2008 Rays Fan Fest

I had a great time at the Ray's Fan Fest. There was a huge turnout despite the rain coming down pretty heavily. I was very excited to meet a ton of MLE fans and give them my autograph. I would say I signed about 11,000+ autographs between 8am and 4pm. I was pleasently surprised to hear how many people actually saw me on the Krystal Square Off and on Spike TV. Many people actually knew all my eating stats better than me. The thing that excites me the most about all of that is to see how much competitive eating and MLE is growing.

The day before the Fan Fest I got to try out some of the food that is served in the stadium. It was all very delicious of course. While I was at the stadium they asked me how many dogs and buns I thought I could eat if I did a short 2 minute exibition. I estimated about 15 assuming they were the same dogs I ate that night. Long story short, right before it was time for me to go on the jumbo screen they brought the dogs out and they were 1/4 dogs. I felt I would let everyone down if I didn't get close to my 15 prediction despite the clear size difference of the food I was eating. I thought maybe people would think that I was a phony and that all MLE eaters can't really back up what they say they can do if I didn't do what I predicted. Unfortunately, I didn't manage the full 15, but I did eat 13 of the 1/4 hot dogs and buns in 2 minutes. Luckily people were still quite impressed with my effort. Personally I hope I can transfer this newly found speed over to the Nathan's contest.

PS I have more photos on my Facebook profile.