimate villains for the purpose of story lines but choosing that path does come with at the least, a social cost. Some people are better suited to be villains, you have to be different, you have to be vain, but you have to still be likeable - so if you think you have the right mix of good and bad, you may have a recipe for great success.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

950 KJR - Groz with Gas Interview - 5/16/07

Click Here to listen to my most recent appearance on 950 KJR with sports broadcasting legends Groz and Gas. I talk about my upcoming Nathan's qualifier and other MLE related topics.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Tamales Results - Woodlands, TX - 5/5/07

Berryhill Baja Grill Tamales Results (IFOCE rank in paranthesis):
12 minute contest:
1st - Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (2) - 53.5 tamales, $2500, 18 points
2nd - Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti (3) - 51, $1000, 12 points
3rd - Humble Bob Shoudt (5) - 45, $500, 6 points
4th - Chip "the Phenom" Simpson (6) - 39, 4 points
5th - Erik the red Denmark (14) - 27, 3 points
6th - Nasty Nathan Biller (NR) - 21, 2 points
7th - Brickhouse Braunstein (36) - 20, 2 points


Joey, Pat and I eat and drink at different heights

Everyone in the contest celebrated Cinco de Mayo in pain; in honor of Mexico defeating the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Despite the fact that Cinco de Mayo is not widely celebrated in Mexico, except heavily in the city Puebla,Puebla, and it is not (contrary to popular belief) the Mexican Independence Day (celebrated on September 16, who knew?), we in America and particularly Texas want to eat and drink in celebration. Well, mostly we just want to drink but on this day we ate tamales - heavy, seasoned beef stuffed, starchy, lukewarm tamales.
I love tamales, I really do. In fact, I highly recommend that if you happen to spend a late night at the bars in albuequerque, NM, that you make a point to stop by a street vendor and grab at least two steaming hot tamales in the corn husk and eat them drunkily in the middle of the street. But as eating contests go, you have to cook a ton (almost literally) of food at once, keep it warm (not hot), and throw them all on plates so they are ready to eat.
What am I getting at? I lost track, oh yeah, contest tamales are tough to get down. Not tough because they are really chewy or require a lot of jaw strength, but tough because the flavor, texture, and volume overwhelms you quickly. Not to mention the tamales for this contest do legitimately weigh 3.5 oz and it is virtually impossible to swallow them without the aid of mass amounts of liquids - I understand why there were a number of reversals in last years contest. I estimate that I probaly drank around 5 cups of 16 oz liquids during the contest and I imagine that Joey, Pat and Bob probably almost drank double that to get all of those tamales down.
In the end, this contest was all about speed and ultimately capacity. I think that is why you saw many of the top contenders that will be at Nathan's this year competing in this contest - the numbers will be comparable and this was a good heat check. 27 for me is not bad but still the gap is too much for me to be satisfied between me and the sports elite 8. I expect my HDB number to be better.
Pat definitely had at least a 4 or 5 tamale lead early on, he noted that the tamales seemed slower this year than last year - possibly due to the fact that the contest was late in the day, the temperature was a little colder, and thus the tamales were cooled and did not hold their form well. Joey eventually overtook Pat in the last couple of minutes. Humble Bob's 45 should not be overlooked either, that is a huge number and Bob should gain a lot of confidence from this contest going in to his Nathan's qualifier. Chip was visibly upset by the result and he did not stick around to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (the American way) with the rest of us. I know Chip's expectations were higher and I respect the fact that he just wants to win and 4th place paid nothing this year. Nasty Nathan Biller showed he could do some damage this year on the circuit and Brickhouse is obviously this years top contender for most dedicated journeyman.
Berryhill took care of us and they put us on stage in the middle of the festival in the Woodlands where an estimated crowd of around 5,000 people watched us eat under the lights - that was pretty sweet.
Cheers to Mexico for giving us tamales and tequilla, and allowing us to eat and drink in their honor!



Saturday, May 05, 2007

Tamales Results:
Joey - 53.5
Pat - 51
Humble Bob - 45
Chip - 39
Erik the Red - 27
N Biller - 21

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Deep Fried Asparagus - Stockton, CA 4/28/07

Results from the 10 minute contest (IFOCE rank in paranthesis):

1st - Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (2) - 8.6 lbs, $1500, 18 MLE points
2nd - Erik the Red Denmark(14) - 4.25 lbs, $500, 12 MLE points
3rd - Kevin Ross (NR) - 3.75 lbs., $250, 6 MLE points
4th - Jason Erbivore Erb (27) - 3.6 lbs, 4 MLE points
5th - Brickhouse Braunstein (36) - 3.5 lbs, 3 MLE points


Joey and I sweat out the final minute of the contest

I am not sure who finished 6-10, only the top 3 were announced at the contest. I am not positive about Erb and Braunstein but I was standing next to Erb in the contest and it looked like he and Kevin Ross were very close in amount eaten so I would give the nod to the Erbivore (my fantasy teammate). Congrats to Mr. Ross for a solid first time asparagus performance and taking home some cash.

The Stockton Asparagus Festival and the deep fried asparagus contest is a unique experience. Stockton is a nutty town, deep fried asparagus is a nutty food. I don't even think you can find deep fried asparagus anywhere but at this fair once a year. Last year, in preparartion for the contest, I tried to make fried asparagus at home - good luck unless you have the special batter and an industrial size deep fryar. After many failed attempts, I ended up just eating grease soaked asparagus. This year I would have the memory of last year to pull from, I wasn't going to try that again.

This was the first time that I have been in a repeat contest in my career - I guess my rookie season is finally over. Of course, I have competed in the same food multiple times - chicken wings, ribs, hot dogs, burgers, jalapenos, but never the same food at the same venue for the same contest - I think this is a distinct advantage. Last year I ate 4 pounds in 10 minutes and although I finished in 5th place and out of the money, this was the first contest where I felt like I really got in to a good rhythm of swallowing more than chewing and I was able to eat for the entire contest. I finally felt like I belonged there.

This year my expectations were much higher however. I did finish in 2nd place, which is an improvement and I ate 4.25 pounds, which is an improvement but really I expected more. The first one pound plate went down fast, about 1 minute 15 seconds, just a few seconds behind Joey. Before I go on let me tell you it was literally 95 degrees in Stockton on Saturday. I hven't been that overheated at a contest since the 4th of July at Coney Island, it was sweltering and my thick skin is still thawing out from the long sheath of the Seattle winter.

As I started in to the second plate it seemed as though my mouth shut down and lost all moisture, I don't know if it was the heat or the excitement or the nerves of not competing in so long but it suddenly turned in to a grind. Meanwhile Joey was picking up the pace and he just got in to sick rhythm. By the time my second plate was done he was already on plate 5 and Joey continued at about 1 pound per minute. In the end, Joey doubled my total. I was hoping to get down at least 6 pounds because I know I can. But listen, I am not going to be a bitch and complain, it was an awesome day, it felt great to be back at the table competing after four months off and to be able to take home second place.

This contest has to be one of my favorites. This years contest setup was even better with the addition of a 15-foot jumbotron screen next to the stage for the fans to follow the action. The trophy that Joey wins every year has to rival as one of the most creative and sought after trophies on the circuit, they really don't belong in his closet. The crowd was pumped up again despite the early start time (12:00 pm), the weather was rediculous, and the people in Stockton and the surrounding areas just love their asparagus. I heard a report that there would be 50,000 pounds of asparagus consumed at the two day festival this year! Amazing. I was proud to get a little piece of that and I will definitely be back next year to try for a little bigger piece.

Click here to view my Flickr album of the contest (pics taken by my friend Andrew Buck)

Click here to read the Recordnet.com article about the contest
Click here to watch the KCRA 3 video of the contest