.jpg)
I wasn't planning on doing this but since I'm up (it's 1 AM here in the U.B.E.) and I found a way to watch, I'll do a truncated liveblog.
I had some computer problems with my computer so I missed a couple of minutes. I did catch the narrator absolutely brutalize Kobayashi's name a couple of times.
Did one of the announcers actually refer to Chestnut's win as a great moment in American sports? Oh my.
You can read other (and definitely better) liveblogs at Eatfeats
, AOL Fanhouse and FanIQ.
I'm not doing a good job of liveblogging here.
CMs.
I'll crib a list from Eatfeats:
Joey "Jaws" Chestnut
Takeru Kobayashi
Tim "Eater X" Janus
Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti
Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas
"Humble" Bob Shoudt
Hall "Hoover" Hunt
Tim "Gravy" Brown
Rich "The Locust" LeFevre
Patrick Vandam
Juliet Lee
Juris "Dr. Bigtime" Shibayama
Eric "Badlands" Booker
Erik "The Red" Denmark
Allen "Shredder" Goldstein
"The Natural" Arturo Rios, Jr.
Pat "from Moonachie" Philbin
Crazy Legs Conti
"Nasty" Nathan Biller
Peter "Pretty Boy" Davekos
Kevin Ross
They go to Japan to visit the doctor who has been treating Kobayashi and ESPN uses these awful sounding voice-overs. Just use subtitles next time guys.
Earlier the announcers referred to the contest's change from 12 minutes to 10 minutes (which is "supported" by some found documents) and compared to other sports rule changes. Now they've just referred to the Chestnut/Kobayashi rematch and compared it to other great sports rematches. Then they compared Kobayashi to Muhammad Ali. What?
Right now they are introducing the competitors. The announcers note that the costuming has been kicked up a notch this year.
I also want to punch the announcers in the face really hard to make them shut up right now.
The Gothamist is also doing a liveblog.
I'm not up on my competitive eaters so I can't really comment on who is who. Like everyone else, the announcers mention Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti as being the dark horse.
The last two competitors introduced are Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut.
The favorites according to ESPN are Chestnut, Kobayashi, Tim Janus, Bertoletti and Sonya Thomas.
ESPN really really wants Joey Chestnut to trash talk.
"The eating begins!"
Kobayashi and Chestnut are right next to each other.
Janus us in the early lead.
No sense trying to keep track until the last few minutes.
Chestnut is in the lead!
Bob Shoudt is ahead of Kobayashi at this point. Now Kobayashi is one back of Chestnut.
Shot of Crazy Legs moving around to get the hot dogs down.
Juliet Lee looks relatively ladylike in her eating.
The USA chants start which, if you think about it, means that crowd is cheering for everyone EXCEPT Kobayashi.
Three minutes have gone by. The announcer drops in a Madonna/A-Rod comment.
Chestnut is still in the lead by about three.
Almost to the half-way point.
About six minutes left and Chestnut and Kobayashi are dead even.
Did Kobayashi take the lead just now?
Everyone else is fighting for third. Kobayashi does take the lead!
Apparently they can eat and eat very quickly according to the color guy. No duh, buddy.
Kobayashi has a one dog lead.
Now the lead is going back and forth.
SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP.
Damn the announcer is annoying.
Kobayashi is in the lead with 51 but Chestnut immediately catches him.
I can't see the timer so I have to just kind of guess.
One minute left! Kobayashi in the lead with two dogs!
Kobayashi takes a glance at Chestnut!
Man, the other people don't even matter at this point.
One dog difference!
SHUT UP!
The final fifteen seconds!
TIME!
Wait a minute. It's going to be a photo finish.
The signs say Kobayashi 58, Chestnut 59.
Wait, now the signs are 59 each.
A complete tie! Sudden death?
Five dog eat-off!
Oh wow.
Never before has this happened!
First one to eat the five is the winner!
GO!
Joey is in the lead.
Now they are matched.
The last dog!
Joey is first one to finish!
That's it!
Joey Chestnut is the winner!
Chestnut takes down Kobayashi again!
Well, that was interesting.
Will Kobayashi be back? "Of course."
This year, no controversy. No disputed reversal, no injury. Joey now goes beyond the "Great White Hope" stage of Nathan's and can now proclaim himself as a TRUE AMERICAN HERO.
I'll try to look for official stats and whatnot later. In the meantime, here's the wikipedia entry which already has this year's results up.
