In the News

                         November- December 2004

12/26/04-ChowHound seeks entourage... see Mad Adventures of ChowHound for more info

12/26/04- Yes, it's time again for the Bobby Awards, our annual salute to the best and the worst, the goofiest and the dumbest, the oddest and most embarrassing moments our region had to offer.

Avid readers of the Beacon Journal know this column has become a holiday tradition. Unfortunately, they tend to equate it with such holiday traditions as spilling red wine on the carpet or clogging up the vacuum cleaner with pine needles.

But now, without further ado, the 2004 Bobbys.

AKRON'S MOST TRIVIAL CELEBRITY: That relentless publicity hound known as Coondog O'Karma finally speed-ate his way into the big time. His name appears in Hasbro's Trivial Pursuit, Volume 6, Card 26.

Doesn't get much better than that, eh?

12/23/04-Pittsburgh eater Christina Gumola reaches out to AICE for eating advice, uses suggested techniques, eats two Roethlisburgers ~floors the competition and wins!   

Story and Photos

                                                                                                                                     The next Sonya Thomas?

12/13/04-Gentleman Joe Menchetti qualifies for the Semi-Final round of Court Jesters 2 minute Chicken Wing Eating Contest by eating 28 Chicken Wings in 2 minutes in Aberdeen NJ. On Monday December 27th. Joe will go on to face Chowhound Chapman, Mark "Bonestripper" Reigelsberger and other qualifiers for the privilege of competing for $1,7500 in prize money on Super bowl Sunday and defending his crown.

     ChowHound makes local long island paper- click for article and pics

For more on the Wing Bowl 13 Updates- click here

12/1/04- Chowhound "Wows' the Staff at WIP to Qualify for the Wing Bowl.

In what was described as the most exhilarating, entertaining and brash performance ever in the History of Wing Bowl stunts, Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman rocked the studios of WIP Sports Radio in Philadelphia. Prior to and during the contest Chowhound engaged in a
friendly verbal battle with four time Champion Bill "El Wingadoor" Simmons.  At one point, Chowhound requested that the ex-Champion take a seat and see who could get to the bottom of a Clementine crate quicker after he suggested that the Chowhound's stunt was weak and that he could do it much quicker. (Yes, Chowhound brought an extra crate). Not only did Chowhound complete his
four minute stunt in 3 minutes and 4 seconds, but he kept the WIP crew laughing with amazement as he treated them to his signature "Chowhound Chomp". Wing Bowl founder and talk show host Angelo Cataldi wondered out loud how 20,000 fans will react on February 4th at Wachovia Tower during the annual Wing Bowl celebration to ChowHound's bizarre yet charismatic and scary style of eating.

Congratulations to Don 'Moses' Lehrman on his successful bean eating stunt. It is believed that Don consumed 3 pounds of beans in a little over 1 minute.  We salute Kevin Lipshitz and Brian Siekan who showed extrodinary courage to drive home with Don after this stunt. Also congratulations to Crazy Kevin Lipshitz who consumed 3 pounds of turkey breast in 6 minutes to qualify for his 3rd WingBowl. 

Good luck to Adam 'Da Bomb' Leffler who will attempt to eat 4lbs of cheesecake in 15 minutes on Friday, 12/3 to earn a spot at the 13th Annual WingBowl.

11/24/04- "I had used it on my dog, but wasn't sure it would work on a human." were the words of pizza eating champion, Coondog O'Karma, as he described the the hypnotic wave of pizza coined as "The Hypno-Slam" he employed to mesmerize his opponent, Phil "The Big Tomato" Angelo, while gobbling his way to victory through a a medium sized pizza successfully defending his "Pizza Pan" Pizza Eating Championship on Cleveland's Fox 8's "Big Chuck and Lil John Show."
It was a special event in Cleveland eating history as the match was refereed by the legendary "Mushmouth" Mariano Pacetti. Pacetti was the Cleveland pizza eating champion for three straight years in the 1970's, his only losses being to German Shepherd, Flash "The Fairview Wonder Dog," and to a then- "15 year old"- eating prodigy---- Coondog O'Karma!

11/23/04-  The Glutton Bowl - The World's Greatest Eating Competition will be rebroadcast on Thanksgiving Night at 8pm on most FOX SPORTS regional stations. PLEASE check your local listings. In some areas it will be repeated the next day.

Congratulations to Eric Badlands Booker for his victory in the Entemann's pumpkin pie eating contest. In second place was Hungry Charles Hardy followed by Tim 'the Titan Janus'.

Congratulations to Carlene LeFevre for defeating America's Number 1 eater Richard 'the Locust' LeFevre in New Mexico at the Posole Eating Contest

Sonya Thomas wins the toasted ravioli contest in St Louis by consuming 4 pounds of ravioli.  This St Louis type ravioli has been described as possibly the chewiest substance on earth, and prevented Sonya from finishing with her typical double digit.  Both Eric Badlands Booker and Tim 'the Titan' Janus were right behind her with 3.75 and 3.25 respectively.

11/21/04- Check out 'Coondog's Recipe for Thanksgiving Stuffing' which appears on line in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

The Right Stuffing-Expert advice for packing it away on Turkey Day

11/19/04- New addition to the Make-A-Wish event photo page 1~ check out the video clip from the actual event.

11/15/04- Congratulations to ChowHound Chapman on moving to the semifinal round in chicken wing eating at Court Jesters in NJ.  The Champion of Chomp blew away the competition at the qualifyer.

11/13/04- Congratulations to Kobayashi on his victory at the Krystal burger finals by eating 69 in 8 minutes. Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas comes in 2nd w/ 46 & picks up $5,000. Rich Lefevre comes in 3rd downing 41.

11/12/04-Congrats to Tim Brien who won the Frank's Red Hot Battle To the Bone - Buffalo Wing Eating contest held in Boston. Tim ate 1.975 lbs of meat in 8 minutes.

  11/9/04- AICE is thrilled to announce it will register eaters, sanction and facilitate the First      Inaugural Ball Park -Fiesta Bowl National Hot Dog Eating Championship during the 34th Annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on January 1, 2005 in Tempe, Arizona. AICE, Ball Park Franks and the Arizona Sports Foundation have partnered to bring together some of Americas Best Competitive Eaters in a 10 minute battle for $3,500 in prize money and the honor of being the First Ball Park-Fiesta Bowl National Hot Dog Eating Champ.  Great football tradition and great American Hot Dog tradition will be on display at the Fiesta Bowl where contestants will be required to eat hot dogs observing picnic style rules.

In addition, to the National Hot Dog Eating Championship, a collegiate team challenge where students and/or alumni from the respective universities will battle for the honor of the Hot Dog Team Championship. For the winning gurgitator collegiate team there will be a cash prize for each eater plus a trophy for the school.

For more information and to register for the competition please e-mail ChowHound@CompetitiveEaters.com

Will the winner of the team challenge also be the winner of the fiesta bowl?

11/6/04-Big Eaters and big wieners stole the show at the inaugural "Evening at the Blue Sky Diner's Hotdog Eating Contest" November 6th in Coshocton, Ohio.

Ohio's premier eater, Coondog O'Karma proved himself to be the best speedeater in the country by chomping down 8 super sized 5 ounce hot dogs and buns in less than 4 minutes to defeat Long Island , New York's champion of chomp and new world chili-eating champion, Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman to win the professional division, coming in third was Akron, Ohio eater, Eddie "the Geek" Vidmar.

Winning the amateurs division was Coshocton native Russ Fehrman with an impressive 4-1/2 monster dogs in 6 minutes. Second place went to "Din-Din" Flynn, and third place was snatched by 6-6 inch whippet thin rookie, John Q, of Syracuse, New York.

The event was sponsored by the wonderful members of Blue Sky Productions and all proceeds of the event went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

There were cash prizes to the top three finishers in each division and AICE likes to report that that all eaters freely made thoughtful donations to the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Thanks, guys!

Article: When you wish upon a star...

Photos of event and video clip

Page 2- Photos of Eating Competition

Page 3- Pre-Event Party and Fun pics

11/4/05- Ohio's Coondog O'Karma wolfed down 1- 1/2 large Domino's pizza's in 5 minutes to easily defeat defending champion, IFOCE eater "Big" Brian Subich, at Wolfendales's Pizza Eating Challenge in Indiana, Pa. Third place went to AICE eater, Eddie 'the Geek" Vidmar. In exchange for a one year supply of pizza, Coondog took home $250.00.

Press Release $500 Raised for United Way

11/4/04 -ChowHound Chapman makes local Long Island Press paper- Long Island Man Wins World Chili Eating Title

Local long island establishments also carry free copies of the Long Island Press- pick up a copy today!

11/04 -Congratulations to Dale 'Mouth of the South' Boone for his recent decisive victory over America's top eaters.  Within a two week period, Dale has established a new world record for lumberjack baked beans by gulping 5 pounds in 1 minute, 22 seconds. On his way to establishing this fantastic feat, he defeated 5th ranked Eddie 'Cookie' Jarvis, 6th anked Badlands Booker, 10th ranked Jammin' Joe Larue and 3rd ranked Sonja 'the black widow' Thomas. 

AICE applauds these type of contests where eaters can be shown for not only their capacity but their speed eating ability would love to see more events that test. In this vein, SpeedEat.com has created a separate ranking system for speed eaters.

        *IN THE NEWS ARCHIVES*

AICE: A competitive eating organization with a heart ... as big as its stomach!