October 2007 Archives

Yo! I'm here in Chattanooga, holed up in a very luxurious hotel room. There's a trip to Krystal in a few minutes and I'm heading out to see the legendary place for myself. I've been in transit since 8:30 this morning and haven't eaten anything except a bag of Sun Chips on the plane. I see some french fries and a shake in my very near future.

I got a very big preview of tomorrow's events. Here are a few of the key elements: fireworks, 30-foot flames, Corvettes. Also, I'll be counting for one Pat Bertoletti, so keep your eyes on the mohawk.

Turns out the biggest build up of the Krystal Competition is a bust: Kobayashi announced this week that he would be forced to bow out of the finals on Sunday due to persistent jaw pain. This leaves the competition wide open for two remaining favorites: Joey Chestnut, who wants to set a new world record by eating over 100 burgers, and Pat Bertoletti who had a taste of beating the giant and is hungry for more. Both eaters expressed disappointment at Koby's withdrawal, wanting the chance to go bite to bite with the champ. No doubt, Kobayashi's injury--to his jaw and ego--will be haunting him as he watches from the sidelines.

Rumor has it that Kobayashi had to leave the Thanksgiving Invitational (another segment that was taped for Spike TV earlier this month) midway through the competition because of his jaw. Knowing how mentally hard that would be for an eater, especially one of Koby's caliber, it's clear that the injury must be serious.

As for me, I'll be behind the table for the first time--counting burgers for one lucky eater. Be sure to tune into ESPN on Sunday to catch what I'm sure will prove to be a record-setting event.

Here's a snapshot of your competitors (info supplied by Krystal)

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Personal Record: 92 Krystals (87 to Qualify)
MLE Ranking: 1

Pat “Deep Dish” Bertoletti
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Personal Record: 85 Krystals
MLE Ranking: 2
(2006 Picture)

Tim “Eater X” Janus
Hometown: New York, NY
Personal Record: 73 Krystals
MLE Ranking: 4

“Humble Bob” Shoudt
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Personal Record: 69 Krystals
MLE Ranking: 7

Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas
Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia
Personal Record: 62 Krystals (51 to Qualify)
MLE Ranking: 5

Chip “The Phenom” Simpson
Hometown: Birmingham, AL
Personal Record: 55 Krystals (49 to Qualify)
MLE Ranking: 6

Rich “The Locust” LeFevre
Hometown: Henderson, NV
Personal Record: 52 Krystals (51 to Qualify)
MLE Ranking: 8

Hall “Hoover” Hunt
Hometown: Jacksonville, FL
Personal Record: 49 Krystals
MLE Ranking: 9

“Crazy Legs” Conti
Hometown: New York, NY
Personal Record: 44 Krystals
MLE Ranking: 11

Tim “Gravy” Brown
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Personal Record: 43 Krystals
MLE Ranking: 15

Erik “The Red” Denmark
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Personal Record: 43 Krystals
MLE Ranking: 12

Allen “Shredder” Goldstein
Hometown: Plainview, NY
Personal Record: 42 Krystals
MLE Ranking: 14

Juliet Lee
Hometown: Germantown, MD
Personal Record: 41 Krystals
MLE Ranking: 10

This Sunday will mark two weeks until one of the biggest competitive eating events of the year will throw down: the annual Krystal Square Off in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's considered one of the big ones because, like Nathan's, it's nationally televised and has historically been one of the few competitions that Takeru Kobayashi participates in. Additionally, none of the eaters can shut up about how awesome the Krystal organizers are. Catering specifically to the eaters isn't something that all sponsors do, but Krystal--perhaps because they've built an entire fan base around eating ridiculous quantities of burgers--knows and loves their competitive eaters. Nathan's might be your longtime buddy that you always clear your calendar for, but Krystal's is that crazy friend who invites you to visit for the weekend and then throws a killer party and ends up giving you that one sweatshirt of his that you always kinda liked and--hey--might as well take these cookies and beer because they'll just go to waste otherwise.

2007 seems to be the year for upsets. It was only a few short months ago that Joey Chestnut took the crown from Kobayashi and triumphant cheers were heard around the world: the giant could be beaten. But who guessed it would be so soon that a new champion might emerge. While one wouldn't really call Pat Bertoletti an underdog, he wasn't the name on everyone's tongues when talking about beating Kobayashi on the 4th, and he was only coming up occasionally when talking about beating Joey in Chattanooga--until recently.

The mohawked eater stunned the competitive eating world, and made major headlines, when he recently won a grits competition by putting down 21 pounds of the stuff. While a newsworthy win, it was the third place winner that had people in a tizzy: Joey Chestnut had been beat by not only Pat Bertoletti, but by Tim "Eater X" Janus, who came in a solid second at 20 pounds, a whole pound more than Joey.

Then, as if answering the taunts of people who would guess the win was a fluke, Pat beat the number one eater in the world at waffles and took away the title, eating 29 to Joey's 28.5.

This week, the big buzz is the happenings in Las Vegas. Spike TV and the IFOCE selected 16 eaters to come and compete in a series of eating events that will be televised at later dates. Because of the nature of the pre-recording, the 16 eaters were kept a secret and told not to let it leak what they were up to. But the seal has been broken and news started trickling in from the city of sin. And the news was big. The word was that Kobayashi was there, still nursing a bit of the jaw injury we saw in July, and that the former champion was hurting in competition. But this time, not just to Joey Chestnut, but to Pat Bertoletti, too.

SPOILER!

The initial results came in from a chicken wing competition which gave Pat the win with 4.1 pounds of wings, Joey 2nd with 4.05, and Kobayashi in an unheard-of-for-him 3rd place with a mere 3.1 pounds.

This certainly spices up the competition in Chattanooga, once again making a big competition even bigger. Assuming, of course, Joey qualifies for the Krystal competition, a feat he's yet to complete this year. With only two qualifiers left, it's no doubt the he'll come out with guns blazing, but only time will tell how his hard work will pay off.