For the fourth year in a row Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi, a.k.a. "The Tsunami," won the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest at Coney Island in New York yesterday. Downing 53 and 1/2 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes, Kobayashi beat his prior records and set a new worlds record in the competitive eating field, allowing him to keep his yellow "Mustard Belt" award.<br />
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The patriotic American–and mostly Brooklyn–crowd initially booed the defending champ and gave support to the American big-bellied eaters Eric "Badlands" Booker, "Crazy Legs" Conti and "Hungry" Charles Hardy, but in the end the jeers turned to cheers as the 130 pound "Tsunami" blew past the big guys.<br />
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New York favorite "Badlands"–who managed to consume 27 dogs–said in a later interview with ESPN that with the right training he could beat the world record, and then went on to babble nonsensical and incoherent sentences… an interesting window into the punishment the body takes during the fierce eating contest.<br />
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For the record, "The Tsunami’s" 53 and 1/2 hot dogs and buns comprise 16,531 calories and 1,077 grams of fat.
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