Cheesesteaks, anyone?

This is where the "Competitive Eating Groupie" part of the title of my blog comes in. Although I am FAR from a groupie. I'm not even an uber-fan. But if you know me, you know I'm engaged to competitive eater "Wild Bill" Myers. He's been on the circuit (as they say) for 7 years now, and I've been to more contests than I can count. I've watched people eat hot dogs, ribs, shoo-fly pie, french fries and who-all knows what else in pursuit of some pretty large prize purses. Let's just say that the #1 eater in the country made $62,000 in contest winnings alone last year. I don't make that much money at my full-time job, and this is just what the dude does on weekends, ok??

That said, on May 21, we went to the IFOCE (International Federation of Competitive Eaters)'s sponsored World Championship Cheeseteak Eating Contest. Yeah, it's a mouthful - in more ways than one.

Bill's (admittedly) not that good at this competitive eating thing, but his goal usually isn't to take the contest. It'd be nice if he'd place in the money, but he generally has a personal goal. It's to beat a specific eater or to best his last performance. It makes for less stress, I think. Like I said, sure -- it'd be nice for him to win some money, but that'll happen when it happens. Meanwhile, it's fun. I am hoping, for him, that eventually he'll get to eat Nathan's at Coney Island, because that's reserved for the folks who win the qualifying contests that are held around the country beginning in early May.

So cheesesteaks. The contest was sponsored by Subway, so each sandwich was 6" long. I've no idea what they weighed, nor does Bill because in the excitement of being there, we neglected to break out the scale. But no matter...winner was determined by the number of sandwiches eaten, not the weight of said sandwiches. The field was packed with professional eaters...#1 in the world, Joey Chestnut. #3, Bob Shoudt. #10, 11, 12 & 13 Juliet Lee, Eric "Badlands" Booker, Sean "Flash" Gordon and Micah Collins. # 17 and 18, Crazy Legs Conti and Pat Philbin. #22, Brian Dudzinski. #25, Eric "Steakbellie" Livingston. #27, 37, 40 and 43, Brian Subich, Larell Marie, Brian Seiken and Bill Myers. If that doesn't come to 15, I forgot Andrew Kossuth, who's not ranked yet, I don't think. (http://www.ifoce.com/rankings)













Of course, Joey Chestnut won. This is the guy who ate 68 hot dogs and buns on live TV in Coney Island on the 4th of July last year. If there's a contest he's in that he doesn't win, it's an upset. He's THAT good. Second was Bob Shoudt and third was Sean Gordon. How many sandwiches did they eat? Joey ate 23. Bob ate 19. Sean ate 18 (and change, I think). In 10 minutes.

I have to be honest and tell you that what I love about the contests is the camaraderie amongst the eaters.



Because it's certainly not the eating itself. That's like a train wreck. As appalling as it is, it's hard to look away.





The next best part of the contest, after the eaters being together and having fun, is the showmanship of George Shea. You simply MUST attend at least one contest and listen to George's introduction to the show itself, and then each eater's individual intro. He draws you in like a fly fisherman draws that big fish he's been trying to catch all season.



You're reeled in, slowly at first, and then WHAM!



You're hooked.

From there, it's all downhill, and the next thing you know, you're a groupie like me. See you next week in Atlantic City at the Nathan's qualifier!