Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Humility, Shock & Awe


The Krystal Killers
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.
It's over.

This weekend was the finals for the Krystal Burger Championship. Ya'll will remember that I flew down to Memphis a month ago to compete in a qualifier. I had expected from my training to eat more than 30 burgers but limped in with only 23. It's been a hard month of self abuse, but I enjoy that there is nowhere else to place blame. I blame my friend Wing Kong. :)

In general I regret that I have to wait a whole year to get another shot at this contest. The good news is that I have the Wing Bowl coming up the friday before the Super Bowl, and thats something that will fill 3 or 4 months of planning and training. I'm good at that format, and think I can have another great performance now that I know what to expect. In the spring I can try to break the 20 hotdog barrier as well...there's always something on the horizon.

So if you didnt get to see the Krystal Burger Final on ESPN this weekend you might be able to catch a glimpse of it on YouTube soon. I am the best/worst fan of Competitve Eating in that I root for EVERYBODY, and my list of favorite eaters is almost as big as my list of known eaters. This particular contest was stocked with my favorites and me and the family yelled as each one was introduced. I also had some deep Pangs wishing I was there to compete....or even just being there for the after party.

Now everybody at the table outclassed me on this day. I have so much respect for Eaters like The Black Widow, Humble Bob & Eater X, Crazy Legs...I should just list the whole table. These guys put up tremendous numbers 40's 50's & 60's. To eat that many Hamburgers in 8 Minutes is just stunning, but in a believable kind of way. I know with a few years of hard work I could have a shot of being at this level.

People in the crowd want to know where they put it all. They want to know how a skinny person can eat 50 Hamburgers. I'm past that, I know it's possible.

So the big story is that the old record of 67 Burgers was broken...and broken by three people! Pat Bertoletti ate 76 Krystal Hamburgers. I had predicted 73 to be the winning total.

Joey Chestnut the only eater to ever really be a challenge to Kobiashi (the great Japanese Hotdog Eater) pushed himself to 91 Burgers in 8 minutes...NINETY-ONE!!!!!
That is unfathomable to me. I'm back to the basic questions of 'Where does he put it?' His performance has really stunned me this week into silence. I know why I do all this, but honestly, it's abit Humbling to see a performance like this. Whats even more incredible is that Joey ate 91 Hamburgers and came in second. Koby ate 97. WTF? Thats the Old World Record PLUS what I ate in a whole 8 minutes....
THATS humbling.....

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is surprising that WIP has yet to make any public announcement about Wing Bowl 15. Last year, I think the tickets had been sold by the last weekend in October.

steakbellie said...

I remember reading somewhere that they were going to wait on the ticket sales until Dec or Jan.

With the Eagles playing so poorly, I'm sure it will be non-stop WingBowl talk from Thanksgiving on...I dont blame them for waiting to announce everything!

Anonymous said...

word on the street is that this year's wingbowl "anyone" can enter.
no IFOCE blocking participants at all!
I think, WIP realized that they don't need IFOCE, because they can do well without.
The real question is whether IFOCE will allow their eaters to enter.

Wendy said...

Wow, that's a lot of burgers.

Anonymous said...

I think we need to reassess your ranking here. Don't you need to win something? Or place or show? What happened to that burrito thing anyway? I think you might be 45th now.

steakbellie said...

I was told that I was no longer elegible to participate in the Burrito Contest because of my ranking.

As far as winnning something, That would be nice, but every contest I go to has at least 5 of the top ten present. Until I can beat those guys, I'm not gonna win.