Man's Best Friend: The Grilled Cheese Sandwich

February 21, 2009 -- Santa Monica, CA. While Americans are still trying to cope with their weekend sadness from the NFL being on hiatus, there's hope in the air today. One of the greatest events ever will take place in San Francisco, The Grilled Cheese Invitational. Competitors have been training for months, trying to come up with the perfect combination of bread, cheese, butter, and whatever secret weapons they have up their sleeves.

The event will include up to 500 taste-testing judges and there are three categories of competition.

1. The Missionary Position: Standard bread, standard butter and standard cheese. No additional ingredients or flavorings allowed.

2. The Kama Sutra: Any kind of bread, any kind of butter, and any kind of cheese (or blend of cheeses) plus additional ingredients.

3. The Honey Pot: Any kind of bread, any kind of butter, any kind of cheese (or blend of cheeses), and any additional ingredients, but a sandwich that is sweet in flavor, or would best be served as dessert.

Last year's Missionary Position champions, Kathasaurus & Bustin, are the odds-on favorite to repeat. But the question on everyone's mind is if they'll be able to top their winning sandwich from last year, the Queijo Grelhado Velho Liso which received a score of 29.80. The gut bomb featured SUPER fresh sourdough from Hoffman's bakery in Santa Cruz, extra sharp Tillamook cheddar, fresh Italian mozzarella, Jarlsberg mild Swiss & whipped Danish creamery butter.

Fans have been camped out for days in anticipation and with hope they'll be lucky enough to receive one of the 500 judges' bracelets. No incidents are expected at this year's event, but security will be high. Most experts predict some minor injuries, trash talking, and even some attempts to cheat. "With a pressure packed competition and bragging rights on the line, competitors will surely give it their all," said Senior Grilling Analyst, Art Winkdale. And one anonymous competitor put things in perspective for us, "I'm in it to win it. If I have to drop a fool's skillet to show how serious I am, I'll do it. The title is mine, yo."

There's still no word if President Barack Obama will be calling the winner with congratulatory wishes. But with an event of this magnitude, it's not likely he'll blow this off. The reporters here at www.thankgodfortheinternet.blogspot.com/ will continue following this event and we'll update you when news breaks.