SportProjections.com

Jul

5

A New American Past Time?

Filed Under Media | 

Early Wednesday morning, I woke and turned on the television. Like most days, I flipped on ESPN to checkout the SportsCenter bottom line. What was on caught my attention: Nathan’s International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest. I guess maybe it was like the reaction to a train wreck; I just couldn’t take my eyes off of it. They were announcing the competitors when I turned it on. One by one, contestants walked in as the announcer listed off their accomplishments, which included things like fried zucchini eating champ, pancake eating champ, and chili eating champ. The eaters included skinny women, fat dudes, skinny dudes, young guys and gals, and one old skinny guy. I was amazed at the diversity among these eaters.

The real drama started when the announcer introduced the two favorites: Joey Chestnut, the world record holder and the crowd favorite, and Kobayashi, the winner of the last six Nathan’s Competitions. The crowd went crazy as these two came to the stage. The commentators made a point of letting everyone know that Kobayashi was not 100% as he had a sore jaw but that he was going to give 100%. As the bell rang, the disgusting competition got underway. As a side note, I am a big man and quite the eater, but this was even tough for me to watch. Anyway, the eaters started shoving hot dogs in their mouths two at a time, after which they would dunk the buns in water and shove them in their mouths. Each competitor had his own style of getting the dogs down, but one thing was immediately clear: Chestnut or Kobayashi was going to win this war.

I watched for 12 minutes as these “athletes” shoved hot dog after hot dog into their mouths. It was one of the nastiest things I have ever seen, but I could not change the channel. I was intrigued by the drama of the event. As time ran down, Kobayashi was matching Chestnut dog for dog. They cleared the Nathan’s record of 53 hot dogs, and they even passed Chestnut’s world record, set just last month. With one minute left, they were tied at 60. At that point, Joey took over. He finished with 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes, which is one more than the average American eats in a year. Kobayashi finished with 63. As time expired, he regurgitated, which forced the judges to discount a couple hot dogs. Chestnut was officially named the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Champion.

Is there anything more American than this? Watching people stuff their faces with junk food as thousands cheer them on? This is a perfect event for July 4th. I sure felt patriotic as Joey Chestnut stood with an American flag draped around his shoulders and the mustard-colored championship belt around his waist. Hot dog eating could become our new national past time!

Lonnie
Head Sports Writer
SportProjections.com

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