Doggin’ It

This is a little late, but whatevs. Went to Coney Island on the 4th for the hot dog eating contest along with supposedly 25,000 other people and ESPN. If you follow this at all, you know that for the past like five years this cat from Japan has stolen our hot dog eating crown. He hasn’t just stolen it, he’s obliterated the competition. The contest started in 1984 and the winner logged in at around 9 dogs. Then Kobayashi stormed onto the scene with like 50 dogs, bested the record by like 25 dogs. Well, this year, Joey Chestnut, the great white American hope was there to try and win back the mustard belt. He was leading until the last three minutes and then Kobayashi kept steaming along, and pulled ahead. Final scores? Joey Chestnut 51 dogs, Kobayashi with 53 and 3/4 dogs. Disgusting? Yes. But riveting. Human drama at its finest. I have a small movie from it too (which I’ll upload later) where you can hear the announcer guy who is a world class ham. He’ll say things like, “The Four Horseman of the Esophagus”. Plus he’ll alert to the these people’s various crowns of World Champion of Ice Cream Eating, Tiramasu Eating, Jalapeno Poppers Eating, etc. I have to say the pepper eating is impressive. That requires a steel stomach. I read something the other day that said the habanero pepper is like 150 times hotter than a jalapeno. Yeesh. Anyway, here are some pics….

The hot dog contestants stuff their faces. You are allowed to dunk the buns in water, but you must eat both bun and dog.

The champs, Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi. Note, they are both thin, especially Takeru. Takeru’s secret? Invention of double dog eating. Previously, people would just eat one dog at a time. He eats two at a time, plus he invented the dunking of the buns too. Presumably, this eliminates air which would otherwise fill up your stomach.

The totes: Note: The spiderwoman takes third place! Not only does she hold the record for women, but she dusted the rest of the guys with 38 dogs. Also, she is not fat either. Perhaps competitive eating is good exercise? You’ll also note the scoreboard has started to countdown till next year’s July 4th Hot Dog contest.

The only reaction you can have afterwards. Gross!