May 3 to update the rankings considering that  the first weekend of May features Jalapenos and Cheesesteaks. For the first time in 6yrs i have
moved up in the rankings.climbing out of the basement to 45. Hey its nothing to write home about but its a mountain i may be able to climb. During
the early part of 2004 i was ranked as high as 16 but since that time its been all downhill. I think i might hold the record for biggest jump in rank
going from 62 in 2001 to 33 in Sept 2002 . I went from 33 to 24 in 2003 and then 16 in 04 as mentioned. Rich Shea mentioned that i finished ahead
of Nick Bauer in ribs. Bauer  made his debut in the rankings at 34. To be quite honest i never even heard of the guy till i saw it on Rich's twitter
page. Dorney Park cheesesteak contest was a winner. I give it rave reviews all across the board except for the PA media. I noticed three maybe four
cameras in the crowd which to my surprise was alot less than i expected. For the first time in years i volunteered my services for an interview after
the contest but got blown off by this asshole from a local publication.. The only reason i approached him was because i saw him interviewing Wild
Bill.  "We think we have enough thank you" I was ready to tell him go f-- yourself. You think i need your rinky dink newspaper with a circulation of
maybe 500. Keep it i make my own publicity. Ive been doing it that way for years. If Crazy Legs Conti felt slighted by not being included in the
stuttering interview with the Philly eaters  that was certainly not the case at all. It was strictly a Philly thing but Shredder had to be included because
his last name was Goldstein. During the segment featuring Steakbellie, Crazy Legs deliberately  sticks his entire frame  into the camera for a second
or two as a dig for some of the past comments i made about him hogging all the media stuff with MLE.  I highly doubt he was jealous or the least bit
interested in being interviewed. Even though it was strictly a Philly thing, i was tempted to ask him if he wanted a spot but at the risk of receiving an
answer such as "not interested BB"  which would have made me look like an ass, i chose to pass . I saw Joey Chestnut. Didnt bother acknowledging
his presence. I am not impressed nor am i a fan . . You are either brought up to be cordial to others or you choose to be an asshole. He chose the
latter . Unfortunately he won the contest  and i have to put all differences aside when it comes to reporting the news. With the exception of US Male
and a few others , if your ranking is not up to par with theirs , the majority of those eaters don't want to know you and it is certainly self evident when
you cross paths with them at a contest. New policy effective as of 5/1. No more slamming other bloggers or posting on their sites. I basically hurt
myself and my readership by resorting to those tactics. If i am directed or see something negative in print, i will pay it no mind. When you come down
to reality you realize that responding to someone afraid to post under their real identity is a waste of valuable time. Wow too close to call is an
understatement as Pat Bertoletti and Sonya Thomas battled it out in San Antonio for the Jalapeno crown .
HERE IS VIDEO  . Both competitors
relentless till the very end with Sonya & Pat  slammin down the jalapenos with both hands till the very last second with neither giving an inch. This is
what separates Sonya Thomas from the boys. A true warrior till the very end.  At the end of regulation both were tied with 225 . The final totals  after
 double  OT came to   275 with Sonya losing by a hairline fracture percentage point a la Jarvis Seiken Carnegie Deli 2002 . I couldn't help but
compare this epic battle between Sonya & Pat with Larry Holmes Ken Norton classic  1978 war  in Vegas for the undisputed heavyweight
championship of the world.. Both  going toe to toe blow for blow during the final minutes of the 15th rd .  
HERE IS THE VIDEO    After that
outstanding performance in SA  there is no loser. Both  Sonya and Pat  put on a show of all shows  that can never be duplicated.in any sport.  The
sad part is that i was not there to cover this event. Go Go Curry on 38th st in midtown Manhattan  is offering  medium curry rice with  topping for $5
(normally $7.50)  all day in celebration of  Cinco de mayo. Included with your order is 5 coupons for five free toppings to be used for future visits.  
George Shea informed me that on the plane ride home from Jalapenos, he listened to "Let me tell ya" from Stick to Blogging on his IPOD. I was
contemplating covering the Foxboro Nathans  qualifier in Mass considering that the media coverage last year was pretty weak but after hearing the
weather report, i dont relish driving 3.5 hrs in the rain. I heard Ben Monsoon (who is he and who cares) won the Vegas Nathans qualifier with 29 hot
dogs and buns. Goose Gilbert was shutout from competing at the last minute. George Shea must have received a late phone call from an
anonymous source "Dont let that guy in . He 's part of a posse controlled by a copycat that rarely bathes " . Peter's clams returns on May 31st in
Long Beach NY.
VIDEO I will be there to cover all the action but wont be competing. I would have to rate them as one of the top three MLE sponsors
along with Roy Rogers and Dorney Park. Not sure if Sonya Thomas is competing in this one or curly fries in Wildwood NJ  which happens to fall on
the  same day. If you remember last year Sonya was a late show and wasnt able to compete  . She was so distraught she nearly got slammed by
ongoing traffic on Long Beach Rd after informing Ryan she wasnt pleased that they couldnt wait a little longer before starting the contest . Juliet Lee
ended up winning with another pissed off eater Eater X demanding a recount. Eater X Janus wins boneless wings over Big Ben Monson   in OT at  
Isle of Capri in Booneville MO with 7lbs 11oz. He seems to be getting a great deal of hype but to be honest these musclebound gym rats never last
too long in MLE.  For some reason they are not very well perceived by anonymous posters and IFOCE members in general  Take   Chip Simpson &
Dr J for example . The good doc opted to go back to his practice in Tenn   while Dr Chip followed suit in Ala . Notorious BOB flight was delayed and
was unable to compete. Speculation that the sponsor paid off the pilot and that was the end of  that.  With Monson and Sonya, Tim had enough
competition to worry about. Even without Bob, if  you beat Sonya regardless of the food category  you are  damn good so my hat goes off to Eater X
. Hall Hunt will be tying the knot sometime in mid June. I did the wedding thing many moons ago but as years roll on love has a strange way of losing
its luster when you think you are in love with the one you're with.  That might explain why he hasn't competed much during the past few months. I got
this
PIC  off the Lerman report. Joe Menchetti & Will Millender before or after they qualified for Go Go Curry finals in NYC. Im not trying to poke fun
at the man but to label Millender as morbidly obese is an understatement. More like beyond help is more like it. From the pic of him sitting down one
would estimate his weight as close to 500lbs easy. I wish him well but if he continues at that pace he wont be able to walk let alone breath. I find it
strange that certain IFOCE members dont mind having you as an email and or phone friend but when you see you at a contest  its hello goodbye
and see ya later. There are also some eaters that praise you on their website but when they see you at events they either dont want to know you or
huddle off and conversate with better ranked eaters. Whether i compete or not , you can now understand why i make a discreet exit after collecting
my pics and videos  of the days events. In regard to that joke of a time i easily broke in cheesesteaks,  the owner practically begged me to enter the
finals on June 5th. Never even crossed my mind for one second. . Next stop Go Go Curry . I will either break or come close to Menchetti 38 or 40
second record sometime this week. And no i have no intention of competing in the finals either.. Speaking of Menchetti  he has informed me that
Dale Boone will attempt to qualify for the Go Go curry  finals on May 15th between 6-8pm. I'll make sure not to do my exhibition on that date.  . Not in
the mood for him nor his shenanigans.  Menchetti has also predicted that the odds of me breaking or coming close to the record is very slim. For
those of you that dont remember GJ , he had two year run with the IFOCE before declaring himself an independent eater towards the latter period
of 2003. . During that time  he was basically the only standout competing at a table which  featured   a bunch of jokes  similar to Nate Colbert and
the 1969 expansion San Diego Padres. I guess every  last place team always had one power hitter that could  fill up maybe  half a stadium.
Unfortunately i read some of the nasty comments about the Sheas on eatshit.com. Yes i know im going against the original promise i made about
not saying anything negative about other bloggers but considering the fact that weirdo Rifkin has continued to place my site on the iggy list , i have
no choice but to retract my original promise. My fans have been robbed of up to the minute news and that selfish bastard cant help but post
anything he can get his hands on which range from a feature story in Singapore to a trivial twitter from the Sheas. It is frustrating and annoying to
say the least. Thats why i didn't bother mentioning the Singapore contest. I mean WTF is the point if no life Rifkin got a hold of it first like the bitch
always does. Sometimes i wonder if the real identity of this clown is nothing more than a senior citizen with loads of time on his hands and nothing
better to do. As far as my opinion on the dude who claims he got screwed out of a spot in Coney? Too bad you knew what the rules were ahead of
time so stop cryin or lookin for some type of loophole. Find another weak qualifier and  do your best next time out . I will give it a go with go go curry  
on 5/15 in the am. That is now officially confirmed. Basically a practice run to see if i can break 60 seconds or less with no intention of competing in
the finals or the qualifier.  All the action will be posted on youtube so keep checking for updates  Larell Marie Mele  a new brightspot in MLE  made
her debut in Foxboro Mass consuming 14 hot dogs and buns which is one shy of my personal best. :Larell was born and bred in NYC but has
resided in PA for the last 15yrs. Personal trainer and perogi eating champ of 2009. Not only is she a complete package but unlike Jill Stoler she can
eat. I doubt very much that she has to worry about stalkers. She looks like she can take care of herself and put a dent in your caps if you make
some kind of stupid move on her.   If you remember Ralph from happy days with that infamous line "Im supposed to be cute not athletic ? Well Larell
is both. Good luck girl. Is there still a future for me in the sport of competitive eating? I have been working with weights of late and i must admit it
does help in breathing and swallowing techniques. I downed the two bowls of curry in 56 or 57 seconds give or take a second  depending on how
fast you think i slammed the spoon down. Didnt the great Dale Boone have a problem breaking the minute mark in last years qualifier? So in
essense, until Boone attempts to qualify this evening , i beat his time by a few seconds.  Speaking of Boone , spectators walking down  the  streets
of 38th and 8th in midtown are unfortunately treated  to Boones trash talk promoting the event  via a tv monitor displayed in the restaurant window.
Onlookers that just happen to be walking down the street are subjected to  watching this bullshit not having the foggiest as to who this idiot might
be. . . . Menchetti's 41 second record this year and 37 the previous year will be very hard for anyone to top right now. You ask why go out of my way
if i have no intention of becoming a finalist? The same reason i attempted and succeeded in beating  the cheesesteak time last week in Long Island.
. I want to prove to all the haters and doubters not to underestimate me and more importantly  that  any contest that includes  anything less than
Major league eaters i will more than likely dominate or  win . . Remember i did not originally  enter this sport with the intention of becoming a gossip
columnist .  Reliable sources have informed me that Hall Hunt is done with Competitive eating. He is getting married next month and that should
explain his reported departure from the sport. This is usually the case with newlyweds for if you notice the vast majority of Competitive eaters
became involved in the sport after they got married and started a family. Hall is a super guy. Nothing put on about him and never had a bad word to
say about anyone. His belief in the lord reinforced his values as a human being . He has gone through some hard times financially but i am sure
things will rebound for him in the future .  With that said i  wish Hall  and his bride a prosperous and happy future. Today 5/16 i will be at Rocco's
Pizza in Brooklyn home of the pizza eating contest. They make damn good pizza  If you finish an entire pie in 8 min(no dunking )  its free. Im going
for the record 2:30 seconds . Furious Pete did the 16'' pie in a practice run  last July. Good news and bad news. Completed an  18'' inch pie   5:22
and no tab. Thats a challenge. As of now i am officially a contestant for the Brooklyn Pizza contest. Thankful for the opportunity but  my
commitments to MLE go much deeper than my roots in Brooklyn. Now for the bad news. Rocco's owner gave me the times for the others that made it
in.  Will Millender 2:14 . Jill Stoler 5:35  and a few other unknown  stiffs that completed it in 6 or 7 minutes. WHHHHHHat. You mean i only beat her
time by 13 seconds??? Forget this shit. That is not only an embarrassment to my accomplishments but an insult to me as an eater. To add insult to
more injury, Boone and Menchetti automatically qualify because of their legendary status and get this ? I wasnt aware of this until i left the pizza
place but the owner was wearing a WLOCE teashirt. I give up  Goodbye! I think i will stick to blogging. The latest attempt by eatshits.com to get up
close and personal with the eaters is snooping into  their facebook pages. This can only be achieved if you leave your front  door open for the rats
to invade . This makes CE info privy to someone that doesn't want anyone to know his identity. Is that fair?  In other words he wants his shit and eat
it too. I strongly urge all IFOCE members to make your facebook info private and only privy to facebook friends only. You know this coward wont
reveal his or her identity so in essence this is the only way to smoke him out. Unfortunately  MLE facebook pages are made available for public
viewing and i doubt they will make the adjustment . Juliet Lee will be competing in Nathans qualifier in Charlotte NC. She is somewhat curious about
Joe Larue because she has never faced him before in competition. Since Juliet was able to do the tre' in AC last year, she should have no problem
edging Larue unless he picked up his game since Newman  in such short notice. AC qualifier  will be stacked with PA residents like Philbin, WIng
Kong, US Male Larell Marie. I might get an interview with Larell. Wont be your run of the mill interview if you know what i mean. Be nice Brian! The
media will be out in full force at Tonys family restaurant tonight 5/20  at 4pm when Elvis  attempts  the Annihilator sandwich in Phoenixville PA. Many
have tried but only 2 have succeeded so far and one of the two is noneother than Wild Bill Myers. Hopefully i can get some tunes in while im there
but it might be difficult considering they dont have a sound system in the restaurant. For those interested ill give you the scoop on the Annihilator
challenge. Its a damn good sandwich  Hot roast beef on a big hero loaf with melted provalone cheese and a pile of onion rings. I wont make excuses
why this went wrong and that went wrong but the aggravating NYC commute  to PA certainly didn't help matters. Sandwich looks alot smaller in the
youtube video. This thing was a monster. Its a nice little family run business with most of them crowding around me taking pics while im eating. There
was one female reporter that didn't bother hanging around i guess because she expected me to be there at 4pm when i actually arrived at 5
because of traffic. She left her card. I emailed her with the rundown but she never replied. I guess she wants to write about winners and not losers.
Cant blame her there. I thought by getting most of the bread out of the way using  dunking method  would make the challenge easier. Stupid
strategy. I still had a ton of roast beef and cheese to answer for not to mention the onion rings. When you become frustrated you start screwing
around with your original battleplan which made the challenge harder than it was. The top 12 in MLE would have no problem with this monster . After
that its a selective process. As good as the Goldstein cousins looked in Dorney Park  something like this would give them shitfits. Philbin Reeves &
Flash would probably get it done before the 30 min mark  but then again nothing is guaranteed. The mother wanted me to sing Elvis tunes  to her
94yr old mom when i finished . Well i didn't finish it and i wasnt in a very good mood either because of that. However i could never turn down an offer
to serenade the elderly. Some never see their mothers make it to 70 or 60 for that matter. I was more than obliged to volunteer my services.  They
even gave me a teashirt which is only presented to the winners . They figured i made a long trip from NYC and gave it my best shot . Good  people
full of life residing in what i consider a dead town. I am not done . I will return sometime during the summer only this time i will attempt  it early in the
morning instead of late in the day. Now check out this
VIDEO  and you can understand why   Conti or Janus  would lobby not to bring this guy into
the IFOCE. My pizza and curry records which made its debut on youtube last week, were smoked in arrogant fashion by this attention seeker. What
irritates me further is this jerk laughing in the background when the owner of the pizza place yells out in amazement the amount of time it took this
kid to finish  a slice of pizza. Its hard to find clips of the King during fits of rage but apparently there was one audio clip that was made public before
he was ready to take stage for a concert in the early 70's .In the
AUDIOCLIP  Elvis takes offense to someone in the media saying he was "strung
out on heroine. Dont mess with the King now Ozzie Nog who writes for the
Jewish Journal strongly advises  to refrain from inviting a matzah ball
power eater to your passover seder. What is the sudden urge to report second hand news from 2004? Time to put the king on the backburner for a
short time and give one of my teen idols Helen Reddy a chance. I covered
Deltadawn  on youtube the other day. One of her biggest number one
hits in the US. Its weird people always tell me they cant match the voice with my face or body for that matter . Ed the Animal Krachie will be in NYC
from July 1-7th. Lets hope that he decides to  make an appearance at his old stomping ground on July 4th in Coney Island.  If you are ever in AC do
not park your car in the Caesars Casino garage. Trump charged $20 on holidays while Caesars is half price . Well guess what its 3 times the
aggravation finding it when you are ready to go home. And yes i wrote down the exact location as to where it was parked. I had to wait over an hour
for security to drive me around the garage . They circled at least 15 times before i was ready to give up and tell them to call the towing company
that might have towed it. Then low and behold it shows up like magic. To say i was pissed off would be an considered an understatement. More like
ready to have a nervous breakdown and a heart attack at the same time. Well unlike some of those sponsors in MS at least George Shea was nice
enough to acknowledge the fact that i was there to cover the event. "2yr pickle eating champ and legendary performer and blogger BB took the  
time out to come down here today which he didn't have to do" . Nice job George. As far as the contest itself, every single competitor on that stage
were my kind of people. There is a difference between assholes and good people. The  few assholes in which i am referring to  were (thank god)
not present at yesterdays event.   The good people such as Subich, Reeves, Gordon Male & Steakbellie were present. Good to see Pat Bertoletti  
as well. Now check out this new kid Brian "dudlight" Dudinski for he and not these other anti sociables are the future of competitive eating. The 25yr
old sensation made his debut with 20 hot dogs and buns while  showing off his guns to boot. Heard the dogs tasted like shit but that was the same
problem everyone complained about last year. I ate a few and yes the taste was rubbery and horrendous. Hit the VA buffet at Ballys  $28 bit
overpriced but remember it Memorial weekend pricing. Good food large selection but quality could be a little better. Peters clams tomorrow. I will be
there. but not to eat and for good reason. They should have billed last years Long beach event as "baked" instead of "raw" after the never ending
wait we had to endure waiting for Sonya Thomas to show up. She is scheduled along with Juliet Lee to compete in this one and as a betting man i
would bet the ranch that she will be on time this time. Larell Marie will be competing in curly fries tomorrow in Wildwood NJ filling in for Pat from
Moonachie who pulled out at the last minute. Lets hope for Wing Kong sake that  Juliet does not decide at the last minute to pull out of the clam
contest and opt for fries. Last Sept  when Juliet decided to pull one of her last minute switcharoos and opt for Cheesesteaks instead of Buffalo
Wings , Wing Kong  nearly had a nervous breakdown. I honestly thought he was going to kick her ass as soon as she walked in the restaurant .
Larell Marie Mele signs a 4yr deal with MLE. I guess she is now considered the female spokesperson for the the organization but she is going to
have to put up numbers if she wants to top Sonya & Juliet in the popularity polls. With that upbeat vivacious personality cant help but remind  me a
little of Marilu Henner  whose claim to fame was the hit TV series taxi. In this
CLIP from the movie perfect she has her down pat. Sonya kicks ass
once again to make up for last years clam fiasco.. If i could read Sonya's mind its almost as if she is saying to herself. "I let you borrow this title for a
year . You lucked out because i was late but  now i have to take it back  from you girl. . Enough cant be said about Juliet Lee who ate her ass off (23
dozen)  came close but no cigar.. Eater X who questioned Juliet's totals at last years event hung tough with 19 dozen.  Sonya will always be numero
uno in my book. When she first came on the scene she took a liking to me right off the bat and aside from a few minor indifferences we have
remained friends ever since.      Stay tuned!
Bits and Pieces May 2010