NatGeo on Coney Island

On eatfeats.com ojrifkin mentioned two articles in current issues of magazines. Here is a scan of the National Geographic article about Coney Island which mentions Nathan's hot dog contest.

#5 at Chow Down for Charity

The third qualifier for the Chow Down for Charity Hotdog Eating Contest was held at Steve's Snappin' Dogs. These contests benefit the Colorado Aids Walk and Project Angel Heart -- two great causes and the contests are a bunch of fun too. My 75-year-old mother-in-law won the Chicago Dog division! More later.

This Is It

Here's the last view of Frank & Max.

T Minus 0

Only good things can happen when dogs go to prison.

It's time. Doggies go in the big house today. Not the Big House but the big house. The dogs in prison program sounds great for us, them, and the inmates. We'll see what happens!

Field Hockey Players are Hot

Jeez, I hate responding to anonymous comments. Someone ("news at five" I think was their name) dropped one on eatfeats. It began "Been talking with Skinnyboy..."

Uh, no.

I don't care about anonymous comments but I don't want anyone to say I said something that I didn't say.

Anyone can start anonymous rumors, that's why internet message boards are so great. If you want to start rumors about me - fine - heck, here are a few:

- I think George Bush has done a great job
- I think John McCain is exactly what we need
- I do not like dogs
- I love cats
- I bore Dave Matthews' love child (sorry T)
- I fathered ojrifkin's love child (T, again - oops!)

TORO

T Minus 1

To Prison

T Minus 2

Dogs go

T Minus 3

Happen when

T Minus 4

Things can

T Minus 5

Only good

Harold & Kumar

Well, Horton & T-bonz (& me)

Chow Down for Charity

Until I get more up later, here is a link to some video that the local CBS affiliate in town has posted of the second qualifier at Steve's Snappin' Dogs yesterday. Without a doubt these are the best hot dogs in Denver. The qualifiers and the finals are fundraisers for the Colorado AIDS Project and Project Angel Heart.

The video is here.

Wings Update

Here is the final tally from the wing eating contest:

Andrew -- 80
Kaz -- 50
Ted -- 45
MK -- 41
Blitzer -- 37
Whealon -- 36
Abbs -- 32
Harry -- 26
Rudden -- 25

Wings Throwdown

At work we decided to hold a friendly chicken wing eating contest. 7 of us eating delicious wings, and a bunch of people who came down to watch us do it. Or to make the most of Happy Hour maybe? Anyway you look at it they might just be some of the best athletic supporters around.

Above, that's me at the end of this. 155?!? Oh yeah...
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And don't forget

Equals



That's 7 pounds too many of fried, of chicken skin, and of bleached dark meat. In the end the damage done:

Kaz ate a couple more to hit 50. I ate 3 more for an even 80.

It was a great time, a great stretch before taking care of some unfinished business in Amarillo, and I think everyone involved would not have wanted to be anywhere else. Hopefully we'll do another one soon.

You can see many more photos here.

Can Anthony Bourdain Do It?

Another celebrity goes to the Big Texan Steak Ranch to take on the free 72 ounces steak dinner. First Joey Chestnut, then me, then Pat Bertoletti's skater dude twin, and now Mr. Bourdain:

He doesn't exactly tear in to it.

Signing autographs and schmoozing with the little people.

Time's up.

Peace out ABo.

Here's an Amarillo blog reporting it.

This is Where It's At!

T-bonz and I got together in Colorado Springs for some lunch and I gave the twins back to her.

T has driven by it a few times. We decide to give Red Hot & Blue and their "Barbeque, Blues, & Southern Hospitality" a try.

Above is what I ordered. It's the Ramblin' Delta Combo. Memphis-style pulled pork sandwich along with a 1/4 slab of their dry rubbed ribs, and a smoked sausage link. Also cole slaw, potato salad, and a pickle spear. I ate the ribs first:

Is that a good sign or what?!? The fingers are glistening and oranged from the rub. But not covered in sauce. You do not need sauce! The smoke and the rub is enough. The meat was tender, with a good smoke line. Not falling off the bone, but just right.

I think I ate the pulled pork sandwich next. No pictures because it was too good to stop. From the earlier picture you can see there is no sauce on the pulled pork. They aren't hiding any smoking imperfections behind a sauce because there are no imperfections. It's perfect. Tender, juicy, and smoky. Delicious.

I spared a little for the twins.


Bottom line is Red Hot & Blue knows how to rub their meat. We'll be back, for sure.

Girls Gone Wild!

Check out these videos for free!

First and Second. In the second video the girlies did not know the webcam was on!

Bertoletti in the House?

So I checked the webcam at the Big Texan Steak Ranch last night. And here's what I saw:

Some dude with a black mohawk attempting the free 72 ounce steak dinner. But why is this webcam-quality-Bertoletti still eating with the clock showing 14+ minutes? That can't be Pat Bertoletti. Could it?

No. Horking at 3:59? No.

Still puking 2 minutes later!

Not this time, Pat.

Neat Eating Hot Dog Contest

Here is some video from the Neat Eating Hot Dog Eating Contest for kids from Overland Park, Kansas. The contest amazingly ended in a tie between all the eaters.

Kansas City on CNN - Edit

I captured & edited the CNN footage from the Nathan's Overland Park qualifier and posted it to YouTube. The video package is run once in the narrated report, and it is run again under the podcast closing music.

[Here is my original post]

Kansas City on CNN

A guy at work alerted me that there was some video on CNN over the weekend from the Nathan's Qualifier hot dog contest at the Overland Park Sam's. I found this on CNN.com, from the StudentNews podcast:

I will clean it up tonight, but for now click here to see it. The footage from Kansas City beings at about the 9:05 mark.

You can see me, Nick The Green Dude, Chris, Erik, etc.

Kansas City Blows

That is the only good thing about going to Overland Park to be in the qualifier for the Nathan's Famous 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Southwest Airlines blows. They have a new seating policy that blows. The kid who sandbagged while boarding, and then coughed the whole flight to Kansas City blows. Avis blows. I reserved a compact for $9. Give me that, not this:

Chrysler blows. The Gardner, Kansas police blow. Here's a photo of the stop sign I blew right through:

At 12:40am you couldn't see the sign. Otherwise I would have stopped, duh. $95? You and your police friends blow. (Actually I always say any police or any fireman or any nurse or any teacher kicks ass. Why do monkeys tapping on keyboards make more than those true heroes?)

After an incredible workout Saturday morning at the aforementioned Anytime Fitness, I make my way to the contest venue at the Sam's Club:

The crowd grew a bit more. George Shea started up:

First up was an eating contest for Sam's associates. Some guy brought his actual dog up to eat:

Whew, good thing George put the kibosh on that. No tarnishing a respectable hot dog eating contest with a dog eating and having fun. The guy who won ate 3 hot dogs and buns in 1:37.

Then there was the neat eating contest for kids. Everyone tied! (But for the record, Sam's had one grand prize. I think George changed it around to give all the winners a prize and have a raffle for the grand prize. That was a pretty good thing to do.)

We were up next. The hot dogs were the skinless bun-length Nathan's dogs you can buy in most food stores. They weren't grilled, maybe boiled, but not prepared on site. Not hot, but not cold either. Just right, actually. And delicious. I've had hot dogs since last June but not a Nathan's dog - flavorful, garlicky, perfect. And what's with the "two cup" rule? Rules are rules, and whatever, but be consistent and apply that to everyone. Some had pitchers, some had more cups, some had big containers. That blows. But we ate.

Everyone began with 2 plates.

Right on the money.

Results: winner 24, 2nd ate 23, 3rd ate 21.

Two more things that blow:

1. Avis again. What's up with the big ass keys? And why do they put two of them on the ring? It's not like you can take apart the key ring, so what's the purpose?

2. A two-parter. Kansas City International airport.

Above, the terminal design. Each terminal has on the west side stores, restrooms, etc, and gates on the east side. It's complicated to explain why it blows, but it blows. The photo below is of a restroom inside a gate. The faucets look OK, but they are like Walmart streams of water. That blows.


Kansas City blows.

A full slideshow of photos is here.