Thought not quite as life-changing as the Gore-Bush debacle, Joey Chestnut's recent victory over Takeru Kobayashi was disturbing nonetheless.
On July 4th, we decided to take a trip out to Coney Island to see the 92nd Annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. Some naysayers don't see competitive eating as a real sport, but I think the ability to down 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes takes skill, determination, iron will, and heart--key character traits of any top-notch athlete. I also like to consider it a sport because it is one of the few skills that I feel I could excell at given the right training and mentorship. During a camping trip a few years back, it was rumored that I downed 48 oysters in one night. I really can't say if this was true or not because most of the night was a briny blur to me. (Note - Since the competition I learned that Sonya "The Blackwidow" Thomson, all 105 lbs or her, ate 46 DOZEN oysters at the Acme Oyster House in 10 minutes. So I've got a little training to do.)
I've watched competitive eating contests on ESPN many times before but there was something special about being there in person. Surrounded by fellow food fanatics and the slightly metallic smell of sauerkraut and mustard, I felt excited and ALIVE!! I wasn't the only person who felt this way--a middle-aged mom was yelling at the top of her lungs like some hoochie mama at a Prince concert and a short Asian girl shrieked "Kobayashi" at regular, heart-stopping intervals.
The competition itself was short and a bit anticlimactic. We were too far away to see all the details--the most I could gather was Chestnut's head rhythmically bobbing up and down like an apple floating in a bucket of water. Chestnut and Kobayashi were neck and neck...at the end of the 12 minutes, everyone in the audience saw that the two were tied...at 63 hot dogs each. We waited anxiously wondering if the two would have to meet one-on-one for a tie-breaker, though the rumor floating around was that Kobayashi would never make it. During the last remaining seconds, he experienced a rough "reversal", a euphimism if I've ever heard of one, but he wasn't disquailified because he ate said reversal.
Which brings me to the question at the beginning of this post...How could the judges have found THREE additional hot dogs during the recount. It just doesn't add up.
