Actual phone message from Sat. night: "Hey Sam, it's Haley. I just wanted to call and let you know that I was flipping through channels and I saw Kobayashi eating on ESPN. It's Saturday night, so you are probably out doing something exciting and not watching TV, but I just wanted to let you know..."

The sad truth:
I WAS home watching eating competitions on ESPN. I had my phone in the other room and didn't hear it cause I was engrossed in the drama that is the US Open for Competitive Eating. I went out after it was over...

This thing was awesome.

It was at ESPN Zone in Vegas, so all the food was ESPN Zone bar food.

First round I saw was chopped salad. We're talking giant bowls of iceberg lettuce with olives, salami cubes, tomato quarters, croutons and dressing. Unbelievable. The Black Widow won her heat in a landslide victory consuming exactly two of these giant bowls in the allotted time. Eater X (rookie of the year) had great style and took down his worthy apponent. Also moving on were Kobayashi and Ed "Cookie" Harris.

The semi-final round was potato skins (yes, with bacon, cheese and sour cream). 4 lb. plates of them. The Black Widow dominated Eater X-- he didn't even have a chance. His stomach capacity is just not up to snuff yet. Kobayashi killed Cookie with perfect form. He brilliantly stacked one skin on top of another skin kind of putting the potato back together again- and then he ate with these rapid rodent-like bites, turning the potato round and round till it disappeared. Cookie was stuffed. His eyes started glazing over and he just couldn't take down enough food.

The final round: The 6lb. sampler platter. Crudite, Swedish meatballs, spinach dip, tortilla chips, chili, chicken fingers and a buffalo chicken sandwich. The Black Widow put up a good fight, but it was Kobayashi again who dominated the food.

Overall, an inspiring evening.