THE MARINI'S: Mad Dog Madness

Warning: The contents of this blog does not reflect the opinion or desire of all Marini household members. Mrs. Marini(the author) wants it clearly stated that she thinks this act was repulsive and it does not reflect the family eating morals that she tries to instill on a daily basis in her house.

This started last year. We went to this hamburger place called Andre's one afternoon for lunch. While we were there, Rich saw that they have something called the MAD DOG BURGER CHALLENGE. The challenge is to eat the Mad Dog, which is two pounds of beef, four slices of cheese, and extra fixing's of everything...plus the huge side of fries, in less than 30 minutes. He was like.."I could do that." I immediately responded, "Maybe you could...but why would you? That is a horrible thing to do to your body." Then Matthew got involved and it became this "thing" of no longer if Rich could do it, it was now when Rich was going to do it. Can you feel me beaming with pride yet????

So for Christmas, don't ask me why, Rich put in Matt's stocking that he would take him with him to Andre's and Matt could watch him do the Mad Dog Challenge. Matthew was of course ecstatic!!! As I started telling my friends about it, they insisted they needed to be there as well and one of our friends, Brad, wanted to do it too.

On Sunday reservations were made for twelve to witness the "madness". When we all got there, we were rowdy with laughter and chatter going on and on about the challenge. The minute the plates arrived...there was a like a hushed silence over the table. As all of our food arrived, we just sat staring at the hamburgers in awe and thinking it was possible that Brad and Rich could actually do this. Right behind them was a huge wall of Polaroids with successful challengers of the past...staring them down like a gauntlet being thrown!!!

As they started the clock, both boys started strong. Brad had of course done some Internet research on how to maintain your body throughout a eating challenge. Rich had just showed up. They both took the hamburger apart and starting eating it that way, occasionally adding red onions and tomatoes to every bite. Brad's iphone sat off to the side with the times slowing ticking away...

At about the seventeen minutes mark it was clear that the challenge seemed to live up to its name. Both boys were starting to slow and us observers, who had sat quietly and let them concentrate, were starting to sense that defeat was near. And I couldn't be more proud. I was more proud that Rich couldn't finish in the time, than anything. I kept telling him that he did good, but I was so happy he didn't finish...because that is not something to aspire to. Rich did end up eating all of it, but it took him 54 minutes. Brad didn't finish, but he gave it great effort!

The photos. Thanks to Kristin, here are some pictures of the challenge. They tell a story of two insane guys who tried their hardest, but in the end failed. We couldn't be prouder.

THE MAD DOG!!!