Hot Dog Hype

As I am typing up this entry, the front page news at Yahoo.com includes an article entitled ‘Man gobbles down 22 hot dogs in 12 minutes‘:

CRANBURY, N.J. – With sweat pouring down his face, a 42-year-old courier from Moonachie methodically gobbled 22 hot dogs in 12 minutes Friday to win a regional hot-eating competition and a slot at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July eating contest in Coney Island, N.Y.

Pat Philbin, known in the competitive eating circuit as “Pat from Moonachie,” beat 12 veterans and newcomers to competitive eating to be crowned the New Jersey Turnpike Regional Hot-Dog Eating Champion at a highway rest area.

Sound remarkable? Not really, considering the fact that the defending world champion, Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi, has eaten over 44.5 hot dogs in each of his appearances at Coney Island since 2001 (he has won every time since).

Kobayashi is the world’s greatest competitive eater. While significant portions of the world are starving to death, Kobayashi entertains the people of America and Japan by shoving enough hot dogs to feed a North Korean family for a year in only 12 minutes. Just taking a look at this video of Kobayashi eating hot dogs at a previous competion should show you that American fatties like Pat Philbin don’t stand a chance this year.

So, does anybody know where to get a real hot dog in this country?  I’m not talkin’ about those terrible konbini hot dogs, I’m talkin about real hot dogs.