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NEW YORK - NEW YORK - Controversy abounded in the annual 4th of July International Hot Dog eating contest in New York's Coney Island. Japan's Takeru Kobayashi retained his coveted Mustard belt in his defense by gobbling down 50.5 Franks and buns. American Eric Booker downed 26 dogs to grab second prize.
The controversy occured either late in the contest or after its ending, depending on your point of view. Kobayashi appeared to expel some of his inhaled franks back into the open air. This would have been a instant disqualification IF it occured during the contest. However, the Commissioner of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, Mike Devito, declared the expulsion to be after the time clock had expired and handed the Mustard Yellow Belt back to Kobayashi, therefore retaining his strap for another year. Many spectators and competitors were visibly displeased at the decision of Devito, but in the end only Kobayshi and some Internet gamblers were pleased. Kobayshi for obvious reasons, but why gamblers? It seemed the "morning line" was set for Kobayshi to win by at least 20 weiners and The winner covered the 20 weiner spread.
Kobayashi apparently weighed 113 pounds before the contest, and 120 pounds after. The controversy comes from the fact that spectators saw cheeks ballooned with remnants. George Shea, the President of the IFOCE was quoted as saying "If you suffer a roman-method incident during the contest, it's an immediate DQ." Roman-method refers to vomiting. "My understanding is this not only happened after the contest, but that none of the hot dogs and buns actually hit the table or the floor." Some video footage taken by ESPN showed some hot dog slush did spill through Kobayashi's fingers and pieces of liquid bun spouted out of his nose.
Some of the participants, includiong "Hungry" Charles Hardy, a 5-foot-11, 360-pound New York City corrections officer who had 20 hot dogs, remain visibly distraught, "He should be disqualified, period."
Booker, a 6-foot-5, 400-pound New York City transit conductor said after the match, "I was standing right next to him, but I was too focused on my game. I didn't want to suffer the mistakes I had last year, where I was looking around to see what everyone was doing. It was just me and the dogs."
(Zone81.com - Shawn Heimberger)
