Call letters that mean something – KXNO

In case you missed it, I was fortunate enough to co-host KXNO’s morning show from 6-8 this morning. Matt Perrault and I had a great time and would love to hear your feedback.

Conversations ranged from personal updates, to Iowa’s four division-1 college basketball teams, college football, and of course – athletes taking inappropriate pictures of themselves that land on social media.

Check it out

Be sure you write/call in to the station – let them know what you think. I’d love to hear your comments as well.

Thanks for listening!

Food wins!

The verdict is in.

At a packed Jethro’s BBQ in the Drake area it was pure jubilation. When the premier began everyone in the restaurant was clapping and cheering. I’ve never seen so many people united for such an event in a restaurant.

(Thanks again to everyone for being there to enjoy the moment. Check out some DSM Register and Drake photos (article). And to the 12 people taking the challenge after the show – all valiant efforts, including one within a few bites of glory. Sadly, the end result is more pictures on the Wall of Shame. Sorry guys, better luck next time.)

 

Delicious meat awaits the 12 contestants after the Man vs Food viewing part at Jethros

 

The show went well, but there was certainly more to the filming than meets the eye.

For instance – the real Adam Richman.

I’m not insinuating what you see is a fake Richman, but off-camera is slightly different than when you tune into the Travel Channel. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was he going to be funny? Serious? Light-hearted? A plain and simple get-after-it eater? Maybe a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants fun-loving guy?

Instead, I saw a TV professional. Not in a bad way, but it certainly wasn’t his first rodeo. He had a very calculated approach to the show. He considered every step in the process. The setup. The end result of camera shots. What to say. When to say it. And even though he threw in his share of improv and witty comments, this was a TV production.

Before the taping began, Richman appeared from his mobile home (like any other TV/movie star) to address the crowd. I’m not actually quoting him, but here’s the general idea of his opening comments–

“Everyone. Thanks for coming out tonight. I’m so excited to be in Des Moines and wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all of you. My fans have been awesome and really given this show a life of its own.

That being said, I wish I had the chance to spend time with all of you. I am going to take pictures and talk to you as much as time allows before we begin.

However, I am asking you for your consideration afterwards. This is a lot of food and I probably will not be feeling well. So please understand if I am not available. And please do not slap me on the back. That does not feel good.

So thanks again everyone for coming out. I appreciate your patience and excitement.”

Not an exact quote, but you get the jist of it. The man was about to eat a five-pound sandwich. This is his livelihood

Understandable though. I mean, if you were eating five pounds of food, how would you be feeling afterward.

Richman retreated to his trailer as we waited for sandwich assembly and the production crew to set up. They informed the audience of the “rules” – Clap. Be loud. Show excitement. But when we get the sign, Richman will be speaking.  Transition into the golf clap – low noise, no talking.

Just another one of those things I never saw coming.

When Richman reemerged from the shadows, the place went crazy. It still wasn’t time for the challenge. Ipod in hand, Richman took his seat while rules came again.

Richman retreated to the trailer one last time, before coming back 10 minutes later. Finally, it was time.

Action.

Full of energy, Richman sprints through the crowd. Slapping hands. Dancing.

He sits down.

Here comes the monstrous mound of meat. Pandemonium in the ranks.

The challenge begins.

Chants . Lots of clapping. Yelling.  Cheering to encourage Richman’s eating frenzy.

Every few minutes, we went into the golf clap as our Man vs Food star gave his state-of-the-challenge addresses.

Various people were summoned to speak with the producer, and asked to offer a few words of encouragement. Even a kiss on the cheek (this didn’t make the final cut apparently).

The trend continued for the first 10 min of the competition.  (By the way, clapping and cheering for that long continuously is exhausting. Ask anyone who was there. I’m glad I wore # 15 in college and not 40.) At the 5 min mark, I was asked to come up and offer support. Receiving direction from the producers, I made my entrance, said my line, and sat my butt down.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite time for that. Too much background noise made it difficult to hear on film. Fantastic. I get a redo.

Back through the previous process. A slightly different form of encouragement. Regardless, the second try made the final cut.

After that? Well you know the rest. Two pounds remained on the plate. Food wins.

End result – I have a new appreciation for Mr. Richman and his chow-devouring prowess. He’s not a freak-show. He is a professional. That’s why the show has been so successful. That’s why it now has a cult-following. And that’s why I was so excited for the show to come to Des Moines.

Richman was funny. He had a lot of energy and made the show fun. But at the same time, do not dismiss him as being some clown/amateur/frat guy living on a couch going around eating ridiculous amounts of food with a camera in his face. He knows what he’s doing.

Hours after the show, I experienced another side of Richman. Since I did not get a chance to speak with Richman prior to the taping, he asked if we would hang around for a few minutes afterward.

The crowd dispersed and a few people remained. But, true to his word, he came out to talk. The hour approached 10 PM, nearly 12 hours after they setup shop at Jethro’s. Richman was obviously a little tired after a long day of filming and a full belly. He signed a menu and took a few pictures.

He was very genuine in conversation. He talked about wanting to take his mom to a restaurant in Alaska. Asked about where to get Drake merchandise for his nephew. Still witty and enjoyable, but he was just a normal guy.

Thanks again Man vs Food. Thanks for opening my eyes and helping me gain a newfound respect for your star and show. Thanks for treating everyone so well. For your gracefulness in making all these new people feel like your friends. And thanks for earning a new cult-follower.

 

Adam Richman and I pausing for a photo after the show. He signed a menu for me. I presented him with a Drake basketball T.

 

Welcome to the Meatvent

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the Meatvent. At 8PM Central tonight, Man vs Food’s Adam Richman will take the Adam Emmenecker challenge.

After weeks of speculation, the world will finally solve the mystery – can Adam Richman conquer The Adam Emmenecker Sandwich in 15 min?

Watch parties at Jethro’s locations across Des Moines. I’ll be at the original in the Drake area. Come join the fun. Or tune in at home. Either way, it promises to be a show Des Moines gluttons can be proud of for years to come.

See what others are saying

Des Moines Register

Omaha World Herald

EatFeats

Drake University

Cyclone Fanatic

GoDrakeBulldogs.com

Sioux City Journal

Sean Keeler

I want to send a big Thank You to Jethros BBQ for helping making all this happen. A special thanks to owner Bruce Gerleman for coming up with the idea and offering to put my name on the menu. A special thanks to Dom Iannarelli for sitting down with me and conceiving this monstrous mound of meat. A big shoutout to all the Jethros managers, servers, and cooks for treating me so well and making Jethros what it’s become today.

And of course, a big thanks to Adam Richman and the Man vs Food staff. It was great to see a behind-the-scenes look at such a production (more on this to come).

Meatdreams do come true

And we thought it was a pipe dream.

Adam, Adam, and The Chef

I guess the word got out.

Travel Channel supershow Man v. Food’s star Adam Richman accepted the challenge. Travelling to Des Moines a few weeks ago, Richman took on The Emmenecker in a test of wills.

The challenge: 5 pounds of meat and toobers

The timeframe: 15 minutes

The setting: Jethros BBQ in Des Moines. And millions of home worldwide

When: Coming to a cable network provider (on the Travel Channel) near you – Oct 6th for the world premier

I’ll post more before closer to the airing. But the shoot was an awesome night. Adam Richman and his crew were all class, and Jethros hosted a great event.

And before you ask, no. I can’t tell you whether he finished or not. Unless you have an excellent lawyer that can undo the oath of silence we all took. But even then probably not because their security guy was pretty scary.

A Meaty Sweet Sixteen

The Sweet Sixteen is a big deal. So we couldn’t watch the game just anywhere. The obvious choice? Jethros. (So yes Drake sports fans, I do actually go there. Great food and atmosphere, what’s not to like?) Here is a self-descriptive photo of the WebMaster as we watched Tennessee vs Ohio State. Oh, and this is the SEVENTEENTH time (I felt like “17” didn’t provide enough emphasis) the WebMaster has finished the entire thing. By 9 PM, he traded jeans for sweatpants, and was in a cold sweat the rest of the night. This, to me, only further adds to the accomplishment. Kudos WebMaster.

The Webmaster doing his thing.

This got the night off to a promising start. (Seriously. The guy finished it in about 12 minutes. The rest of the table hadn’t finished passing the ketchup.) But then Brent Heemskerk’s subpar performance happened. I knew I was in for a bad night. Shown with Blair Nelson challenging the WebMaster, the three pounds of meat in Brent’s leftovers box were more disappointing than Omar Samhan laying an egg and me wrongly selecting OSU to win a close one.

Now onto the less important stuff–the tourney. I know, I know. I messed up. By about 8 PM last night I couldn’t believe it. While Tennessee and Ohio State were in a dogfight, St. Mary’s was down 25 plus at the hands of the powerful… Baylor? Wait, my upset pick got smashed by more than 20 points and it wasn’t even THAT close? I don’t know what the line on the game was, but man that was ugly. And even my bold player prediction – omar samhan underperformed. (Since I put his name in all caps before, I feel like all lowercase letters is more fitting after his first half performance. At the half omar had a stellar 3 points on 1-8 shooting with 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. While the last two figures are decent numbers for a half, 1-8 in a half for your game changer is not gonna win many games.)

Brent not finishing his dinner. Shocking.

Brent must have guarded him during halftime instead of eating his dinner, because omar regained his confidence and put up decent numbers in the second half, finishing with a respectable 15 pts and 9 rebs. But, I guess thats what a gamechanger is. The guy who is going to make or break the team. The guy who can win it. Or lose it. Last night, that guy was omar samhan in a nutshell.

Ok, fine, I got that game wrong (yes WAYYY wrong). At least I was going to be 3-1 in my predictions, right? Well, almost. Tennessee vs OSU was a good game. Ultimately these teams were relatively even and put on a show. I was even right about Evan Turner (it was the obvious choice I know, but still). Turner finished with 31 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast, a steal and a block. That’s a pretty complete game no matter how you cut it. Oh yeah, and he never sat against a swarming defense designed to stop him, pressure him, and rattle him for the full 94 feet. Even though he finished with 6 turnovers, I cannot take anything away from him. He played a very good floor game. Tennessee just has more bodies and more balance.

Now stumbling into the late games, I understood how OSU could lose (Ugh St. Mary’s) but I needed to pick up two wins to at least salvage the evening.

Actually, before I go there, congrats again to the UNI Panthers on a great season. They surpassed all expectations and showed the NCAA that we the MVC are getting closer. The MVC can be a great conference and successful in March. (Now if only we can annex Butler from the Horizon.) Thanks UNI and congrats on a fantastic year.

As for the game, UNI played tough, but ultimately the size, power and coaching of MSU won out. For one of the first times this season, UNI did not get great shots at the end of the game. They were trying a little too hard. Maybe a little tired.

Regardless, MSU still needed to make a few big plays to win the game, and they did.

I’m happy with my Draymond “Day-Day” Green selection for gamechanger. He was easily the difference. In the first half, UNI got out to a sizable lead as MSU struggled to find their identity.

Without Kalin Lucas, the Spartans lacked a calming influence on the floor. In the second half, that was Green. Green finished with 8 points, 5 rebounds, and a team leading four assists. (Tied with Lucious. Yes the regular point guards for MSU are Kalin Lucas and Korie Lucious. Weird, I know. It’d be like if Ali and I played in the same backcourt. As Raftery pointed out last night, a game handmade for Al McGuire.)

Maybe I would’ve been better served selecting Durrell Summers, as he scored half MSU’s points in the first half and continued his scoring string into the second, finishing with 19 pts and 7 reb. But Green is still my guy. And you know what else, Bill Raftery agrees — so it doesn’t matter what me or anyone else thinks.

A few more interesting notes on the UNI vs MSU game, as this was the main event of the evening. After Johnny Moran hit a three to pull UNI within one at 43-42 with 10:22 to go, UNI did not score another field goal. Almost 11 minutes. Thats unheard of for this senior team. Also, UNI’s bench, or I guess in this game Jake Koch, combined for only six points and six rebounds (all six pts and four of the rebs were from the young Koch). Normally a strong suit for the Panthers, bench production was almost non-existant despite playing regular minutes. To put this in perspective, against KU, UNI’s bench finished with 18 pts and 13 rebs.

Maybe the most impressive stat of the night, other than MSU outrebounding UNI by 11, was MSU’s assist numbers. Without their starting point guard, main facilitator, and best player (aka Lucas) the Spartans finished with 15 assists on 19 field goals. Think about that for a second, of the 19 shots made by State, 15 of them included helpers from teammates. Couple that with only 10 turnovers and a team 1.5 A/TO ratio and you’re looking at a winning formula. Take pride, UNI fans, in the fact that despite all these uneven stats, PantherNation still had a chance to win the game in the final minutes. This is progress.

(Oh and by the way I was very excited when I saw MSU’s final 59 point total… exactly what I picked for them. I hope this makes up for omar… Does it? Maybe? No? Fine. I blame Brent.)

When CBS finally switched to Duke vs Purdue the game seemed entirely uninteresting. With only a few minutes left, the game was basically over, Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg seemed like they were half asleep (Why are our nation’s scientists not figuring out a way for Gus Johnson/Bill Raftery to call every sporting event ever?), and the camera continued to pan across groves of empty seats in Reliant Stadium. My heart was with Purdue, but Duke looked better on paper and proved it on the hardwood. At least I no longer had to suffer from the agony of watching. It was over.

Night score 2-2. The weekend score 5-3. Hopefully I can do better in the E8.