Spring Break
EATING: Rothman wins third hot dog contest
by Jeffrey Pickette
Senior writer
Sports | 10/23/07
Posted online at 1:27 AM EST on 10/23/07
/ Last updated at 8:52 PM EST on 10/23/07
Inhaling large quantities of hot dogs in mere minutes has become routine for Jordan Rothman '09.
Rothman was crowned Brandeis' hot dog eating champion for the third consecutive year Wednesday, continuing his domination of the annual Sherman Dining Hall event.
He downed the required 10 regulation-sized hot dogs and buns in a personal record time of just over five minutes, eclipsing his previous best mark of 5:20 set in 2005.
Jacob Kamaras '08 (who is also a deputy editor for the Justice), finished in second place, consuming all 10 hot dogs but only six buns, Sean Petterson '11 came in third with 10 hot dogs and four buns and Stephen Ragno '11 was fourth with six hot dogs and six buns.
Rothman attributed his victory to his unique eating style. While other participants chose to first eat all of the hot dogs followed by the all of the buns, Rothman alternated between the two.
"The dogs are much easier to eat," Rothman said. "I was interspersing difficulty with easiness."
Rothman said he believed eating the hot dogs first gave the other participants a false sense of confidence. When it came time to consume the buns, Kamaras, Petterson and Ragno all faded down the stretch.
Eventually, the smell of the hot dogs became nauseating to Rothman.
"After the seventh hot dog I was gagging after [eating] every hot dog," he said. "It was getting harder and harder to swallow. But, after [eating] the seventh one I knew I was going to win."
As a varsity athlete for the track team, Rothman prepared for this competition in a similar fashion to how he would get ready for a track meet. He said his goal was to "jumpstart his metabolism" by lifting weights and running two miles in the hours prior to the contest. He also went into the contest hungry, having not eaten since 11 a.m. that day.
"My stomach wasn't even protruding at all; [the hot dogs] just dissolved in my metabolism," he said.
A self-professed "one-trick pony," Rothman sticks solely to competing in hot dog eating contests.
Rothman was crowned Brandeis' hot dog eating champion for the third consecutive year Wednesday, continuing his domination of the annual Sherman Dining Hall event.
He downed the required 10 regulation-sized hot dogs and buns in a personal record time of just over five minutes, eclipsing his previous best mark of 5:20 set in 2005.
Jacob Kamaras '08 (who is also a deputy editor for the Justice), finished in second place, consuming all 10 hot dogs but only six buns, Sean Petterson '11 came in third with 10 hot dogs and four buns and Stephen Ragno '11 was fourth with six hot dogs and six buns.
Rothman attributed his victory to his unique eating style. While other participants chose to first eat all of the hot dogs followed by the all of the buns, Rothman alternated between the two.
"The dogs are much easier to eat," Rothman said. "I was interspersing difficulty with easiness."
Rothman said he believed eating the hot dogs first gave the other participants a false sense of confidence. When it came time to consume the buns, Kamaras, Petterson and Ragno all faded down the stretch.
Eventually, the smell of the hot dogs became nauseating to Rothman.
"After the seventh hot dog I was gagging after [eating] every hot dog," he said. "It was getting harder and harder to swallow. But, after [eating] the seventh one I knew I was going to win."
As a varsity athlete for the track team, Rothman prepared for this competition in a similar fashion to how he would get ready for a track meet. He said his goal was to "jumpstart his metabolism" by lifting weights and running two miles in the hours prior to the contest. He also went into the contest hungry, having not eaten since 11 a.m. that day.
"My stomach wasn't even protruding at all; [the hot dogs] just dissolved in my metabolism," he said.
A self-professed "one-trick pony," Rothman sticks solely to competing in hot dog eating contests.
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