Caps and Gluttony
The champion, afterwards. (By Toni Sandys -- The Washington Post)
Tim McDermott had his first hot dog for lunch this afternoon. "Like a pre-game meal," the Caps; chief marketing officer said.
Kevin Kenney had his first dog about an hour before the Caps and Maple Leafs dropped the puck; "quality control," explained Aramark's regional director.
Those were perhaps the first two shots in tonight's fusillade of cured meat, as the Caps hosted what is believed to be the first Dollar Dog Night in franchise history. Kenney coolly rattled off the relevant stats before the first intermission rush; a typical Caps crowd consumes between one and two thousand dogs, which works out to between 0.1 and 0.2 wieners per. For the Leafs game, Aramark planned to cook 10,000 dogs and brought another 5k for backup, figuring on a consumption rate of between 0.75 and 1.0. (Final results came in too late for this edition, but the tally was expected to be between 12,000 and 14,000.) Two extra executive chefs had been brought in to supervise production and to coordinate the distribution of 250 dogs at a time to the 14 participating stands.
The hockey clubs in Philadelphia and Dallas regularly hold such gluttonous promotions, "and Philly is an anomaly in the hot dog world," Kenney said. "For some unknown reason, they sell almost 2.5 per person."
That figure twirled slowly in the air, as if speared on some imaginary warming device, as the crowd--which included 2,500 college students bearing $10 Student Rush tickets- emerged to claim its foodstuffs. To help control the supply, customers were limited to four per person per purchase. One threesome quickly sauntered by with the requisite 12 dogs.
"Maxed out," bragged Andrew Dolan, a Georgetown senior. I asked what their goal for the night was. "Only time will tell," he said. "I think double digits is a fair assessment. We've been fasting."
Despite all the preparation, minor problems soon emerged. One fan told me his dogs were cold, while another who hit a stand between replenishing deliveries claimed he had to wait 22 minutes for his dog. Aman Trana munched on a hamburger--"a time killer," she called it--while waiting for a quartet of franks to bring back to her friends.
"You can quote me on this one: they're overpriced at $1," she said, before admitting that she was outraged to hear a fan asking for a salad. "This is hockey. This is what we come for. It's part of the experience. It's a break from healthy eating."
Upstairs, meantime, Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas was just starting her hot dog tutorial. Thomas, a professional eater and world-record holder, was brought in to referee the college student hot-dog eating contest during the second intermission, a three-minute lightning contest featuring contestants from six area schools.
"Drink the bun, drink the bun," she was instructing the contestants.
"Can we get beer to dunk it in instead of water?" requested Georgetown's Katy Welter, who once won a pie-eating contest. ("I ate 10 pounds of shoofly pie in 8 minutes," Thomas said.)
"Like lubricant," Thomas was explaining about the water.
"This is grossing me out," Welter said.
"If they had a wing-eating contest, I'd win it," boasted Virginia Tech's Alex Malycke, who had limited himself to one can of tuna fish and lots of Mountain Dew in preparation for the throw-down.
"I ate 174 wings in 12 minutes," Thomas pointed out.
After a brief demonstration by Thomas, with play-by-play from Elliot in the Morning, the main event finally arrived. All of the contestants were booed lustily, although to my ears George Mason was booed the least and Georgetown the most. Despite a helpful sign in the crowd--"Katy is No Weenie"--Georgetown's Welter quickly became a non-factor and finished with 1.5 dogs downed.
"I like hot dogs a lot," she said. "I wanted to enjoy it."
Malycke battled game contestants from George Mason and Maryland but emerged victorious: seven hot dogs and buns in three minutes, with only a modest bit of white foamy residue coating his chin.
"I could do, like, five more," he estimated. "I'm just slow."
The platters of uneaten dogs were distributed to nearby fans. Maryland freshman Sanjay Vemuri, who downed five dogs, took 11 more with him. They were for his friends, he said, although he thought he might need some nourishment later.
"Maybe one more in the third period," he said. "I'll still be hungry."
(On Frozen Blog chronicled the contest visually, which is much more arresting. See pics here.)
By Dan Steinberg |
January 24, 2008; 9:23 PM ET
| Category:
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Posted by: ScottVanPeltStyle.com | January 24, 2008 10:33 PM
Having dollar dog night in my calendar since december, I was pumped to get a free student ticket yesterday from my school, catholic university. I am proud to say I witnessed the caps win for the cost of my metro money and 3 hot dogs. Where's the catholic u love steinz??
Posted by: Chelsea | January 24, 2008 10:43 PM
My dad was actually bummed that he couldn't get an autograph of the "Black Widow" he alleged that she had more security around her than the federal government. Ridiculous!
Posted by: Puddin_an_Semin | January 24, 2008 10:46 PM
I was disappointed with the Hoyas entrant to the contest, but now that I know she was hung up on her beverage choice, I can understand her pain.
Great game on the ice, too.
Posted by: AT | January 24, 2008 11:04 PM
Great work! Love the blog..you find the most interesting stuff to talk about...
Saw you at the game and wanted to tell you in person how much I love your work but you were interviewing people so I didn't get the chance :(
Posted by: Caps_Fan | January 25, 2008 8:47 AM
Great stuff.
Posted by: Reader Glenn | January 25, 2008 9:17 AM
I guarantee that not even the Black Widow can down more than 2 Papa John's personal pizzas at the VC. Those things rough you up worse than Donald Brashear.
Posted by: AJ | January 25, 2008 11:45 AM
Where was Lindsay Cza...oh nevermind.
Posted by: WaPoLiveFan16 | January 25, 2008 11:53 AM
Minor league entertainment in a minor league hockey town!
Posted by: OldChelsea | January 25, 2008 2:07 PM
I was at the game last night, and was planning on "going into double digits" myself, but the first taste of a cold, uncooked hot dog helped me decide to stop my pursuit after the first four I ordered. Yuck.
Posted by: Bret | January 25, 2008 2:26 PM
Philly's is a spin off of the Phillies Dollar Dog Days/Nights, and they are a bizzare cultural phenomenon. When I lived there, you HAD to be at Dollar Dog Night at Citizen's Bank Park--everyone under the age of 30 went. My younger brother is the same way now. "Dude, don't call me on Wednesday. I'll be at Dollar Dog."
Posted by: teddy | January 25, 2008 2:54 PM
"For the Leafs game, Aramark planned to cook 10,000 dogs and brought another 5k for backup..."
I was there, bought 4 dogs. I think the plans to cook the dogs fell through.
Posted by: Most Valuable Primate | January 25, 2008 4:16 PM
Aramark selling cold hot dogs??? I don't believe it...
Posted by: Caps Nut | January 25, 2008 9:31 PM
I think they were actually worse than usual, but by gum, I was all about Dollar Dog Night and look forward to the inevitable sequel!
Posted by: Goat | January 28, 2008 9:31 AM
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Posted by: HsvsRsvsesv | April 18, 2008 6:13 AM
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Absolutely disgusting, yet riveting journalism.
Classic. Post.