In terms of pure sporting drama, it was hard to beat Wednesday's edition of the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. Aside from the event's inherent unpleasantness of watching people force-feed themselves for 12 minutes, this year's contest had all the elements of a Hollywood movie: a grand champion trying to play through the pain and a rising star trying to reclaim his lost championship for his home country.
I'm predicting a Will Ferrell movie before long.
As you saw, or heard, Joey Chestnut defeated six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi by eating 66 hot dogs and buns in that 12 minute time. Kobayashi had come into the event with what he called a painful arthritic jaw condition, but there was no obvious sign of pain as he shoveled the meat into his mouth. In the homestretch, the two men kept pace dog-for-dog. The Nathan's record fell. The world record fell. It looked it might be a photo finish until Kobayashi had some trouble in the final few seconds. In official competitive eating terminology, Kobayashi had "a reversal". In layman's terms, he barfed.
The big question that's been swirling in my mind, aside from "why did I watch that in the first place" is how the two men were able to beat the record by so much. Last year, Kobayashi won Nathan's with 53 and a half dogs and buns. Chestnut broke the world record last month with 59 and a half. How can any human improve their performance by that much in such short a time, particularly when the human stomach has its limits?
Questions about performance-enhancing drugs have plagued baseball's biggest home run hitters, and will likely tarnish Barry Bonds' upcoming moment of glory as he overtakes Hank Aaron. I'm not saying any of these competitive eaters are taking performance-enhancing drugs, but I do wonder if Nathan's might have a reason to secretly make the dogs a little smaller each year. A new record every July 4th means more publicity and more drama for the big event, which now has live coverage on ESPN. This isn't an accusation - just a question that might explain how a man who crushed the competition by eating nearly 54 dogs last year could improve that performance by nearly ten this year. If a baseball player went from 60 to 90 home runs in a year, people would raise the question. I'm just raising the question.
Wednesday's showdown and close finish only means bigger and better drama next July. Will we see 70 dogs go down (and hopefully none come up)? But maybe we should start measuring those dogs - to make sure future records won't have to have an asterisk beside it.
Give us your thoughts, tongue in cheek or serious, in the comments section.