posted on July 4, 2004 02:43:36 PM new
Kobayashi Sets Record for Hot Dog Eating
23 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
By LUKAS I. ALPERT, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - For the fourth straight year, rail-thin Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi chewed up the competition at the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest Sunday, breaking his own previous world record.
Kobayashi, of Nagano, Japan, gulped down 53 1/2 wieners in 12 minutes and shattered his own world record by three dogs. In 2002, he had wolfed down 50 1/2.
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.
Meanwhile, 105-pound Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, 36, of Alexandria, Va., could relish two new records: She ate more hot dogs — 32 — than any other woman and any other American in the contest's history.
Eric "Badlands" Booker, a 6-foot-4, 400-pound subway conductor from Long Island who came in fifth with 27 dogs, said he and the other competitive eaters were determined to unseat the Japanese.
"We aren't going to stop until we bring the belt back," he told ESPN.
Kobayashi seemed unworried. "I will come back next year and try and break the record once again," he said.
Considering some of the mouths we have on here, you guys should give it a try... kiara, kraft, helen...et al.
posted on July 4, 2004 05:44:40 PM new
Kiara - flipping thru channels today I notice that the hot dog eating contest was covered live on ESPN today. Scary ain't it.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
