Today, we witnessed one of the greatest events in sports. No, not Wimbledon, in which Nadal took down Tomas Berdych in straight sets to win his eighth Grand Slam singles title; no not Independence Day Major League Baseball; no not some MMA fight, and no, to my disappointment, no new developments about free agency. Instead everything was put on hold today in the sports world, as it is every year, except for a special tribute to Uncle Sam: the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
The sacred contest has been held every year since 1916 right next to the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Stand on Coney Island, with a few exceptions, one of them being in 1993, when a one-on-one contest was held between Mike DeVito and Orio Ito, stupidly under the Brooklyn Bridge. The contest apparently also wasn't held in 1941 and 1971, according to nathansfamous.com.
The stand got its start in 1916, the same year the contest started at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues on Coney Island, the same place where it stand today. It was founded by Polish immigrants Nathan and Ida Handwerker. The place was a hit, quickly becoming a New York City landmark, and the rest is history.
Legend has it, that the contest started at the famous hot dog stand in 1916, when on July 4, either two or four contestants decided to have a hot dog eating contest to decide who was more patriotic. The winner of the 12 minute contest was James Mullen who downed 13 dogs. Following that contest, the rules were sometimes tweaked, and the contest was usually informal, but year in and year out the contest was held.
During the 80s, the contest picked up a bit of steam, when more and more people started coming out to try and take the mustard-yellow belt. The competition grew, but the number of hot dogs that the winner would have stayed the same for the most part as it always had been, with competitors only having to eat anywhere from 10 to 20 hot dogs to win, although it's important to note the length of the contest had been shortened to 10 minutes.
In the 1990s, the contest again grew in popularity. In 1993, qualifiers for the event were held for the first time in history, and in 1997 the International Federation of Competitive Eating was formed, and qualifiers were first held internationally. The contest was also lengthened again to 12 minutes. Professional competitive eaters began sprouting up including the United States' Mike "The Scholar" DeVito, Frank Dellarosa, and Ed Krachie and Japan's Hirofumi Nakajima, sparking a rivalry between the two countries that started attracting attention.
Although the contest had become popularized and synonymous with Independence Day during the 80s and 90s, the 2000s is where it really took off as Japan's Takeru Kobayashi came onto the scene in 2001 and revolutionized the "sport." He took the competitive eating scene by storm, with his unconventional methods, including his body movement known as the "Kobayashi Shake" to get food down his throat and into his stomach faster and easier. Another method he's famous for using is one known as the "Solomon Method," in which he breaks two hot dogs in half and shoves all four parts into his mouth, and then dips the buns in water, softening them up, making it easier to chew and swallow them. His techniques worked beautifully, as his first year in the contest, he took down 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes, two times more than the record set the previous year by Kazutoyo Arai.
Kobayashi dominated the contest for the next five years, winning it six straight years in a row, but his margin of victory decreased every year from 2004 to 2006, as more people began to take notice of the contest, and the world of competitive eating grew tremendously, as ESPN began televising the contest in 2004. Competitors such as Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, Eric "Badlands" Booker, Jason "Crazy Legs" Conti, Tim "Eater X" Janus, Rich "The Locust" LeFevre and Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas became professional eaters in order to try and take down Kobayashi but none succeeded. Many imitated his methods, but none could use them as well as Kobayashi.
Finally in 2005, a San Jose University engineering student came onto the scene named Joey Chestnut. He took the eating world by storm, qualifying for the 2006 contest by eating 50 hot dogs, and creating talk about whether it would be the year that Kobayashi fell. It wouldn't be though, as Kobayashi stepped up his game, eating 53 3/4 hot dogs, as opposed to Chestnut's U.S. record of 52 hot dogs. It would be the last year that Kobayashi would be able to hold up the mustard-yellow belt though.
Chestnut came back in 2007 on a mission, knowing he could take down Kobayashi. In a close match all the way between the two, Chestnut edged Kobayashi 66 to 63 hot dogs, both which would have been good enough for world records. The next two years - with the contest being shortened back to 10 minutes- saw Chestnut beat out Kobayashi with 59 dogs in 2008, a world record 68 dogs in 2009, and a return of competitive eating dominance back to the United States.
This year, Kobayashi was nowhere to be found on the stage; due to a contract dispute with Major League Eating he decided to stand in the crowds and watch instead. Chestnut took the crown easily with a lack of serious competition. But, in extreme heat, with temperatures in the mid 90s, Chestnut was only able to down 54 hot dogs. It's crazy that having 54 dogs in 10 minutes has almost become a disappointment, when just 10 years ago, competitors only had to have in the low 20s to win, but the growth of the sport, and the development of new methods, have raised the bar for competitors everywhere.
Even though no new records were set, the contest did have as little drama added to it, when shortly after Chestnut was awarded the belt, Kobayashi tried to rush on stage, but was stopped by police officers. While being taken off, he grabbed onto a police barricade with both hands, and when the police were finally able to pull him off, he was taken into custody. A little jealousy and regret must have set in, after Chestnut was only able to pull off 54 hot dogs, and he didn't even have a chance to compete.
The hot dog eating contest has been a great American tradition for close to a century now, with its roots based in the deep patriotism and unity of this country, and it's finally nice to see it repeatedly back in American hands, after the Japanese dominated for so long. The growth of the contest has also been tremdnous, as thousands of people continue to flock to Coney Island to see the competition year after year. It's served as a great summer-time event with its laid back atmosphere, crazy nicknames and at times, its overly disgusting, unwatchable moments.
Whether it makes us proud to be Americans and whether having the most hot dogs makes you more American is debatable, but its start as a measure of patriotism among immigrants, certainly serves as a nice little reminder of how important this day is, and how this country became the great power that it is today: through hard work and determination, whether in wars overseas, work at home or in hot dog eating contests.
It's become a national and even international phenomenon with about 1.2 million viewers worldwide each year. And to think it all started with four immigrants at Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Stand just having a little contest to see who was more patriotic on our nation's holiday. So, whether or not you tuned in to watch the gluttony take place, it's important to remember how important this holiday is, and to make sure to remember how unique, powerful, free and united this country is, and those who serve and have served to keep it that way.
Happy Fourth of July, and congrats to Joey "Jaws" Chestnut on his fourth straight win in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
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