New York Mets announcer Gary Cohen took a swing of his own during Monday night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds.
In a SportsNet New York clip recorded during the game, Cohen took a break from his play-by-play of the game to comment on a video showing the preparation of Cincinnati’s signature dish.
You know it as Skyline chili. Cohen knows it as a reason to invoke Nietzche.
“This is the local delicacy knows as Skyline chili: The five-way,” he says in the clip, which was posted to Twitter by New York Post sports reporter Andrew Marchand.
Gary Cohen just torching Skyline chili pic.twitter.com/ZPlG1YVHVj
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 20, 2021
The video he’s watching shows white-gloved hands dressing a bowl of Skyline spaghetti. Co-commentator Ron Darling makes a noise of revulsion and disbelief.
Here’s the rest:
Darling: Five-way?
Cohen: First, the disgusting chili gravy, the onions…
Darling: What do you put on this? Do you put some mustard, or…?
Cohen: Wait a second. After the onions comes the cheese, and that’s what makes it the five-way. Here we go. They put, like, 10 tons of shredded cheese on there, and this is supposed to be food that you actually eat.
Darling: Does the cheese melt, or is that…?
Cohen: Ronnie, have you ever had Skyline chili?
Darling: I have not, I have not.
Cohen: I would recommend—
Darling: Not having it?
Cohen: Well, no, you need to try everything once. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Try it once, and you’ll never eat it again.
The Mets added injury to insult by beating the Reds 15-11 in an extra-innings shootout.
Cohen’s appraisal of Cincinnati’s favorite foodstuff is the latest in a long line of public rebukes to the unique dish. In a 2013 Deadspin ranking of each state’s signature foodstuff, Cincinnati chili ranked No. 52.
No. 51 was getting hit by a car.
