Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

July 4, 2002

There’s simply nothing more American that completely gorging yourself on hotdogs. Every 4th of July, there’s a hot dog eating contest, where contestants throw back a staggering amount of dogs. Last year’s winner set a world record with 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Mull over that for just a little bit. Over the past few years, this event has been dominated by a string of skinny, skinny Japanese imports, completely embarassing the American entrants.

So just when you think “competitive eating” can’t get any more ludicrous or disgusting, this year’s even brought new controversy. Apparently the champ knocked out 50 1/2 weiners this year, but had a little incident where he vomited…. during the competition. Or actually, maybe not. He vomited, bun came through his nose and everything else, but judges ruled it was after time was up, so he retained the Mustard Championship Belt of Gluttony, or whatever they call their trophy.

I hope next year it happens again and it causes a massive Stand By Me chain reaction yakfest rivaling ancient Roman vomitoriums on live television.

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