I GOT BEAT BY A GIRL

That's right, Sweet Jill out ate me at the Niner Diner yesterday during the UEPa's fall 2008 meeting. In my defense, I have a lot of practice losing to women. Sonya Thomas, Juliet Lee, Megan and Jennifer from work (my first, thanks guys!).

To recap, we met at the Niner Diner in Nanty Glo to attempt the legendary Tiny's Challenge: a three-pound burger and five pounds of fries. Eat it all in two-hours and it's free. I can say this for sure...of all the giant burgers I've eaten (Denny's, Clinton Station Diner), this one was by far the best tasting of them all.

To answer Wild Bill's comment to this post, no one finished the challenge. Carey and Brian were the only ones to finish the burger. Carey made a one-pound or so dent in his five pounds of fries and Brian, with a little help from his son, made a little more of an impact, but overall the meal was just too much for any of us to handle. According to Niner Diner owner, Tiny, the only person to ever complete the meal was a 90-something pound woman (of course) who works at the local Wal-Mart.



Carey and I arrived at the Niner Diner 11:30, about half an hour early. The first thing we noticed was a sign on the front door stating that the diner would be closed for a few hours for a "competitive eating event" to allow Tiny to grill up our burgers and ready the fries. The sign also said people were welcome to stop by and watch. Here we see some of the folks who were there at 11:30. More would arrive later; sipping coffees and puffing on cigarettes and snapping photos with cell phones. I hope we put on a good show for them.



Here's Tiny at work. Each burger had three one-pound beef patties on it and one-pound of sliced cheese. That's a lot of cheese. The burgers were also adorned with the usual slew of condiments, including some very spicy diced onions at the very bottom which are not a welcome discovery 30 minutes into your lunch.



Our lunch arrived on large baking sheets. Here's Carey making room for his. It looked like burger mountain surrounded by a sea of fries. I wasn't sure how they were going to serve five pounds of french fries, but this seems like the best way. Better than a giant McDonalds-like box. Behind Carey is a cameraman from the local Fox and ABC affiliate. The UEPa appeared on both newscasts last night. A reporter from the Nanty Glo Journal was also there.



We all approached Tiny's Challenge the same way: break the burger apart and eat it as fast as possible in hopes of finishing it and then moving on to the fries. Seated in orange is Brian Subich's son who helped him with his fries. Brian didn't officially attempt the challenge, but he did finish his burger in 19 minutes. Carey polished off his at the 30 minute mark and Jill, Wing Tut and I nibbled away at it before throwing in the towel.

Brian and his son had been deer hunting that morning and were headed back out after lunch. Wing Tut was doing the same. Tut called me after we left the Niner Diner. Thirty minutes after getting back out into the field, he bagged a doe. Mmmm...deer.



Not sure what was happening here. I dished my camera off to a spectator and asked her to snap a dozen or so shots. Maybe I'm in pain. Maybe I'm getting ready to burp. Maybe I'm thinking of my happy place.



This is Carey with his fan club. They broke into a chant of "Ca-wey! Ca-wey! Ca-wey!" with about 20 minutes left in the challenge as Carey nibbled on a few last minute fries. Don't miss this shot of fan #1 reverently studying Cawey's drinking technique.



Here's the gang shortly before departing. Left to right: Me, Tiny and his wife, Brian and his son, Carey, Wing Tut and Jill. I can't say enough about how kind and accomodating Tiny and his staff were to us while we were there. The Niner Diner is truly a top-notch establishment and we'll definitely be back for future UEPa meetings (to try the giant pancake challenge, no doubt).

A full set of pics can be seen here, including each of us posing with our burgers, more behind the scenes shots, a pic of Carey taking a break around the one-hour mark and one of me doing a John Travolta impression.