Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Sort of Liveblog!

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.

Lost in Onoda Sun Park 小野田サンパーク

Not much exciting happens in Ube (part of the reason I like it here). Even less happens in the next town over, Ono..excuse me, Sanyo-Onoda (山陽小野田). Fun fact: before Onoda merged with Sanyo Ube really wanted to merge with - or, since Ube is bigger than Onoda, eat up - Onoda but the Onoda residents refused.

Anyway, one of the big things to happen in the last month in either city is the re-opening of Onoda Sun Park. Last week Sunday I went to check it out.

I went there by train and promptly got off to a rip roaring start by getting off at the wrong station. Not a problem though. Minami Onoda 南小野田 is only a bit farther to walk than Minami Nakagawa 南中川 and it gave me the opportunity to get some photos of the fun times had by the people driving there:




Someone later told me that they waited an hour to get a parking space. Fun!

I wish I had some pictures of the old Sun Park. Needless to say, the new Sun Park is all shiny and new:




Since it was Sunday, the place was packed (relatively speaking. This is Yamaguchi after all.) Also, it's hard to see from the pictures, but the place is really big (again, Yamaguchi big) and it took ages to walk around to see all the different stores:





One of the big draws at the new Sun Park is that it has the second Starbucks to open in Yamaguchi prefecture (the other being in Shimonoseki):



A couple of other things caught my eye:



I'm not really a pet person but I feel bad for any doggie that gets dressed up as Stitch. I bet the other dogs just pick on them all day long. If you're interested, you can find more things here.

SPAM! I used to have to go to Hiroshima to get SPAM. I actually bought all the cans of SPAM a local supermarket was carrying a couple of years ago.



I also got a kick out of this sign:



SPAM is many things but I wouldn't really call it meat (the sign says スパムミート or SPAM Meat). I tried to explain to some locals what SPAM tasted like one time but when pressed I just couldn't. I bought them cans instead. I didn't even know they sold half-size cans.

I didn't really take many pictures because I was just kind of looking around and didn't want to go Full Metal Gaijin and take all sorts of photos　so maybe next time I go there I will (hopefully when it's less crowded). I mean, it is just a shopping mall. It has a mixture of chain stores (ABC Mart, Comme Ca Ism) and local stores. Still, it's something different so it will probably maintain it's charm for a bit longer. Especially, if there are cans of SPAM available.

Finally, at Minami Nakagawa - the steps to nowhere!

SASUKE MANIAC June 9, 2008 Sort of liveblog! サスケマニア

This week! I have no idea! Something about a race to Tokyo Tower. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Hopefully all these questions will be answered tonight!

Here we go!

Um. OK. Cherry Pie is there. Is that Momomi Yoshino? Moeyan? Who?

Megazone 23! Wait. OK, so a bunch of comediennes have to race through Tokyo's 23 wards and be the first to reach Tokyo Tower. They can spend 10000 yen (about a hundred dollars).

Ippai oppai Cherry pie! I'll let you figure that out for yourself.

The other team is. Um. Well, one of them lost the other. I have no idea who they are. Wait, what the hell are the doing? OK. They need proof of each ward. I have NO IDEA what is going on.

OK. That is Momomi Yoshino. She is part of an owarai idol combi called 相方不在 (Aikatafuzai). Her partner is Sana. OK.

Cherry Pie and Aikatafuzai both have 1 ward each. Cherry Pie decide to ask the police for some help.

On to our third team. Moeyan! They were full body -- update! All three teams have taken pictures in Chiyoda! -- anyway, they wear full body suits (one red and one blue) with the breast area colored "flesh." They've just spend 1500 yen!

Aikatafuzai also ask the police for help. Tokyo Station is in Chiyoda but it's right next to the next ward over, so they don't have to spend any money getting there. Moeyan have realized something! They're off and running! Wait. Aren't they back at the station? Didn't they leave the station? Moeyan have spent 260 yen but they are first to get 2 wards! They are back inside the station now. And they are going to buy all day passes? No idea.

Aikatafuzai is still running through the station (the station is pretty big and confusing.) They find the same map as Moeyan and get their 2nd! But they haven't spent any money yet! Now what? They are going to buy a map? Or are they just going to look at it? OK, they bought it. It cost them 630 yen.

Cherry Pie have also bought a map. It cost them 1089 yen. But they are (unknowingly) still one ward behind. They janken! For what?

All three teams are going in different directions. Cherry Pie (who generally are only wearing bikini tops wear tops in the train) go into Shinagawa. But they are in the wrong place! Is there an order? Ah. Shinagawa Station is in Minato. Not Shinagawa. Is there an order?

Aikatafuzai are on the move! They've got another one!

Moeyan entertain some people! And they've got their third! And their fourth! They are in the lead!

Aikatafuzai have an idea! Certain stations straddle several wards so they can spend money going to one station but get more than one ward each time. They're calling it "the switch back."

CMs.

Indiana Jones! I just finished watching the series on DVD but I have no idea if I'm actually going to see the new movie in the theater or not. It's soo expensive to go to the movies in Japan.

Aikatafuzai are at Akihabara Station! But their original map wasn't doing them any good. So they have to buy a new one! More money spent!

Our current count is Moeyan has four, Aikatafuzai three and Cherry Pie one.

CMs.

DIVE!

Next week! More of the Tokyo race! How long will they be able to stretch this out? Find out next week!

For the record, here are our teams:

相方不在 Aikatafuzai (Momomi Yoshino 吉野ももみ and Sana さな)

モエヤン　Moeyan (池辺愛 Ikeba Ai and 久保いろは Kubo Iroha)

チェリー☆パイ Cherry Pie (かっすん Kassun and みほ Miho)