Despite the inanity of the July 4 tradition that is the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, I have been more reluctant to give it much press.
Unlike other foods in the competitive eating arena, hot dog eating doesn't match up even close to how normal people eat hot dogs. Dipping the contents in water so it goes down easier doesn't translate to eating outside the walls of the contest.
Eating chicken wings or oysters or twirling some spaghetti has much more appeal to the average normal eater.
But for those who care, and there are still some of you in my audience, Joey Chestnut keeps his crown. This year, Chestnut ate 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes, compared to Takeru Kobayashi's 64½ or 65 hot dogs, depending on which source you read. Last year, in the first year the time limit was reduced from 12 minutes to 10 minutes, Chestnut won a playoff against Kobayashi.
My analysis of the 2007 results, and more details of the impact of this contest on the competitive eating world.
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