Happy George Shea Day!
It’s July 4th! So of course it’s GEORGE SHEA DAY!
Who is George Shea?
George Shea is the announcer for the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Contest and the commissioner of Major League Eating (MLE). He is credited with turning the hot dog eating contest into a national phenomenon after MLE was just a fledgling idea in the 1990s.
He’s like Shakespeare/ Maya Angelou / Kendrick Lamar all rolled into one person. A true legend. Yes he’s gotten older and a bit slower. But he can still bring the heat. He introduces all the hot dog eating contestants. It’s a cross between NBA player introductions and the WWE introductions. They are incredible.
What’s George’s best introduction? Joey Chestnut in 2015 with “Baba O’Riley” playing in the background. Video is a bit grainy but….chills.
He once said this about a man known as EATER X:
“He was born outside of time. A witness to all possible realities. He was there when the sea and the sky were mixed together as one and humans floated from the depths of the Pacific to the very edge of space where they looked out at the stars in the blackness.”
WHAT! And this about the same man (Eater X):
“He lost his arm to a Bengal tiger in a boyhood visit to the Atlanta zoo. But his arm grew back. He can speak Neutrino, the language of the sun, and all day long he listens to the conversations in the sky.”
Eater X sadly is in the Chestnut era and no one cares about him except George. But that’s what happens when you get an all timer like Chestnut. When a truly great announcer gets a generational player they can make some music together. This is what George Shea and Chestnut have done. Chestnut elevated Shea and vice versa. Which is why it was sad that Joey got out of the contest a few years ago. But now….he’s BACK! George will surely bring the thunder in 2025.
I get that you are probably turned off by the eating part of the Hot Dog Eating Contest. I’m not asking you to watch the eating. I am asking you to watch George Shea. Just watch the introductions. It’ll be worth it.
Here is his introductions from 10 years ago. It ends with Baba O’Riley/Joey Chestnut (yeah, I’m posting it again.) But this is the magic that George brings.
Happy George Shea Day! No fireworks needed. Just awesome introductions.
“There will be a day that is the end. The collapse of time and all that stood within it. A day of nothing. Or no one. Of nowhere. But that day is not today.”