Chestnut vs. Kobayashi

Sounds like a Godzilla movie doesn't it? The subtitle could be this:

Chestnut defeats Kobayashi by eating 66 dogs.

Well, it was actually the headline across many sports pages today and will most likely make an appearance in many of tomorrow's daily newspapers. Part of the annul July 4th celebration in the USA, the Coney Island hot dog eating competition was today. Chestnut, the one-named wonder of the competitive eating circuit, defeated living legend and now former world record holder Takeru Kobayashi by downing 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. I'll do the math for you, that is about one hot dog every 11 seconds.

That it would happen on July 4th is certainly apt. This is what America is all about isn't it? Certainly when the Catholic Church made gluttony one of the 7 deadly sins, they must have had such gustatory antics in mind.

No doubt, as Kobayashi and Chestnut stuffed their faces at rate comparable to one hot dog for every female 100m sprint time, you can bet there was a whole crowd of Homer Simpsons chanting USA, USA, USA.

In the end, both men finished with 66 hot dogs in their mouths at the ring of the bell, marking 12 minutes. Competitors can then finish whatever they still have in their mouths for credit. However, Kobayashi suffered what they call in the industry as a "reversal". Let's just say the fellas in the first row needed new outfits before riding the ferris wheel. As Chestnut safely swallowed the processed cow meat, he thus broke his own world record and dethroned the 6 time defending champion. The mustard belt was his. The crowd embraced their victor, and no doubt fireworks were let off. It almost brings a tear to my eye, and makes me sick to my stomach. Watch out, I'm going for a "reversal".