Krystal burger eating contest visits campus
Bobby Dodd Stadium was the site of some fierce competition on Thursday night, with opponents furiously racing against the clock to rack up points and taste sweet victory.
No, the sport in question was not football; that particular match was never in doubt, with Tech stomping all over Virginia from the get-go. The real contest was outside the stadium, where hungry fans on their way to the game competed to see who could eat the most miniature Krystal burgers in two minutes.
The Krystal Square-Off Qualifying Tour made a stop at Tech during its pass through Atlanta, holding a set of preliminary rounds on our campus to coincide with the football game. The top scorers were invited to try out the following Sunday at Lenox Square Mall for a chance to compete in the third annual Krystal Square-Off World Championship, where $10,000 will be up for grabs to whoever can eat the most Krystal burgers in eight minutes.
The contests started at 5:30 p.m. and ran until 8:00 p.m., extending a half-hour past kick-off time. Every half-hour, five contestants faced off against both each other and the high scores on the leader board, the top scorers from which were invited to go to the regional match.
The competitors were passers-by, and anybody who wanted could sign up on the street for any of the available time slots. However many who registered never returned to compete when the time came, so many of the contestants were recruited directly from the street to the stage.
The setting being the night of a Tech football game and near the busy stadium entrance, the contestants were mostly a mixture of Tech students, Tech alumni, and ticket scalpers, almost all of whom had never engaged in any sort of competitive eating before. Some were intensely focused in their desire to win, while others seemed to just be up on stage to claim the free meal and the red Krystal t-shirt given to all competitors. With only a few rare exceptions the competitors were all male.
The rules are very simple: eat as many burgers as possible before time runs out, but make sure they all stay down; the longest part of the pre-match rules lecture has to do with the procedure for when your stomach decides not to cooperate with the sudden barrage of hamburgers foisted upon it. Your only aid is a large cup of water, either to help you wash them down or to moisten the burgers.
A number of Tech students fared very well in the two minute competitions, including Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate student Abraham Lapscher (12 hamburgers) Aerospace Engineering student Nate Christensen (10), and Biology student Colby Allen (10). Sadly, none of the three placed well enough in the Atlanta regional match's eight minute competitions to make it to the World Championship.
After watching five rounds of this and not having eaten since lunch I just had to give it a try. As a college student with plenty of food experence, I thought I had a pretty good chance at making the leader board, plus I thought I had learned some good techniques from watching the winners of the prior rounds.
My fatal mistake was not knowing ahead of time that these burgers are pre-loaded with mustard. To say I'm not a big mustard fan would be putting it mildly, so it was a struggle for me to keep going. I ended up with a pitiful, disgraceful score of three burgers eaten when two minutes had elapsed.
But those who have truly perfected the art of devouring copious amounts of food will vie for the Krystal Square-Off World Championship, which will be broadcast on ESPN from Chattanooga, Tenn. Oct. 28.
