Local pros feel slighted by all amateur Wing Bowl
Dan Gross' blog, PhillyGossip, covers the behavior and misbehavior of celebrities both local and Hollywood. His Dan About Town column runs Mondays through Thursdays in the Daily News.
Local pros feel slighted by all amateur Wing Bowl
Dan Gross
Collins will attend the event alongside first-timer Richie "Beefcake Cheesecake" Souder, whom he is training.
Wing Kong, a systems administrator by day, predicts that with all amateurs on the bill, the highest number of wings eaten this year "won't even be half" of California's three-time champ Joey Chestnut's record of 241 set last year. Collins is certain that several contestants will suffer reversals (that's what puking is called in competitive eating) and therefore will be disqualified, due to the strict "You heave, you leave," policy.
Meanwhile, the initial plan for Wing Bowl 17 was to hold the event at the Spectrum for one last time since the iconic venue will close this year, 610 WIP's Angelo Cataldi told us yesterday.
"That's really where the event took off a decade ago," he says. "We were going to lose a few thousand seats, but we would gain so much more in pure nostalgia." Going back to the neighborhoods and excluding pros was developed in conjunction with the Spectrum throwback plan.
"To our shock, we had totally outgrown the building," he said. "Many of the floats that have become so much a part of Wing Bowl would not fit in the Spectrum runways. Also disheartening, Cataldi says, is that there are no permanent video screens at the Spectrum. "Video is especially important in Wing Bowl to focus in on the attributes of our lovely Wingettes and to highlight that magical moment when a contestant grows ill."
For info on how to qualify for Wing Bowl as either a contestant or a Wingette, click here.
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Angelo Cataldi is a joke— Serge_Matthews- Lets hear it for Serge ! Angelo has a junior high sense of humor and ranks right up there with Danno GROSSman in terms of his contributions to society. Other than that, there is Conklin, Rhea and out of it Al. 7:00AM is not Philly's finest hour, and wingbowl is an 8th grade clambake without the clams.— mick314
- you guys need to lighten up— Sweet Lou
- I'm actually going to the Wing Bowl this year. Never have and don't really listen to Angelo. I do prank Eskin from time to time though - that's always fun. I promise you all a full report that will make your faces melt with excitement.— Citizen Rorshach
- KING - do the homeless eat wings ? Lighten up Francis....— Joe Hoagie
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- "Professional eaters" sounds really funny. Isn't everyone a professional eater? These guys are all slobs. Imagine what the bathroom smells like after they are finished.— Jack Daniels on the rocks
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- Some serious fire butt from all those hot wings— dar
How 'bout an amateur and a professional division? Cataldi does seem sophomoric, but I like Rhea and Al. As for professional eating, anyone notice that all the top eaters seem to be thin? There's got to be something going on there.— verve- Comment removed.
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- Wow its the wing bowl get a life...also the bathroom smells like poop— whocares
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Forget that. I'd like to see them suck the chrome off of trailer hitches. Now that's what I call entertainment-bone-sucking-eating.— Professor Smart E. Pants, PhD.- That's it, CommandorSW. Guess he was trying to break your world record, 47 in just under 6.5 minutes.— Professor Smart E. Pants, PhD.
- Oh crud, KING, I challenged CommandorSW, with a witty comeback and by that I mean something that doesn't involve my wife, my momma, dan, or butterscotch krimpets. CommandorSW - Make it hurt or at least make it worth my while, you one-trick-pony.— Professor Smart E. Pants, PhD.
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- Ah yes,, back to the people....yea..
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- CommandorSW - You, Freddie, and the KING must belong to the same fraternity. The one with all the people of wit and good-looks.— FLabZiLLa
- I would invite Jack Daniels to make his comment about pro's being slobs to any of their faces. We are not by any means “slobs”, we are people who happen to have a talent for eating food and often work out more than the average person to ensure we do not become the "slobs" that you speak of...— WingKong
- So there are "amateur" wing eating pigs & "professional" wing eating pigs? What is the difference? They are all, as Jack pointed out, slobs. The amount of criticism about the Mummer's Parade versus the lack of criticism about this disgusting non-event makes me think that most of you (certainly not "us") are indeed Neanderthals. Philly has become a land of nut-scratching cavemen as is evidenced by this folly & the fact that you can't even take your family to an Eagles game due to the gratuitous profanity & bad behavior. Makes me real proud, it does...— rbmazzeo
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- Good God! It's the same BS comments on this every year - you complainers must be right wing conservatives who are p'd off because Obama's in office!— MrJimmy
The Wing Bowl is a lot of fun, this will be my third year, and am looking forward to it, again.— gho_matt- Micah..you crazy bugger...cant beleive chris mccandrews would let you take a day off for this anyway.— tdoc
- I wish I didn't despise Wing Bowl so much. It's like watching the Cosby Show during the second to the last season.....absolutely un-watchable. Good luck with the nostalgia Angelo.— jearnha
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- I guess their afraid of Joey Chestnut. Wing Bowl is a joke.— Drew777
- The top eaters are generally thin because you have to be in shape to eat similar to being in shape for any other sport. Being fat does not mean you can eat more, or eat more quickly.— westbrookmvp
- The Wingbowl is for married guys that aren't allowed out at night or on the weekends. I'd rather sleep in than watch obese men stuff their face. As far as the Wingettes go, you can see them topless anytime at the local establishments...— TheFirstStateVinman
