Recently in Competitive Eating Category

This morning I woke up way too early in a cushy bed in NYC. I didn't want to leave! But alas I had big things ahead, and by big I mean the size of an elephant! I hopped on a subway to Coney Island for a very special eating contest that fitted three of Major League Eating's top eaters versus three of the Ringling Brothers' elephants. It was a tough and hilarious competitition! (I'll have a more thorough recap of this and everything else with way more pictures when I get back to Chicago!)

Afterwards I met up with fellow bloggers the Hungry Sisters and we got some Nathan's and I watched as they went on the Cyclone...I had my camera that I wouldn't trust to be on it so I didn't go...yeah, let's use that as an excuse.

We then parted ways and I made my way back to Manhattan, walked through Bryant Park, and Times Square then took advantage of my cushy hotel bed. Sometimes you just have to take a vacation from vacationing, especially when you start thinking of all ten thousand of the photos you took that need to be edited when you get home. After a lazy day I took an impromptu walk through Central Park and grabbed some takeout Chinese food!

Tomorrow it is off to Coney Island again for the year's biggest eating contest, the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest!

You can watch the hot dog eating contest live on ESPN, 12noon Eastern, 11 Central.

More photos from the Kansas City Major League Eating Hot Dog Eating Contest:

If you don't know, Tim "Gravy" Brown is also one of my favorite competittive eaters. He totally rocks my my socks. Here are some more pictures of his victorious hot dog eating on Saturday:

p.s. this post may be verging on stalker.

Saturday I woke up at around 8am and enjoyed the hotels continental breakfast. Actually I just ate cereal and then kicked myself when I saw that around the corner they had biscuits and gravy that I missed! My friend and travel companion Brian skipped the breakfast, he didn't want to eat anything before his big competitive eating debut!

We had some time so we headed off to Lee's Summit to see a restaurant that supposedly had a giant pepper flying a plane on its roof. It did have the plane but I saw no pepper.

All we had time for was the one stop as we had to get back to Overland Park for the day's big event: the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest! The contest was one of 16 qualifying rounds to pick competitors for the biggest eating event of the year that will take place on July 4 at Coney Island! For the second year in a row I WILL be at Coney to watch! I am so excited!

I am glad we headed over when we did because a big crowd was starting to form! Brian went to check in while I staked my claim in the front row. He wasn't originally going to compete but when I saw earlier in the week that there were spots open I sent him the info and he signed up.

George Shea, the commissioner of all things Major League Eating and emcee extraordinaire took the stage and the event began with an amateur contest between Sam's Club employees.

I was getting nervous because as the contest began, Tim "Gravy" Brown was nowhere to be seen. Tim Brown was the big named competitor of the day and the frontrunner to take home the prize. Luckily about halfway through the Sam's Club contest I saw him arrive!

After the amateur division, the professional contest was set to begin. All of the competitors were called up one by one...and there were a LOT of competitors! I think there were thirteen in all! They all got their liquids ready. You can tell that some of them have studied the pros by bringing in their own drinks. Once everyone at the table was set, Shea counted it down and off they went eating!

Tim looked like he got a slow start, purposefully pausing, stretching, before diving in. By that time another competitor down the row had already dunked a handful of hot dog and was pushing its remnants into his mouth. Soon though Tim was off dunking and smooshing buns and dogs into his mouth!

It was a crazy exciting contest! It seemed that almost everyone was in it to win it! At one point it seemed like it could have been almost anyone's table to take. Tim Brown was going for it with all his might and you could tell he was pushing himself as far as he humanly could. He wanted and needed to win. When it was announced that someone else was ahead of him he kept going and his whole face turned shades of red and green and he kept eating well past the point anyone should ever be eating.

In fact, as everyone was eating so ferociously they nearly ran out of hot dogs! Nearing the end you could see them taking plates away from those who said they wouldn't finish and placing them in front of the ones who were still gunning for the gold.

As the contest drew to a close it was still up in the air. But in the end he came out victoriously: Tim "Gravy" Brown won with 32 hot dogs in ten minutes!

So, how did my friend Brian do? Well...I think with a modest five and a half dogs he ended in dead last. I felt bad as I had assured him that the qualifier I saw last year there were a few people who just came out to say they'd eaten and ended up only eating one. But this year was different. It's getting tougher and as competitive eating becomes more and more popular, more and more people want to be a part of it. But Brian still enjoyed his experience. And five and a half hot dogs in ten minutes is nothing to sneeze at.

Afterwards I waited around as hordes of fans asked Gravy for autographs before congratulating him on his victory. He was still shocked that I made the trip out, but really, I will drive almost anywhere anytime for anything. And a hot dog eating contest is more than just anything.

Still working on blogs...but I didn't want to leave you hanging! Here's a sneak peak of what you'll see later today:

Here are some more photos from Saturday's Major League Eating Calamari Eating Contest!

So, it's pretty much no secret that Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti is at the top of my list of favorite competitive eaters. He's currently ranked number two in the world and is a born and bred Chicagoan, so he represents my home town well. And the mohawk doesn't hurt.

Here are some more photos of him in action from Saturday's calamari eating contest.

p.s. this post may be verging on stalker.

I arrived at Mallie's Sport Bar and Grill a little after 2PM Eastern time. A crowd was already forming to see both the calamari eating contest and the to be later revealed new record holder for world's largest hamburger. Luckily everyone was dispersed enough eating and drinking that I was still able to take a prime front and center view of the action!

Before the contest I said hi to some of the eaters who I have met through my years of stalking, er, watching them. I wished them all luck than claimed my position up front as more people started crowding in.

And then we waited, of course, as giant burger centerpieces were laid, and cups set, and plates and plates of calamari hit the tables. Finally it was time to begin as all the eaters were called to take their places. Besides the favorites of Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti and Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas and Crazy Legs Conto and Humble Bob Shoudt there were some locals and newcomers and even Pat's brother Joe!

They all took their places on stage and before you knew it they were off eating!

Plates and plates of fried squid disappeared. Most of the center players took to squishing the tentacles together into a seafood and breading ball that was devoured. It was hard to keep up with who was winning. The table enders seemed to slow quickly, eating all the way to the end but not at the ferocious pace of Sonya and Pat and Bob.

And as the crowd counted down from ten to one there was seemingly no clear cut winner. They finished their chipmunked particles and counted plates and in the end, with three of them on their seventh plate, the emcee had to bring out the scale to weigh them in.

In the end it was Crazy Legs (3.4375 lbs.) in fourth, Sonya Thomas in third (6.125 lbs.), Humble Bob Shoudt (6.3125 lbs.) in second, and Pat Bertoletti (6.625 lbs.) in first.

Calamari seemed to me that it would be a hard one to eat. I can eat a lot of calamari myself but I would think the chewiness would hinder the ability to eat it fast. Crazy Legs later told me that his strategy was to ball the entire plate of food into one squished mash like he'd seen done long ago in a cheese fries competition, but in the end he had forgotten to take into account the denser chewier inside the squid provided that didn't allow his theory to work as well as he had hoped.

But in any case they all gave a strong showing and the contest was exciting!

And now it's time for an extra special treat to wrap up the recap of my Metropolis road trip!

Here's a video I put together with some clips from the road! I saw the I-57 Abraham Lincoln, the World's Largest Cross in Effingham, the Super Museum, Superman Statue, and Americana Hollywood Museum in Metropolis. And, of course, I saw an ice cream eating contest! And since we were so close to the border, we just had to cross into Kentucky and back!

>>Watch this video on Vimeo.
>>Watch this video on YouTube.

FYI: It's kind of dangerous to take video while you drive. Kids, don't try this at home.

FYI²: It is really hard to take photos (which will always be my #1), update twitter, AND shoot video at the same time. But that doesn't mean I won't keep trying until my technique is perfected!