Hot Dogs

It is the 4th of July and that means that Nathan's annual hot dog eating contest takes place. ESPN really plays up hype of the nearly 100 year old event. Every sports talk show host discussed the event in detail. The past 5 years or so I have watched the event on TV. I am amazed by the amount of food these people can devour in 12 minutes.

In case you missed it, here's the recap. Takeru Kobayashi is the 6 time champion, the defending champion and until a month ago, he was the world record holder for hot dog eating. Last month, Joey Chestnut broke the world record setting up an epic eating battle at the annual event.

After 6 minutes, Chestnut had Kobayashi by 5 dogs. This is an endurance test and at the 10 minute mark, Koby had closed the gap to only 1 hot dog. This is where it got interesting. They continued dog for dog until the 20 second mark. This is where both competitors looked like they would burst. As the buzzer sounded, they stuffed the last dog parts into their mouths.

At this moment, Koby had a problem. It was actually gross. Food and lemonade came flying from his mouth, he caught it hand and kept stuffing. He would receive a penalty of 3 hot dogs.

Chestnut would win the competition with 66 hot dogs in 2 minutes. Koby would finish with 63 dogs. Both competitors shattered the world record set last month and Chestnut is the new world record holder and the 2007 Nathans Hot Dog eating champion. The most coveted title in professional competitive food eating.

This sets up a great match up for the 2008 contest!

In other news, ESPN 2 will host the rock, paper, scissors contest. There is a $50,000 purse for this event.



Back to hot dogs! There are hundreds of different hot dogs on the market and in the ballparks etc. What is your favorite hot dog? I like Nathans hot dogs and the best are the Dodger Dogs which can be purchased at the Chavez Ravine (Dodger Stadium).