Speaker 1: Ka boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes
Speaker 1: a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
Speaker 1: of the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He
Speaker 1: treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the
Speaker 1: rich pill poppers in the penthouse, to clearinghouse of hot takes,
Speaker 1: break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben
Speaker 1: Maller starts right now, nine nine nine in the air everywhere.
Speaker 1: We are back at it again, Happy Friday, Friday Friday.
Speaker 1: The weekend does not begin until you have downloaded and
Speaker 1: begun listening to the Fifth Hour with Ben Malloy. That
Speaker 1: would be me and flying solo by the edge of
Speaker 1: my seat this weekend. No West of the four or
Speaker 1: five to Sully. The podcast eight days a week. Remember,
Speaker 1: tell a friend, Tell a friends. All we ask you
Speaker 1: to do, you don't have. We don't charge for this.
Speaker 1: There's limited commercial interruption. But just spread the gospel. Spread
Speaker 1: the word friends, enemies, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, whoever might
Speaker 1: be interested, and and have them subscribe to the podcast
Speaker 1: and they'll get it automatically. Every single day that the
Speaker 1: Fifth Hour comes out and is available, which is three
Speaker 1: days a week, so normally on Friday, we do something
Speaker 1: a little different. We have a conversation. We typically will
Speaker 1: drag into the Magic Podcast studio someone that we know
Speaker 1: a lot of radio people because I've worked in my
Speaker 1: in my business and radio over the years, so I
Speaker 1: know mostly radio people. But we have athletes in here
Speaker 1: and whoever strikes our fancy. We've had political figures, political
Speaker 1: pundit's uh fire brands have come in here, everyone from
Speaker 1: Lenny dike Stra to Tony Bruno and everyone in between.
Speaker 1: But this week we are very excited to have our
Speaker 1: first commissioner, our first commissioner. Now, is it Adam Silver?
Speaker 1: Is Adam Silver coming on today's podcast? Is it Gary Bettman,
Speaker 1: the NHL commission Roger Goodell, Roger the Dodger from the NFL,
Speaker 1: or Rob Manfred or none of the above? The answer
Speaker 1: is none of the above. But I'm actually more excited
Speaker 1: to talk to this particular commissioner, the commissioner of Major
Speaker 1: League Eating. I admit it's a guilty pleasure. But you watched,
Speaker 1: I know you watched. You watched it on the fourth
Speaker 1: of July weekend. You did. The man who is the
Speaker 1: master of ceremonies. If you've ever watched the hot Dog Contest,
Speaker 1: the Nathan so Hot Dog Contest. You know, the guy
Speaker 1: with the funny hat that does the introductions every year
Speaker 1: with whittie commentary, old school carnival barking. He's got the wardrobe,
Speaker 1: the whole thing. His name is George Say. He is
Speaker 1: a throwback at this event to a much simpler time. Uh,
Speaker 1: the master of ceremonies with pauz as and razmatazz. Very verbose, outlandish,
Speaker 1: over the top, brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The way that he
Speaker 1: is able to seemingly memorize those really long winded scripts.
Speaker 1: My goodness, man oh man, I am jealous of his
Speaker 1: ability to retain information and his delivery. So, without further ado,
Speaker 1: the Commissioner of Major League Eating, we welcome into the
Speaker 1: Fifth Hour with Ben Maller, George Shay, and George. I
Speaker 1: know it's been a few days now since the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl of Competitive Eating, and even though you clearly are
Speaker 1: not one of the contestants, you're not scarfing down a
Speaker 1: bunch of hot dogs here. How long does it take you, George,
Speaker 1: to recover from the big hot Dog eating Contest weekend? Well, look,
Speaker 1: I I put a lot of energy into it. Because
Speaker 1: we do. We manage all the media, and then I
Speaker 1: hosted and the Truth be told. It takes all of
Speaker 1: this week for me to shift gears and get back
Speaker 1: into regular because mostly what I do is regular, you know,
Speaker 1: public relations. And it's kind of wrenching because you're up
Speaker 1: there in the draw hat yelling and screaming and of course,
Speaker 1: you know, participating in history, and then you have to
Speaker 1: then you have to shift gears. But I'm sort of
Speaker 1: back at it. In fact, I've had a few client
Speaker 1: emergencies today, so that that's brought me back to the ground. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was a little different. I watched this thing
Speaker 1: every year. I'm a fan, and it was at a
Speaker 1: minor league ballpark because you know, they're still coming out
Speaker 1: of the COVID and how would you grade this year
Speaker 1: compared to years past. Um, you know, it's so funny.
Speaker 1: I thought it was going to be horrible to do
Speaker 1: it in the ballpark and lack any character. Um, And
Speaker 1: we got almost universal universal approval and praise for it,
Speaker 1: and um, you know a lot of people really liked
Speaker 1: it and it and it just worked out white well.
Speaker 1: We were also the beneficiaries of a truly beautiful day so,
Speaker 1: you know, but it was, it was it was really spectacular.
Speaker 1: I thought it was. It was just a really good event. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And of course you are known for those that maybe
Speaker 1: don't watch the event or I mean you your viral
Speaker 1: every year. Your introductions go viral on on the on
Speaker 1: the internet. You have the hat, the whole thing. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you don't appear to have any notes. Uh do
Speaker 1: you have a photographic memory? Here? How do you remember
Speaker 1: all that stuff? Well, So, the way I do it
Speaker 1: is I write these introductions and then I memorize them,
Speaker 1: and um, and the you know, it's funny, the longer
Speaker 1: ones that have a narrative component to it are much
Speaker 1: easier to remember than all of the you know, someone
Speaker 1: is six ft four inches tall, two fifteen pounds from
Speaker 1: Las Vegas, Nevada or something. You know. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: memorize them all and then I just have, um, um,
Speaker 1: one of my team holds up a car hard that
Speaker 1: has the order so that I don't get out of order, right,
Speaker 1: And then if you know that, maybe a word like
Speaker 1: the first word of the sentence, and then I will
Speaker 1: remember it. But I spent some time. I spent some time,
Speaker 1: and and then I'm very frustrated with myself if I
Speaker 1: don't deliver the correct you know, intonation that I wanted
Speaker 1: on a certain word. But I will say this, I
Speaker 1: thought that, um, you know, Joey's introduction, which is always
Speaker 1: the one I spend the most time on, was very
Speaker 1: well received this year's It's to be honest, it's it's
Speaker 1: very gratifying. People really enjoyed it and it seemed to
Speaker 1: hit the hit the mark. No, it's tremendous. Who do
Speaker 1: you patting yourself after this? Like old school, like Coney
Speaker 1: Island back in the day. Is there anyone in particular.
Speaker 1: You've done this for years, so it's not like it's
Speaker 1: it's new to you, but is there someone that you
Speaker 1: you use as a template to kind of model yourself after. No,
Speaker 1: you know, the weird thing about this is is it
Speaker 1: it definitely has a Coney Island barker, you know, the
Speaker 1: hat and there's a little bit in some of the
Speaker 1: little bit of sports commentary and when you're when you're
Speaker 1: doing the actual event. But really what I'm doing is
Speaker 1: trying to go like you know, without getting to you know,
Speaker 1: academic about it. But like you know, to me, it's
Speaker 1: just that people are they are unable to not react
Speaker 1: to a narrative. And that is true of all sports
Speaker 1: and all even business media. Right there's a narrative someone
Speaker 1: is telling a story may or may not be true.
Speaker 1: In fact, if there are all these stories out there,
Speaker 1: you know, there's always a bad guy, there's always a
Speaker 1: good guy. So many of the times it's not true.
Speaker 1: It's just that that's how we tell stories. But so
Speaker 1: so that is always fascinating me, this idea that people
Speaker 1: really react to it. You see it in wrestling, you
Speaker 1: see it obviously in sports, same soap opera, drama, and
Speaker 1: so you know, that's what I'm touching on right in.
Speaker 1: Some of them are epic, some of them are comedic,
Speaker 1: some of them you know, you're, you're, you're just sort
Speaker 1: of like playing with this this sort of power of narrative.
Speaker 1: And that's really what Joey's about, writes you, he is
Speaker 1: epic because you make him his epic. But he's epic
Speaker 1: because you make him epic. And and so that's really
Speaker 1: all of that is my own, you know, just my
Speaker 1: own interest. But you know, I'm the kind of kid
Speaker 1: who read a ton of site sci fi when he
Speaker 1: was young, and so all of this kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know, he is pure evil kind of like stuff
Speaker 1: is sort of like hearkens back to the garbage I
Speaker 1: used to read when I was young. Yeah, I see
Speaker 1: it benefits when you get older, see all that crap
Speaker 1: we read his kids. I'm the same way like I
Speaker 1: do an Overnight show, and there's stuff like weird stuff
Speaker 1: that I read when I was in school. I was
Speaker 1: a terrible student, but I remember like random things I
Speaker 1: would read and then it would kind of stick with me.
Speaker 1: And I still like phrases and whatnot that I'll use
Speaker 1: this day. I gotta bring up the rap battle and
Speaker 1: that was a few years ago, but I still laughed
Speaker 1: my ass. I. I was getting ready to talk to you, George,
Speaker 1: and I was going through some of the old videos
Speaker 1: from years past, and you had a rap battle Royal before.
Speaker 1: I think this was like it was a few years ago.
Speaker 1: But what what was the origin that it was out standing?
Speaker 1: Back and forth, back and forth? What was behind that one? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, my favorite guy in the whole world is
Speaker 1: bad Lands book or write, a veteran eater from started
Speaker 1: in nineties seven. He's now the chugging Champion of the World.
Speaker 1: We had him on for a chug on ESPN and
Speaker 1: he won his three million followers on YouTube. It's bad
Speaker 1: Lands Chugs. He's like, he's irresistible, he's visually like you
Speaker 1: just can't beat him. He's just so so great, right,
Speaker 1: and as a result he has a ton of followers.
Speaker 1: But like, I just think he's terrific, and so he
Speaker 1: I would. He's a rapper as well. Now let's be clear,
Speaker 1: I am not a rapper, and so obviously I'm an
Speaker 1: old man and in a straw hat, in a blueblazer.
Speaker 1: So so that the the one year I just used
Speaker 1: some of his lyrics to introduce him, and then when
Speaker 1: he came on to stage, he was mouthing the lyrics
Speaker 1: as I was saying to them, and it really caught fire.
Speaker 1: People like that. So then the next year I wrote
Speaker 1: a rap and did it with him, and then ever since,
Speaker 1: I've written these rops and then he and I will
Speaker 1: do them, and it's really one of my singular pleasures
Speaker 1: to do that. He's really dynamite and I sort of like,
Speaker 1: you know, I get through. But on the rap battle,
Speaker 1: you know, we go out and we do a lot
Speaker 1: of these events, these live events, and you're messing around
Speaker 1: before right, there's like a show and so we always
Speaker 1: do this rap battle to the death and uh and
Speaker 1: uh he always wins. But but I I have a
Speaker 1: rapid fire list of about thirty five foods that I
Speaker 1: throw out. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Speaker 1: Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm
Speaker 1: paciffect on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking, and I don't know if this
Speaker 1: is You're the commissioner of Major League Eating, so you're
Speaker 1: the perfect guy to bring this upside. How about the
Speaker 1: Grand Slam of eating towards You've got the the Mecca,
Speaker 1: which is the hot Dog Contest in New York, but
Speaker 1: you know the ten Is Golf, they've got the Grand
Speaker 1: So I think Major League Eating needs a a Grand Slam.
Speaker 1: We got to come up with three other events that
Speaker 1: you could tie in as like the Big the Big Four,
Speaker 1: like the Centerpiece. What do you think? Yeah? Yeah, so look,
Speaker 1: definitely Chicken Wings would be in it. Um. I think, Look,
Speaker 1: we've done DraftKings is a uh one of our partners
Speaker 1: and sponsors, and they did three events for this past
Speaker 1: year over covid um. We did one of Miami, two
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas, so definitely one of those would be
Speaker 1: in there. And and but definitely Chicken Wings to um
Speaker 1: and and that's a lot of fun. You know, we've
Speaker 1: done some other in down South. We did a series
Speaker 1: for many years with Crystal Hamburgers. Um. You know, we've
Speaker 1: done a lot, right, like of different you know, we've
Speaker 1: done you know, Pizza Hut and all these different brands.
Speaker 1: But but I would say that you know, Act me
Speaker 1: Oysters could be one of those that you know, major
Speaker 1: major oyster festival in Orleans and the actne Oyster houses
Speaker 1: a restaurant down then we do it and that is
Speaker 1: very very um uh you know popular. How how does
Speaker 1: this play? George? You know, I have we have listeners
Speaker 1: around the most of in the United States, but people
Speaker 1: in Europe and whatnot. And when I do a model
Speaker 1: at least one a year on Major League Eating, and
Speaker 1: I typically will get someone to be like, oh this
Speaker 1: you're disgusting Americans. Is there a market for for what
Speaker 1: you do in other countries? There is this mostly just
Speaker 1: an American persuasion here. Yeah, you know that we get
Speaker 1: that reaction, but much less, I think than you'd think.
Speaker 1: But nonetheless, I think some cultures would be not not
Speaker 1: um poised to to embrace this. Uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't think you're gonna do well in France, very it's
Speaker 1: very big in Japan and in Asia, right, So we've
Speaker 1: done a ton of contests on the Pacific, Rim, Singapore,
Speaker 1: in China um and other places. We had a group
Speaker 1: come to us wanted us to do a hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty events in China Um but the but the yeah, but,
Speaker 1: which would have been like an extraordinary opportunity, but we
Speaker 1: would have done it given the economics we would have
Speaker 1: done it with no Essentially it would have been a
Speaker 1: wash for us, and like in the sense of there
Speaker 1: would have been no money and that's a lot of work.
Speaker 1: So we didn't pursue that. But so China, Asia, they're
Speaker 1: definitely a place for that. So one thing is, though
Speaker 1: you you lose culturally, part of the appeal to this
Speaker 1: is the hosting and the whole bombast and the joke
Speaker 1: and the and the you know, the humor, but also
Speaker 1: the energy and the boost bumps that you can get.
Speaker 1: And I don't know that we could reproduce that in
Speaker 1: a country that doesn't speak English, you know. So um,
Speaker 1: you know, we've done it. We've done stuff in Australia
Speaker 1: and uh and stuff and in Germany. But you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think I think some of those you have
Speaker 1: it'd be a barrier with a different language. Yeah, and George,
Speaker 1: I mean you've been doing this forever. Anybody's surprised you
Speaker 1: that's a fan of of competitive eating here, Any celebrities
Speaker 1: or anyone you didn't suspect would actually be into this
Speaker 1: that has said, Hey, I love it, I love what
Speaker 1: you do. Anybody come to mind here? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: we get we get a lot of get a lot
Speaker 1: of comments, and a lot of stuff on social media.
Speaker 1: You'll hear someone do something. But one oh, and there
Speaker 1: was some big, really big music guy and I forget
Speaker 1: and and then I just forget who it was. But
Speaker 1: but um who I liked. Also in the music world,
Speaker 1: Snoop Dogg like was watching was watching the contest one
Speaker 1: year and he's going, He's going, I forget the exact words,
Speaker 1: but he goes he posts on it, and he posted
Speaker 1: a video and he goes gets his own stone cold
Speaker 1: intro zone like that. Whatever it was, it was like
Speaker 1: it's so Snoop and it was like it was so
Speaker 1: gratifying but also during the U during the two thousand
Speaker 1: and sixteen campaign with um Obama Um he there's a big,
Speaker 1: huge double truck like a double two page spread of
Speaker 1: Obama watching the Fourth of July contest with his family
Speaker 1: in the in the bus the that that drove around
Speaker 1: for their campaign, right, And I thought that was like
Speaker 1: they go, Obama and his family take a break to
Speaker 1: watch the fourth of July Hushdown contest, which I thought
Speaker 1: was like a personal like like very very you know,
Speaker 1: great milestone. But Obama was like watching and then his
Speaker 1: wife and his daughters had the look of horror. They
Speaker 1: were just completely disgusted, which I think may be the
Speaker 1: breakdown in in in our fan base, you know, in
Speaker 1: a picture. Yeah, yeah, that's just imagine George at the Pentagon.
Speaker 1: They're taking breaks to watch likely what you're what you're
Speaker 1: doing here? It's insane, I mean, and you're I love
Speaker 1: it the the over the top of me. You've I've
Speaker 1: read interviews, you've done. I mean, you you know that
Speaker 1: this is uh, this is out there. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is and I love it too. I think it's great.
Speaker 1: But it's the most relatable sport to everyone has to
Speaker 1: eat George, Right, we all have to eat at one
Speaker 1: point or another, so you unlike nobody has to play
Speaker 1: baseball or basketball or football. You know, you don't have
Speaker 1: to do that, but everyone's gotta eat, so you're very
Speaker 1: it's a very relatable sport. You know. I've said the
Speaker 1: same thing myself. If you think about it, you could
Speaker 1: eat three hard boiled eggs or something like that. If
Speaker 1: Joey eats a hundred and forty four in eight minutes,
Speaker 1: you get it right, like so um. But you know,
Speaker 1: there's also there's also an element of this which is
Speaker 1: somehow people It's not somehow. People are obsessed with food, right.
Speaker 1: I mean how many people take a picture of every
Speaker 1: meal they get and put it on Instagram? I mean
Speaker 1: how many millions and trillions of like, oh this is
Speaker 1: what I had for lunch. People are obsessed with food,
Speaker 1: and um. There's also an element um of if mom
Speaker 1: doesn't like it, it's got to be fun, right, So
Speaker 1: there's you know, we live in a culture. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: this isn't me getting political where you have to be
Speaker 1: so sensitive. Everything is trouble, right, you can't do anything right.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just a reality to that. It there's
Speaker 1: a buzz saw in general going on not not right,
Speaker 1: not left, just in general. And and so this this,
Speaker 1: I think, I think it does appeal to people in
Speaker 1: the sense of, you know, this is this is outrageous.
Speaker 1: I like it. You know, it's it's there's a little
Speaker 1: bit of a twinge thereof um, you know, maybe you
Speaker 1: know that there shouldn't be you know, Mom wouldn't like
Speaker 1: it that kind of thing. Yeah, no, absolutely, it's it's
Speaker 1: a little taboo, but it's a it's acceptable taboo. And
Speaker 1: you you bring up Joey Joey Chestnut, the greatest eater
Speaker 1: of all time. I did see he popped up on
Speaker 1: TMZ after the contest, and you know it was hitting
Speaker 1: about maybe getting too old? Are you Are you concerned, George,
Speaker 1: that that Joey Chestnut might be coming to an end? Here?
Speaker 1: He's gonna retire soon. You know, I'll leave that up
Speaker 1: to him. I think, you know, he's an epic hero
Speaker 1: and I just don't see anyone ever approaching his numbers.
Speaker 1: But you know, there, you know, and nor do I
Speaker 1: want him to retire. And he's a great guy and
Speaker 1: a great champion. Um. But on the other hand, you know,
Speaker 1: so I'd like him to stay as long as he'd like.
Speaker 1: But you know, these things change, you know, and and
Speaker 1: and um, so I will let him determine his his
Speaker 1: own longevity. I think, you know, in a way that
Speaker 1: he's established a legacy that is impenetrable, right, I don't
Speaker 1: even know it's you know, in our world he is
Speaker 1: Jordan Lebron, James Um, Kobe Bryant, everybody all wrapped into one,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, throw in whoever you want, and and and
Speaker 1: you know it's that much his statue is that much
Speaker 1: higher than everybody. So he certainly has a legacy that
Speaker 1: he can live on. But you know, the other thing
Speaker 1: is he's a competitive leader. So this is what he does.
Speaker 1: And I also think not him necessarily, but but you know,
Speaker 1: these there's a very very powerful positive feedback that you
Speaker 1: get from the attention and stuff like that that's hard
Speaker 1: to give up to. You see that with lots of folks,
Speaker 1: whether they're a rock star or sports uh you know hero,
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to hard to step out of the spotlight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So would he like end up working for you as
Speaker 1: like a broadcaster or something if when he does eventually
Speaker 1: retire down the line, is that something you guys have thought.
Speaker 1: You know, we haven't even discussed it. Although certainly that's
Speaker 1: that's a good thought. You know, Mickey Sudo who as
Speaker 1: a female champion and is expecting a child, couldn't compete
Speaker 1: this year because of that. But she um, she was
Speaker 1: a she was an on air um talent on the
Speaker 1: ESPN show. So certainly there's room for that. Although as
Speaker 1: I said, we haven't even we haven't even contemplated his retirement. No, no,
Speaker 1: I I don't want to do to retire it. Also,
Speaker 1: what's what's it like backstage after this? I I've heard
Speaker 1: stories from from people that it's pretty crazy with you know,
Speaker 1: the reaction in the human body when you eat thirty
Speaker 1: or more hot dogs or twenty or more hot dogs
Speaker 1: in ten minutes. But you're you're there, I mean, kind
Speaker 1: of paint the picture. What are we looking at fifteen
Speaker 1: twenty minutes after this thing ends? So what's it like backstage? George? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, Joey is just exhausted, and and to tell
Speaker 1: you the truth, I am exhausted because there's as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of work that goes into this,
Speaker 1: and anybody who's ever running event or hosted an event, right,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just exhausting. But and and compared to me,
Speaker 1: Joey's three times as an exhausted right, so there's it's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a wipeout. You have to do
Speaker 1: a lot of media and you can't just you can't
Speaker 1: just quit on the media because this is an event
Speaker 1: for media. So following the event, we we accommodate all
Speaker 1: the media who want a specific photo or a or
Speaker 1: a an interview equipped SoundBite. Um, and that probably takes
Speaker 1: twenty minutes, and then Joey generally goes and just you know,
Speaker 1: rest and relaxes for a bit and the the the
Speaker 1: this year, we had a separate live zoom interview that
Speaker 1: a that a good friend of mine who's a journalist,
Speaker 1: you know, it's become a good friend, wanted to do.
Speaker 1: So Joey accommodated us with that. But then what happens
Speaker 1: is Joey gets his second wind and they all go
Speaker 1: out to a party at this bar called Professor Tom's
Speaker 1: or in in Coney Island at a bar called Rubies
Speaker 1: on the Boardwalk, and uh, and I don't drink, so
Speaker 1: I don't I don't go to the party's Also, I'm
Speaker 1: very boring in real life and so but but there's
Speaker 1: a big party that goes on all that night, and
Speaker 1: then and then the next morning. We always have the
Speaker 1: Today Show, So Joey's gotta you Know rally for the
Speaker 1: Today Show at eight am. Be sure to catch live
Speaker 1: editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am
Speaker 1: Eastern eleven p m. Pacific. What's up, everyone, It's me
Speaker 1: three times in fl all pro Schmber and I have
Speaker 1: a new sports podcast called The lights Out Podcast with
Speaker 1: Sean Maradier. This podcast especial to me is I get
Speaker 1: a chance to talk to some of the best we've
Speaker 1: ever done it on a field or the track. So
Speaker 1: whether it's talking to a Super Bowl champion or a
Speaker 1: NASCAR Cup Series champion, the lights Out Podcast will bring
Speaker 1: it to you the only way I know how to.
Speaker 1: I'm giving you the best insight and the best we've
Speaker 1: ever done it. Listen to lights Out with Shawn Mari
Speaker 1: on the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast. You're not a competitive leader, George, You've never
Speaker 1: what's the most hot dogs you've eaten in ten minutes?
Speaker 1: I tried it once against the journalist a guy named
Speaker 1: Gersh Kinsman and h he ate nine and I ate six,
Speaker 1: and it was really my shame I wear I wear
Speaker 1: that as as a as a a banner of shame.
Speaker 1: I couldn't go further. We we actually had on the
Speaker 1: the Overnight Show, we had a competitive viad. This guy
Speaker 1: he's not doing any more, Big Sexy came in and
Speaker 1: they had it was it was crazy and he ate
Speaker 1: I I think he ate like six or seven and
Speaker 1: ten minutes. And then I had my board op go
Speaker 1: against him and we were all taken aback by how
Speaker 1: fast he ate. And he he ate like my guy
Speaker 1: one hot dog and he couldn't he couldn't eat because
Speaker 1: he was We were all watching the technique there. It's
Speaker 1: these guys are crazy and and you know, you think
Speaker 1: about you mentioned Joey Chestnut, the I guess the unicorn there?
Speaker 1: Why is he so much better? Would you any idea?
Speaker 1: Like a lot of people have done this over the years,
Speaker 1: You've been doing this since the early nineties here, and
Speaker 1: he's light years ahead of everyone. It's not even close.
Speaker 1: Like what what separates him? You know? I think that
Speaker 1: he puts more attention, more time, and more commitment into
Speaker 1: it than other people do. He also has a very
Speaker 1: big frame, and he's really studied it, you know, in
Speaker 1: terms of just managing getting the hot dogs into his mouth.
Speaker 1: So there's a capacity issue, but there's also like, how
Speaker 1: do you even manage eating that many hot dogs? Literally
Speaker 1: just literally getting them into your mouth forgets? And you know,
Speaker 1: he he has this down to a science, and I
Speaker 1: think it really boils down to complete and utter commitment
Speaker 1: and and and he has demonstrated that when you apply
Speaker 1: that to something, you can excel in a way that
Speaker 1: others do not. And you know, there have been others
Speaker 1: who have done the same. Carmen Syncatti two years ago,
Speaker 1: great champion, but quite small frame, and he ate sixty
Speaker 1: four and he was that was his second year, you know,
Speaker 1: so you know, sixty four in sixty four in ten minutes.
Speaker 1: And Joey's second year he ate fifty four I think,
Speaker 1: or in the fifties in twelve right, So it can
Speaker 1: be done, It has been done, it will be done. Um.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, I just think you ask why
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's UM was better than others. I think he's
Speaker 1: more competitive. Obviously a fantastic gifted athlete. You know, I
Speaker 1: could be more competitive than than everybody in the world.
Speaker 1: But I wouldn't. I wouldn't achieve you have to have,
Speaker 1: you know, that magic mix. But but Michael Jordan would
Speaker 1: not have been Michael Jordan's if he had not been
Speaker 1: as competitive as he Hasn't that's really true, Joe, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know I wanted to ask you. You have the
Speaker 1: women's division. You that's relatively new, right, Jo? I mean
Speaker 1: you didn't. This is something that started a few years ago.
Speaker 1: Before it was everyone was a free for all. How
Speaker 1: is that going? How is the people gravitated towards the
Speaker 1: women division of competitive eating? Yeah? You know, you'd be
Speaker 1: surprised how many women want to do it and how
Speaker 1: well they do. Mickey sudo is the undisputed number one
Speaker 1: ranked female and she's eaten hot dougs and buns in
Speaker 1: ten minutes, right, And but we've had some great eaters,
Speaker 1: Sonya Thomas, I mean Michelle LESCo that let's go. This
Speaker 1: year's champ is great, um, But yeah, I think that
Speaker 1: you know, on the circuit, if it's not the championship
Speaker 1: at Nathan's, everybody is mixed together, and they used to
Speaker 1: be mixed together at nathan And to be honest, I
Speaker 1: kind of preferred that, but this allows the women to
Speaker 1: get a little bit more stature to get you know,
Speaker 1: I guess you could do it together, but this allows
Speaker 1: more women to compete on the fourth and um, you
Speaker 1: know it's been it's it's been very well received. Um
Speaker 1: and you know, I think that that Mickey has really
Speaker 1: helped elevate that because she's such a great champion. I
Speaker 1: know you're short on time, George, So any anything you
Speaker 1: want to promote here, I know the website. By the way,
Speaker 1: you gotta get hats, George. I need a I need
Speaker 1: a major league eating had. I tried to buy one,
Speaker 1: but you guys don't have it. So you gotta get
Speaker 1: hats on the website. I will. We're gonna work on merch.
Speaker 1: You know, we used to have this dynamite dynamite merch,
Speaker 1: but it was was a monumental amount of effort um
Speaker 1: and we kind of let it go. And now we
Speaker 1: have sort of this this kind of thing, this autopilot
Speaker 1: kind of like you know, they just does it as
Speaker 1: a third party. We'll get that. But you know, the
Speaker 1: only thing I would say is that we you know
Speaker 1: that that you know, having Nathan's and Draftking and we
Speaker 1: had bounty this year. Obviously it's a mess, so it's
Speaker 1: good to have bounty as a secondary response. So that
Speaker 1: was a huge lift for US and UM and I
Speaker 1: think I think it worked out really well for them
Speaker 1: because it's the right audience, it's the right level of visibility.
Speaker 1: You know, we got the media report back, a preliminary
Speaker 1: media report on the scope of of what we did
Speaker 1: this year. It's like billions and billions and billions. It's
Speaker 1: like it's just incredible. So the the the I am
Speaker 1: I'm very pleased with, you know, the continued interest in
Speaker 1: this and and you know a lot of that goes
Speaker 1: to the to the champions as you were just mentioned. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And the next big event you said, is it in Buffalo?
Speaker 1: Is that the next big event you've got coming up
Speaker 1: Buffalo Chicken Wings Labor Day UM in the in the
Speaker 1: football Stadium up there. It's a new location for US
Speaker 1: this year, and there'll be twenty people there. That's that
Speaker 1: is great. It's just a great Buffalo is a great city,
Speaker 1: by the way, and and it's it's always a great
Speaker 1: time of year to be up there. Yeah, that during
Speaker 1: the summer time of the years ago, and you gotta
Speaker 1: have bills Mafia. George, you gotta bring the bills mafia
Speaker 1: like break tables when you have the I'm sure you will.
Speaker 1: You're a marketing genius, so I'm sure the whole When
Speaker 1: I've been up there, my observation is the whole town
Speaker 1: is bills mafia. So like they're in the house both
Speaker 1: and they are drinking. All right. Listen, George, I know
Speaker 1: you're busy, you got all kinds of you know, plates
Speaker 1: in the air, but thank you for spending some time
Speaker 1: with us. Appreciate it very much. Appreciate. I wish you
Speaker 1: good luck.