Koshinuke!

I woke up this morning in the god-awful city of Schenctady, NY and happened to catch the morning SportsCenter. To my dismay, they reported that legendary hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi is listed as day-to-day for next week's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition on Coney Island with a sore jaw. This is terrible news! Not only do I love watching Kobayashi scarf down upwards of 50 hot dogs every July 4th, but this year had the makings of an instant classic. For those of you not up to speed on the world of competitive eating, American Joey Chestnut broke Kobayashi's world hot dog eating record in a qualifier for this event. Chestnut has finished second to Kobayashi a couple times, always finishing a few dogs short. Thus, we had what was shaping up as a Weiner eat-off for the ages...6-time defending champion Kobayashi versus World Record holder Joey Chestnut. There seem to be two common schools of thought regarding Kobayashi's jaw "injury". Apparently, his jaw is "sore" and he cannot open it wide enough to eat hot dogs. Thus, a great debate has emerged among experts in the sport. On one hand are those who believe Kobayashi's injury to be legit. Among those experts are Dick Vitale and Barry Melrose, who feel that Kobayashi would do everything in his power to defend his title. On the other hand are those who feel Kobayashi is afraid of Mr. Chestnut and doesn't want to be beaten by this young upstart. This view is supported by none other than John "I like Chestnut because I only have one Chestnut" Kruk. Personally, I have to side with Mr. Kruk on this one. I have never tried competitive eating, but I know that one doesn't have to open their jaw very much to eat a hot dog. The tough part about eating hot dogs comes in the digestive system. If you don't believe me, ask Chubbs. However, I think Kobayashi is just too afraid of Chestnut and thus doesn't want to be embarrassed by an American on the Fourth of July. Regardless of the validity of Kobayashi's injury, I hope to see him out there on Coney Island battling with Joey Chestnut. It could be an eating competition for the ages.