MMMM...GREENBACKS

A wise man once said, "Mo' money, mo' problems." Roughly translated, it means "more money, more problems."

The argument about whether prize money should be spread farther down the table is raging again on Eat Feats. It seems most people are in favor of kicking some cash down to 7th or 8th place. And why not? Even if it's a hundred bucks, it can't hurt, right? Well, most people agree, except "McCain." (Not John McCain. Though he is a republican, so he'd probably support a "rich get richer" strategy.) In this Eat Feats post, McCain proposes "that if you want Super Paul (unknown), [...] Megamunch (a blogger), and Carey Poehlman (banned) to headline your event, then adopt the pay structure they’re pushing for."

He goes on to half-heartedly argue that "well-known eaters" will only show up to contests under the current pay structure. I don't agree with him and I think he's not fulling comprehending the simplicity of this proposed pay-out system. I won't break down my proposal here, but I will say it only requires a few hundred dollars shaved off the top and trickled down to the 5 through 8 spots. Hell, keep the big fat top prize and shave some money off the second and third place totals if you want to! (I offer proposed numbers here and so does Rhonda Evans in a very smart way.)

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McCain is obviously inside the IFOCE or a top-ranked eater who doesn't want his (or her?) share of money to shrink. My guess is he's an IFOCE lackey, since, as an eater, you'd have to be a huge fucking dick to want to not reward the passion and hard work of lower ranked guys.

After all, some of the sport's most notable and endearing personalities are lower-ranked eaters. And they're often the ones who are most passionate about the sport. You'd pretty much have to be to keep traveling to contests to get nothing in return.