Viva Kobayashi!

Did you watch the Nathan's 4th of July hot dog eating contest yesterday? If not, I feel for you. It was one of the finest dramatic moments in sports that I've ever witnessed. This will be a match that I'll tell my grandkids about. For my grandkids, it will probably be the first sign that Grandpa's losing it, but that's besides the point.

Joey Chestnut defeated Kobayashi, by eating 66 hot dogs and buns in just 12 minutes. (that's one hot dog every 10.9 seconds.) For a moment, it looked like it was going to be a photo finish, until Kobayashi had what they call a "reversal" in the last 10 seconds of competition. That's a fancy sports term for puking. After watching it, I almost had a reversal of my own, but was able to keep it together.

The Undaground blog would like to honor this great champion, Kobayashi. He won the contest the previous 6 years. He is the Lance Armstrong/Tiger Woods/Babe Ruth of competitive eating, and he went out like a true champion, besting his own career record by more than 9 hot dogs. On this day, Joey Chestnut was just better.

Just for kicks, I added up the Weight Watchers points for 66 Nathan's hot dogs and buns. In 12 minutes, Joey Chestnut ate 726 points worth of food. Under my current plan, that's the equivalent of what I'm allowed to eat in 19 days. It would take Mrs. Undaground 36 days to eat that much. Incredible.

In a related note, I ate 8 Tostitos Baked scoops with salsa last night in under 5 minutes. Weight Watchers points: one.

I fully expect Kobayashi to train even harder this year, and return next year to try to reclaim his mustard yellow belt. I'm not sure anybody will ever hit 66 again, but fans of the sport once thought 40 hot dogs was impossible.