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On a day when the United States celebrated its independence, one man stood up against evil and injustice, in the same spirit that inspired the Committee of Five, and ate 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes – seven more than the supposed fastest eater in the world and one more than the paper champion’s World Record.
Takeru Kobayashi, who was not allowed to compete against rival Joey Chestnut and other professional eaters at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contests at Coney Island Monday, staged his own contest on the Fourth of July.
Kobayashi set up camp on top of a Manhattan bar and battled those pretenders on Coney Island, sucking back 69 hot dogs while going head-to-head with a TV broadcasting the event live from the Nathan’s.
Kobayashi’s alternate event and record (according to the powers that be) was due to his ongoing war with Major League Eating, the biggest professional eating circuit, which uses the Nathan’s as its flagship event.
The Japanese competitor, who won six straight Nathan’s titles between 2001 and 2006, refused to sign a contract with MLE that wouldn’t allow him to eat in any other events not sanctioned by the organization. His solo stand Monday, and stage-crashing at last year’s Nathan’s (for which he was arrested), were pushes to allow independent eaters on the MLE circuit.
All this drama seems to be pointing toward a Chestnut-Kobayashi showdown. But, like a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout, it will take more politicking and negotiating than waterlogged hotdogs to settle this score.
If MLE was smart, it would keep any momentum from Monday’s contest rolling and make this munching matchup a reality before we go back to not caring about how many hot dogs some weirdo can eat.
But seeing that it’s July 5, the clock may have already run out.
Oh well, there’s always next year.
Takeru Kobayashi, who was not allowed to compete against rival Joey Chestnut and other professional eaters at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contests at Coney Island Monday, staged his own contest on the Fourth of July.
Kobayashi set up camp on top of a Manhattan bar and battled those pretenders on Coney Island, sucking back 69 hot dogs while going head-to-head with a TV broadcasting the event live from the Nathan’s.
Kobayashi’s alternate event and record (according to the powers that be) was due to his ongoing war with Major League Eating, the biggest professional eating circuit, which uses the Nathan’s as its flagship event.
The Japanese competitor, who won six straight Nathan’s titles between 2001 and 2006, refused to sign a contract with MLE that wouldn’t allow him to eat in any other events not sanctioned by the organization. His solo stand Monday, and stage-crashing at last year’s Nathan’s (for which he was arrested), were pushes to allow independent eaters on the MLE circuit.
All this drama seems to be pointing toward a Chestnut-Kobayashi showdown. But, like a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout, it will take more politicking and negotiating than waterlogged hotdogs to settle this score.
If MLE was smart, it would keep any momentum from Monday’s contest rolling and make this munching matchup a reality before we go back to not caring about how many hot dogs some weirdo can eat.
But seeing that it’s July 5, the clock may have already run out.
Oh well, there’s always next year.
0
You and BetED.
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