Friday, October 31, 2008

The Phillies Parade



Crowd Building before parade
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.
The Parade starts right in front of my building at noon. I'm expecting a complete madhouse today. The wife and kids are coming in to watch

8:03 Getting off the subway and people are ALREADY lined up against the barricades and cheering the buses going by. They are 4 hours early.

8:53 getting louder and louder out there. Cars laying on the horn, crowds cheering


Police Escort
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.
9:30 Minimum 2 Deep against the barricades with Thousands milling about behind them. My wife and kids cant get a train...they're all full!!!

10:14 Wife and kids finally crammed onto train. She held up the phone as the passengers roared 'LETS GO PHILLIES'

10:33 this is getting ridiculous.....


The Philly Phanatic
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.
10:41 Someone has a monstrous music system playing queens ‘we are the champions’ and THOUSASNDS of people are singing along right now.

10:47 A column of 50+ Police Vehicles with full sirens is passing

11:04 Police have closed Market Steet to Traffic

11:25 I am headed down into the fray soon


Phillys Win!
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.
1:13 that was completely insane. cell phones arent working in the city so i couldnt twitter it, hundreds of thousands packed the streets for the parade. Tickertape pouring down from the skyscrapers. A see of drunk Phillies Fans in red.


Yo Philly!
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.



Confetti
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.



After the Phillies parade
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Steakbellie is no longer sorry

Steakbellie is sorry he didnt tell you he was lying about being fluent in French, before you bought the tickets

Steakbellie is sorry for switching your Vicodin with Viagra

Steakbellie is sorry he followed you through the Parking Lot and all the way back to your house

Steakbellie is sorry that he has been flushing a handful of Concrete MIx down your toilet everytime you invite him over

Steakbellie is sorry he told you he had date for the prom, when you both knew he didn't

Steakbellie is sorry he wasnt strong enough to be your man

Steakbellie is sorry he never won anything

Steakbellie is sorry he left his underwear on the kitchen counter, again

Steakbellie is sorry he tried to wipe dirt off your face even though he KNEW it was a mole

Steakbellie is sorry he sold your World Series Tickets

Steakbellie is sorry he secretly moved your car while you were at lunch

Steakbellie is sorry he made you clean all the dog poop off the lawn on your birthday.

Steakbellie is sorry about pairing the red wine with the fish

Steakbellie is sorry he spent the office pool lottery money on comics and then lied about it

Steakbellie is sorry he cried during your budget meeting

Steakbellie is sorry he took an anonymous bite from your sandwich and returned it to the lunchroom fridge

YEAH!!!!

So many of the broadcasters are drunk!!!!!!!

Alot of fires, alot of us idiots turning over cars.

YAY!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The First Stone


I was going to write a natsygram post about Beyonce insisting that people call her 'Sasha Fierce' from now on. (I wasnt kidding when I said I read those stupid magazines) I remembered that I get mail and even once a wedding invite that actually said "Mr & Mrs Steakbellie" written in Caligraphy.

Wife wasnt too happy about that one.....

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

My new tatto (eight words)

if found;
deliver me to
Nebraskan
Emergency Room

Tuesday (eight words)

calls handled
in
the order
they are
received

without foundation (haiku)

position of strength
complacency erodes it
crumbled and rusted

put ME in coach (eight words)

$100,000,000 and
cant play
in the
rain.

sissies.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Eight Words from Stall #1 in the Millenium Hotel (eight words)

"Sound like
a couple
of faggots
to me"

Friday, October 17, 2008

Philadelphia 3-Day Walk!

My wife has started her 3-Day walk for Breast Cancer! It's a 60 mile walk to raise money and awareness in the Philadelphia Area. Also walking with her is Competitive Eater Wing Kong and his wife, and neighbor Amy. I will be sort of Live Blogging this over the next 3 days.

DAY 1
5:30 Leaves out the front door with her suitcase in search of adventure!

6:30 am Runs into Jenne at Willow Grove. Jenne is like the head muckety-muck of this event and someone that we've known for a few years through our blogs. She pretty much rocks.

9:30 am Multiple texts received from Wing Kong that are lies.

10:30 am Phonecall from my honey! Everything is going great and they are stopping to pee somewhere. Has a headache though.

1:04 pm Phonecall! She's at the lunch-stop 10.8 miles in. Says the bottoms of their feet hurt. They are laughing alot. Says she saw 'Hub' (Jenne's husband who we went to college with, says he looks the same. jerk.)

1:58 pm text: "8 miles to go!"

4:24 pm laughing delieriously, says knees hurt. 2 miles to go!

5:42 pm She made it TWENTY MILES!!!!

6:30 pm My girl is TIRED!!!


DAY 2

5:56 am I text her. "Do you need anything from home?" "The Car."

9:00 am I bring two of the boys down to Manajunk and we walk a mile or two with her. She's got bandages on her blistered feet and cant stop too long. She looks great!

1:59 pm Passing City Hall! Still moving!

4:30 am She's back at Camp and looking through the Memorial Tents. Very Moving.


DAY 3

8:30 am Phone Call. Walking and hurting. Feet are bleeding. Bad Blisters.....little bit crying

11:45 amMe and the boys head down to Bryn Mawr and wait with signs we made. They say "Walk Baby Walk!" We cheer on the crowds as they march by. We finally see her and she's moving pretty good. Lots of kisses from the boys but she's afraid to stop for too long

3:32 mmSHE MADE IT!!! She's going to eat and wait for us at the 5:30 pm Closing Ceremony!

4:00 pmSHE MADE IT!!! Me and the boys leave for the 5:30 pm Closing Ceremony! We are intending to be early and get a good seat.

6:15 pm20 Minute ride to Villanova takes TWO HOURS AND FIFTEEN MINUTES. Apparently the Three Day is soooo successful that the streets, parking lots and stadium are completely overrun with gridlock traffic of loved ones trying to catch the event. Traffic extends for miles for the exit on 476 North and South. Everyone is frustrated and I get in a verbal fight with some asshole who tries to pass me the shoulder about an hour into the gridlock. I wanted to kill him. My Mom and Dad make it from Jersey about the same time because of the traffic.

6:16 pmCatch the final 15 minutes of the ceremony and hear a wonderful speech by Jenne. Wow!! After years of reading each others blogs I finally get to meet her in person. She's very busy wrapping things up so it's only for a minute, but it's kind of crazy that their is a real person on the other end of her blog! Also get to see her husband who I already know and adore from college. He looks awesome.

6:30 pmMy honey is emotionally and physically spent. What an incredible event. We goin collect her bags and those of Wing Kong & Wife and head to the van. Traffic is unbelievable and it takes 1.5 HOURS just to exit the Parking Lot!!!! My poor honey is exhausted and tired and has the worst blisters I've ever seen on feet. My Dad WALKS to a local pizza shop and returns with pizza for everyone. We still hadnt moved. Great Pizza.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

in my fridge bag (haiku)

apples and oatmeal
carrots, spinach, celery
yogurt and walnuts

a new hope (haiku)

plotting and planning
we can make this worthwhile
the end of silence

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Interview Alert

I will be on BBC Radio 2 this Friday October 17th at 1:45 Eastern Time. This is their evening drive home radio show and their SportsCaster wants to hear about my setting of the Haggis Record and about Competive Eating in General. Said it should be about 5 minutes.

You can listen over the internets here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/

I've filled in the details on Wing Kongs Bean record post and now I need to fill the Haggis post with photos and details. So much to do!

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Haggis World Record 3lbs in 8 minutes - Steakbellie

Wikipedia's Entry for Haggis

Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish.

There are many recipes, most of which have in common the following ingredients: sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.


If you look further down in the wiki, you'll see that I own the record for eating the stuff. (thanks Mathis!!)

Doesnt sound all that appetizing though when you put it like that. If you think about it, it isnt that much different than Hot Dogs, Sausage or Scrapple, except it is Sheep based and not Pig based, and despite tasting ok it smells god-aweful.

Haggis is often contested accross the globe at Fairs and Festivals but because of how difficult the food is to eat, it is never more than a pound. My goal was to triple the most Haggis ever eaten and to do it in a conventional 8 minute format.

Coordinating approval from the International Federation of Competitive Eaters and the Preston and Steve Show at WMMR took over a month. The IFOCE requires an EMT be present at all contests, and the legal team at WMMR was relieved to hear it.

Finding Haggis in Pennsylvania was extremely hard and I scoured the internet and specialty meat markets in Philadelphia. Eventually my brother was able to provide a source in New Jersey.(thanks Joe!) I bought 6lbs of frozen Haggis over the phone that my Dad Fed-Ex'd to me still frozen. (thanks Dad!)

My stomach capicity is over 6lbs of food, but I knew that the high fat content (like eating cold sticks of butter)would make this food very difficult to get and keep down. Because the actual Haggis was so expensive to buy and ship, I used Scrapple to test my capacity. 3lbs would be very hard to hit.

Wow!
A very tough morning for me but I pulled it off! There is a ton of video and pictures and I will add all of that to this post as it comes in. It was the first time I ever got nauseous in an eating contest, but I powered through it and feel great now.

Funny: My pee is bright yellow like I took vitamins!!!!

Baked Bean World Record 84oz in 58 seconds - Wing Kong


He ate TWO of these suckers!
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.
This was just amazing. There was a ton of photos and video verifying the weighing and then the eating.

The Pork & Bean Record stood for 4 years. It's a very odd quantity because it was originally sponsored by 84 Lumber. They had the Eaters eat 84oz of Pork and Beans (around 5.2lbs!) and the first person to finish the bowl won the contest. Thats different than most contests today that have a standard time of 8 minutes and the Eaters eat as much as they can in that time. Some great names of Competitive Eating took part in this contest and the best time ever recorded was a minute and 22 seconds.

Now everybody loves them some beans, so it's a highly respected food in this country. Think of the amazing power they have over your gastric processes and yet you continue to come back for more! If Potato Chips made you fart like a dragon, you probably wouldnt eat them as often as you do baked beans.

I think what makes this stunt so difficult is:
1. You have to be able to hold 5+ lbs of food
2. You have to also be able to swallow without chewing
3. You have to have a wife that will put up with your stupid ass when you do some crazy shit like eat 5lbs of Pork and Beans.


While some eaters have one or two of these traits, Wing Kong has a fine balance of all three. He first discovered his ability a few years ago when he ate a few lbs of them to get into Wing Bowl. I think back then he realized he actually had a chance to break the record.

A few months ago Wing Kong contacted the Preston & Steve show on a whim to see if they would go for him breaking the stunt on the air. The guys at the radio station could sense the potential for collossal failure and good radio and signed him up.

Because we are contracted by the IFOCE, Kong had to get special permission to do the stunt on the air. The biggest concern is safety and we had to hire an EMT to be present while Micah ate the beans. Choking to Death while eating Beans is comical and good for radio, but bad for breaking a world record.


Empty Pork & Bean Bowl
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.

The folks at the Preston & Steve were very accomodating and helpful. They were truly fascinated that a person could actually eat that much food at once and were rooting for him. They actually run the most organized and professional studio I've been in.

Having seen Wing Kong do the stunt several times in the months prior, I knew that everything hinged on his swallowing rythem. He would need to get the bulk of the beans down in the first 20 seconds and be careful not to swallow too much air in the process. An airbubble in the stomach would cause a burp that could interupt his attempt.

Not only did he break the record, but he crushed it finishing the whole amount in only 58 Seconds!!!

WMMR.com has a podcast posted of the entire show.
http://www.wmmr.com/goout.php?url=http://prestonandsteve.libsyn.com/
you want the podcast of 10/08/08

There is also a YouTube Video of his stunt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=halXwKY_NKA
It's worth seeing.

Monday, October 06, 2008

How I will get a World Record


haggis
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.
This Wednesday morning I will be on the radio in an attempt to set the Haggis 8 Minute World Record. As you may know Haggis is a traditional Scottish Meal made up of the innards of a sheep ground and mixed with some oatmeal. It is extremely Rich and fatty and is not unlike Scrapple except that it smell is more like death. Tastes ok though.

Because the food is so rich and satiating, there are NO RECORDS that exceed 1lbs. I have found several contests that are contested annually (including in Scotland, Western PA and California) but they all feature a single 1lbs of Haggis and the winner is the one who can finish it the fastest.

The fastest result is 1:30, and I fully anticipate to eat my first lbs in under 1 minute. The remaining 7 minutes is where all the trouble starts and I will be struggling to break 3lbs and in my fantasy world eat 4lbs. My capacity is more than double that weight, but this is more about intestinal fortitude on my part, being able to keep eating when all of my senses are opposed.

I can pretty much garuntee that the rest of the day wont be much fun.


Wing Kong and His Ride
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.
Also attempting to break a World Record will be the great Wing Kong. He will be attempting to break Dale Boones long standing Pork & Beans Record of 84oz in 1:52. I've seen him practice this stunt and it is just so incredibly amazing! It may be one of my favorite stunts of all time, the bowl is as big as a steering wheel. I'm certain I could never come close to that speed in this disclipline.

Eating against the clock is much harder than eating against a rival, so we will both have to be on our game to create a record that will last. This will be a first record for each of us.

This whole thing has come full circle for me as eating Haggis was my very first stunt that I did to get into WingBowl 14, 3 years ago. I forget if it was 1.5 or 2lbs I ate that day but I know that I kept getting phantom wiffs of it for months afterwards. The smell kinda haunted me.

Whats also funny is that this simple moment on the radio may be how I am remembered anecdotaly for years to come. I have spent a whole life, loving and working and someday the only thing my great-grandchildren will know about me is that I once ate more sheep guts than anyone else. Ever. What do you know about YOUR great-grandparents?

The radio station we will be on is WMMR out of Philadelphia. We will be on Wednesday October 8th, 2008 sometime after 8am EST.

They will offer Podcasts and Videos of the show here and you might be able to listen live.

http://wmmr.com/jock_preston_and_steve.shtml

Thursday, October 02, 2008

dirty