If dogs could speak...

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Man bites dogs
Yesterday Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi of Nagano, Japan, captured Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating crown for the fifth straight year, scarfing down a gut-wrenching 49 dogs in 12 minutes -- but missing his own world record of 53 set at last year’s July 4th competition. He won yet another year's supply of hot dogs from Nathan's. Kobayashi is 27 years old, stands 5 feet 7 inches and weighs just 144 pounds. He also holds records for eating 18 pounds of cow brain (that's 500 cows), 20 pounds of rice balls, 378 small bowls of Japanese noodles and 69 hamburgers. Presumably not all at the same time.

Bigger is not always better. Kobayashi shown standing next to Eric "Badlands" Booker in 2004. The 6-foot-4 and 400-pound Booker from Long Island, came in 3rd in 2003 but slipped to 5th last year.

This year's results mean that the Mustard Yellow Belt will return to Japan for the ninth year out of the past 10. New Jersey’s Steve Keiner, who won in 1999, is the only American to capture the title in the past decade. There are rumors, probably unfounded, that organizers of the event will unleash a secret weapon (shhhhh... spy picture below) next year to make the contest more competitive.