Dan Gross: This year, Wingette just a footnote

WITH

Tiffany Heller

sitting out Wing Bowl 17 (Friday at Wachovia Center) with a foot injury, it's anybody's game. For the past four years Heller has served as a Wingette for the winning eater.

First she cheered on Bill "El Wingador" Simmons in Wing Bowl 13, then spent three years alongside Joey Chestnut for his three-year streak. The busty brunette says that she will be listening to the broadcast at home, on 610-WIP and we encouraged her to also follow the action on Philly.com.

"It was more of a show with the professional eaters," Heller, 25, said yesterday. "Who knows this year, though, because

they're all new." Heller admits that even while paired with Chestnut she "always rooted for the underdog." Now she can again. Everyone's an underdog this year.

'Damaging Doug' is favored

"Damaging Doug" Canavin is

the favorite to win Wing Bowl 17 with 2-1 odds, according to Wing Bowl creator Al Morganti, of theWIP morning show. Morganti handicaps the event each year, and has "Gentleman Jerry" Coughlan and six others at 3-1.

'Big Rig' also has faith in Doug

"I wanted to write and wish 'Damaging Doug' good luck," began an e-mail we received last week from Mark "Big Rig"

Vodeging. "He is a great and relentless competitor," Vodeging said of "the battle I had with him 11 years ago." Vodeging took the crown at Wing Bowl 6 on Jan. 23, 1998; Canavin placed second. Vodeging is now a special-education teacher at Paulsboro High School, and says that he'll be listening to this year's Wing Bowl on the radio. Vodeging, who won a trip to Aruba, proudly displays in his living room the Liberty Bell statue presented to him by then-Mayor Ed Rendell.

Gentleman Jerry to retire

Gentleman Jerry Coughlan echoes the sentiments of Danny Glover in the "Lethal Weapon" movies who liked to say that he was getting too old for this, um, stuff.

Coughlan, of Clifton Heights, says that win or lose, Wing Bowl 17 will be his last. "I'm turning 40 this summer and it's too much to keep doing to my body every year."

Coughlan won a car in Wing Bowl 15 for being the local eater who scarfed down the most wings.

Last year in Wing Bowl 16, Coughlan finished with only 15 fewer wings than Chestnut, who set a record with 241.

The 6-foot-2, 385-pound Coughlan is also planning to shave his bushy beard before Friday.

The beard, usually stained with wing sauce and chicken parts, "just doesn't go" with his entrance costume, Coughlan says.

Gentleman Jerry says that he has been training the same way he has in past years.

"My major meal is between 12 and 2 a.m. It stretches my stomach better while I'm sleeping," he said yesterday, while admitting that it does also pack on some pounds.

When he's not stretching his stomach, Coughlan works as a partner in a business called Dust Troopers, an environmental anti-allergen company.

He is confident that he'll emerge victorious, but expresses concern about Damaging Doug and first-time contender Not Rich.

We talkin' 'bout practice?

"Tollman Joe" Paul is back for his first Wing Bowl in seven years. The 57-year-old won Wing Bowl 8 in 2000 and competed two more times after that. He's a former Pennsylvania Turnpike worker, hence the nickname.

"I'm gonna win," Tollman told us yesterday. "If I don't I'm at least gonna be in the top five."

Unlike many Wing Bowl contestants, Tollman does not train. "I don't practice; I just show up and eat."

More charity, less gluttony?

Local blogger Brendan Skwire has created a video, posted on his blog, BrendanCalling.com, and on CollateralNews.tv, attacking the Wing Bowl and its celebration of gluttony, suggesting that 610- WIP should be donating the wings to Philabundance and other groups that benefit the hungry. Skwire also suggests that the People Paper should be writing about the hungry and malnourished, not the Wing Bowl.

Bring tickets, don't set fires

The Wachovia Center has announced that parking lots open at 4 a.m. Friday and that tickets will be checked at the parking gates. Those without Wing Bowl tix will be turned away. FDR Park, across Broad Street from the sports complex, will be closed to tailgating, as will surrounding lots.

All patrons will be searched for contraband, and no outside food or beverages are permitted inside the Wachovia Center. Comcast-Spectacor has also asked that no fires be set in the parking lot. *

Visit PhillyGossip.com for Dan's latest stories. Have a tip? Call 215-854-5963, or e-mail grossd@phillynews.com. For recent columns, visit go.philly.com/

dangross.