Hot Dog! Duo Shoots for Title Tomorrow

With Kobayashi's power waning, East Village pair eyes Nathan's prize
By Paul Stinson,  Newser User
Posted Jul 3, 2008 8:00 PM CDT
Hot Dog! Duo Shoots for Title Tomorrow
Joey Chestnut, center left, and Takeru Kobayashi, center right, face off during the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Competition at Coney Island in New York in this file photo.    (AP Photo)

With Takeru Kobayashi’s hot-dog hegemony in doubt at tomorrow's Coney Island throwdown, the Village Voice accompanies a pair of contenders as they train for the event. Roommates Crazy Legs Conti and Tim Janus hit an all-you-can-eat sushi bar in preparation for Nathan's July 4th institution, the 10-minute contest described by an organizer as "the Master’s of competitive eating."

Initially crossing paths on the corned-beef-and-cabbage circuit, Conti and X live and train together, with the latter holding records in tamales, sushi, ramen, and tiramisu (4 pounds in 6 minutes). While competitive gluttony may give some critics heartburn, X replies that “other sports are just as wasteful. ... NASCAR is wasteful of fuel; golf is wasteful of water and fertilizer." (More competitive eating stories.)

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