Male Man Delivers

According to Steakbellie, a fellow Philly-based eater, U.S. Male dies his blood green when donating in the hopes of influencing the recipient’s choice of football teams: The Eagles. While the Eagles aren’t the most dominant team of the decade and U.S. Male is no Chestnut, both show a working class approach to their sports that’s as unique to Philadelphia as the cheeseburger.

Major League Eating had a chance to catch up with U.S. Male on the heels of his stunning win at the Fat Tuesday Crawfish Championship in Atlantic City.

MLE – The Eagles choked against Arizona huh?

USM – That they did, Andy Reid’s gotta go.

MLE – He looks to be a big eater though.

USM – Yeah, you don’t wanna get between him and a WaWa hoagie.

MLE – So you kicked some serious ass down in A.C. recently. The upset of the year may have come on the first contest of the year. What was it about crawfish that enabled you to beat the likes of Sonya, Juliet and X?

USM –I may not have their capacity, but my hand speed and technique were just a bit better that day. I sat for this contest to assure my mouth was as close to the food as possible and never touched the water because as we know, every second counts. I also ate crawfish every day leading up to the event.

MLE – How did you feel after the contest? What did you do?

USM – I felt like I just had an appetizer. Afterwards in the House of Blues we had some frosty beverages & desserts and then later on I had some pizza & a turkey hoagie.

MLE – You were dedicated to the sport in ’08. Your Krystal participation in particular showed a high level of commitment. What will be your focus – circuit wise – in 2009?

USM – My focus is to improve on every food discipline I did in '08 and to try some new ones. The overall goal is always to be on the big stage July 4th so I will work hard to get there.

MLE – You grew up in Voorhees in the 1980’s? Did you know a kid named Hugh Magee?

USM – No, I grew up in Northeast Philadelphia and Cherry Hill.

MLE – Oh. Did you know a kid named Chris Lee from Cherry Hill? He called himself King Lee.

USM – No.

MLE – What athletics did you do in high school?

USM – I played soccer and trained in the martial arts after school.

MLE – Your love for the Eagles is well documented, are you also a Phillies fan?

USM – Eagles and Phillies season ticket holder. Love the Flyers and 76ers too.

MLE – Do you think any players on the legendary ’93 Phils team juiced? Dutch Dalton, Dykstra, those guys?

USM – Absolutely, Dykstra for sure. Half the team bulked up prior to that great season. Two words: Mickey Morandini.

MLE – Remember Inkie, Pete Incaviglia?

USM – He was one of the fan favorites and a big guy with some serious power and a killer mullet.

MLE – They say new presidents have a post-election capital that they must spend during their first days in office. There’s lots of buzz surrounding your win at the first MLE contest of the 2009 season. How will this change your approach to the next few weeks, your next few contests?

USM – It won't change my approach at all. I have a steady desire to do the best I can while keeping my area free of detritus.

MLE – What would you do if Beautiful Brian changed his name to U.S. Mail, using "mail" instead of "male?"

USM – Brian is a fellow postal employee who loves my eating name so I know he would never copy the idea this late in his career. Using “mail” is ridiculous because it represents paper.

MLE – What about Wild Bill?

USM – What about Wild Bill?

MLE – Fair enough.