Competitive Eating Day

July 4, to me, is not Independence Day. No, siree. It is Competitive Eating Day! What can be more American than stuffing your face? Especially with hot dogs? And by "hot dogs," I mean Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs in the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest! In Coney Island! In front of a huge crowd! And broadcast on ESPN!

Back in 2004, when I was living in Brooklyn, I went with my boyfriend and a couple I know from law school out to Coney Island to watch the hot dog eating contest. There were a ton of people there, but not nearly as many as were there this year, so we got a great spot to view the contest. That year, Kobayashi won the Mustard Belt, breaking his own record and setting a new world record of 53.5 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. The most amazing thing, though, was that after watching the contestants chow down all these hot dogs, people in the crowd actually still had the desire to eat a hot dog, themselves! Blech!

After watching the contest, we went back to my apartment. The guys were so... inspired... by what they had seen that they had their own White Castle Eating Contest. The rules were that they had to finish all the White Castle sliders, then chug a beer, and the first one to crush the beer can on his forehead was the winner. My boyfriend won. Then we went on my roof and watched the fireworks coming from South Street Seaport.

Happy Competitive Eating Day, America!