Congratulations to Joey “Jaws” Chestnut for winning the 2008 Nathan’s Famous International Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest and its first place prize of $10,000. It was an incredibly exciting competition with the “sports” two superstars, Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi, going hot dog for hot dog with the lead changing at key moments of the contest until at the end of 10 minutes both stood tied, each having consumed 59 hot dogs and buns. (link) Chestnut then clinched his second consecutive Mustard Yellow Belt in a five hot dog and buns eating over time.
While I would have been very happy to see either Chestnut or Kobayashi win the overtime, I have some lingering questions after watching Friday’s competition. The first of which is what is the official Major League Eating rule for overtime? I ask this because there seems to be some discrepancy, which I feel was unfair to both Chestnut and Kobayashi and may have been the reason Koby fell behind in the five dog eat off.
When the competition ended in a tie, it was announced that the championship would be determined by whoever could finish five hot dogs and buns (HDB) the fastest. Not only is this a completely different type of competition than trying to eat as many HDB in a set amount of time, it is also contradictory to how a tie was handled at the Dallas Nathan’s Qualifier held on June 21st. At that particular qualifier “Nasty” Nate Biller and “Double O” Kevin Ross tied with 20 HDB consumed and the two professional eaters then competed in a 2 minute eat off. (link) I think this is a much more appropriate way to break a tie and I wonder why there is such a discrepancy in the way ties are handled in MLE sanctioned events.
The other really sketchy aspect to this year’s competition is that on May 14th, 2008 MLE posted on their website that because of the expanded amount of qualifying events, 18 in all, that no wildcard seats will be awarded this season (meaning an eater did not have to win a qualifier to be given a spot in the hot dog eating contest). (link) Yet when the list of this year’s contestants was announced, Kobayashi’s name was on the list even though he had not won or even competed in a qualifying event.While some feel he shouldn’t have been allowed to compete at all, I believe Kobayashi deserved a spot at the table for all he has done for the event and league. But why post the announcement on the website and then contradict yourself a month later. George Shea, chairman of Major League Eating, told The Brooklyn Paper’s Gersh Kuntzman the reason for the backtracking is that “the sponsor wants him…the sponsor believes that it’s not a contest unless Koby is there,” and that is 100% true. (link)
But let’s not kid ourselves, not only is it good for the event and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs, it is also imperative for MLE and ESPN, who airs the event, that the living legend Kobayashi compete to both give the competition merit as well as real competition. Everyone involved knew this to be the case or they wouldn’t have billed this year’s contest as “The Rematch II” between Chestnut and Kobayashi. Thankfully it worked out for all parties involved and the Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest was as successful and riveting as ever before.