Minor League Promotion Will Put You Off Eating For A While

It wasn't your typical eating contest last night at Eastlake Stadium, home of the Indians' single-A club. No, it spanned nine innings, with nine different courses (that's Spam in the photo), and ended in vomit, vomit everywhere.

Minor league promotions are at their best when they're a little sadistic. Take the Lake County (Ohio) Captains, and the 18 "lucky" fans who took part in the Captains Competitive Eating Olympics.

The rules are simple. One dish served each inning, can only be consumed during onfield action. Must finish each dish by the end of the inning. Last man standing wins. The courses:

1st - One George's Gyro; 2nd - Four Twinkies; 3rd - Two Chic-fil-A sandwiches, one of them spicy; 4th - One can of Spam; 5th - Four hot wings; 6th - One Fritos pie; 7th - Half-pound hot dog eating contest; 8th - Two pieces of pizza; 9th - One banana split.

That's insidious; most eating contests are about speed, since the human stomach can pack a lot in before it tells the brain how full to bursting it is. But that much spread over three hours? Death. I assume the plan for extra innings was for contestants to scoop up vomit off the floor, and eat that.

It went down to the ninth, when Mark Ogrizek won after his last remaining challenger made a break for the puke bucket. Ogrizek wins our respect, and a suite at an Indians game, where there's a complimentary buffet.

It's a classic pig-out at Eastlake stadium [News-Herald]