The Nathans Hotdog Eating contest for this July 4th was won by Joey "Jaws" Chestnut of San Jose, Calif., but it was an unofficial holiday hotdog eater that scored the most points with fans this year.
The eating tsunami from Japan is back. Takeru Kobayashi didn't want Nathan's getting all the glory and money from this year's event, so he staged his own simulcast event atop a New York City rooftop. Not only did he break Joey Jaws 2009 record of 68 hotdogs in 10 minutes, he outdid the Nathan's champ by seven hotdogs today to become "Disputed Hotdog Eating Champion of 2011."
It takes a champion like Kobayashi to screw the big business event organizers and maintain his image as a champion of the people. It appears that Nathan's wanted to screw Kobayashi in contract negotiations, so the Tsunami simply went James Brown Soul on Nathan's with an "I'm about ready to get up and do my thang," and did.
Not to take anything away from Joey Jaws, but in upstaging Nathan's with an event of his own, simulcast at the same time as the annual Coney Island 4th of July event, Kobayashi won more than any mustard-yellow belt could ever represent; the Tsunami won street cred!
