'Tsunami' ingests 53.5 hot dogs at contest
In some lines of work, it's a good thing to be able to eat a lot of wieners. Still, 53 of them in one sitting?? I'm thinking that's gotta be a record or something- and in fact it is.
For the fourth straight year, rail-thin Takeru Kobayashi chewed up the competition at the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating competition Sunday, breaking his own previous world record.
Kobayashi, of Nagano, Japan, gulped down 53½ wieners in 12 minutes and shattered his own world record by three dogs. In 2002, he had wolfed down 50½.
The closest competitor Sunday was newcomer Nobuyuki Shirota, 25, of Tokyo, who made an impressive showing but couldn't cut the mustard with 38 downed dogs.
Once again, then, the contest's coveted Mustard Yellow Belt returns to Japan. Since 1996, the Japanese have dominated the competition and only one American -- New Jersey's Steve Keiner in 1999 -- has captured the belt at the signature July 4 extravaganza.
The 5-foot-7, 132-pound Kobayashi, of Nagano, Japan, employed his trademark method of snapping the dogs in half before swallowing them to destroy the 19 other contestants.
The "coveted Mustard Yellow Belt"? Man, you'd think the winner would at least get his stomach pumped and get a lifetime supply of Pepto-Bismol.
I saw the highlights of the contest on "SportsCenter". Just watching it made me ill. Since when is gluttony a competitive sport?
