Ohio's Tate, Eddie tie Joey Chestnut in pierogi contest

Ohio's Tate and Eddie flew into Cleveland Friday with one job: eat pierogies against Joey Chestnut while LeBron James made his first trip back as a 76er. Eddie was not short on confidence.

Eddie

@EddieBarstool

Ready to shock the world with @OhioTate and take down @joeyjaws in Cleveland tonight

The setting was a big one. LeBron chose Philadelphia in free agency in June over a 3rd stint with his hometown team, and Friday's NBA Cup group stage game was his first time back in Cleveland since. Chestnut has also done this exact act before. In March 2024 he ate 39 pierogies at a Cavs halftime show while 3 fans put away 23 between them. So nobody was picking the Barstool guys.

Tate live-posted the whole business trip anyway, from the flight in to a pregame spread he had to stare down hours before the contest. By tip-off the 2 of them were sitting on the wood, close enough to the action that the boys back home spotted them parked by the scorer's table.

Steven Cheah

@StevenCheah

The boys are at the scorer’s table like they’re waiting to check in. We see you @OhioTate @EddieBarstool

Ohio’s Tate

@OhioTate

Ohio’s Tate on the wood (featuring LeBron James) t.co/B0zfLjp6R7

Then came the pierogies. Steven Cheah watched from his couch, saw the belt go to the winner and a 7 go up for Eddie, and assumed it was a blowout.

Steven Cheah

@StevenCheah

Our boys got massacred. Am I seeing this right, just seven pierogis in four minutes for @EddieBarstool??

Steven Cheah

@StevenCheah

Unfortunately, the 76ers vs. Cavs game is the national game tonight so you can’t get the local league pass feed which shows in-arena halftime stuff. I switched over to the Spanish broadcast and got a few seconds of our guys @EddieBarstool & @OhioTate shoveling pierogis down. t.co/RrOzXMFJXr

Eddie agreed with that read and took the loss personally. He called it on himself in a postgame apology that is half concession speech, half grief.

Eddie

@EddieBarstool

I failed the boys and I’m devastated. Never been a speed guy. We had the King and let him slip. I’m sorry

Then Tate did the math, and the story flipped. Chestnut had 38. Add up the crew's count cards and you also get 38. Strictly speaking that's a team total against 1 guy, so it's not a head-to-head tie, but next to the 23 that 3 fans managed against him in 2024 it's a real moral victory. A Cavs staffer apparently thought so too and is already asking for a rematch.

Ohio’s Tate

@OhioTate

Pierogi Eating Contest Final Score: Joey Chesnut - 38 Us - 38 “I think the exact crew should do a rematch. No one has ever come close to beating him” - Member of the Cavs organization

Once you've tied the GOAT, the next move is to lawyer the tie. Tate went over the tape and decided Chestnut's final pierogi was a buzzer-beater that deserves a replay review, like a 3 at the end of a quarter.

No review is coming, and 38 stays Chestnut's number. The basketball also went the boys' way. The Cavs ran the 76ers off the floor 119-95 and held LeBron to 8 points on 3-of-12 shooting in his homecoming. So Tate leaves Cleveland unbeaten on the wood and undefeated, technically, against the greatest eater alive. If the Cavs really book a rematch, Eddie's 7 is the number that has to go up.