July 5, 2002

9:01 AM

Accusations hurled at hot dog contest!Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi scarfed down 50.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes at Nathan's Famous Fourth of July international hot dog eating contest... but did he keep them all down for long enough? And you thought the National Spelling Bee Championships were intense!
posted by krunk (25 comments total)

What people will do to get their 15 minutes.
posted by dangerman at 9:07 AM on July 5, 2002

"I was standing right next to him, but I was too focused on my game," said Booker, a 6-foot-5, 400-pound New York City transit conductor. "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."

Focusing on the game, already! Gosh, even the language of hot dog gobbling is becoming pretentious.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:10 AM on July 5, 2002

One hot dog AND roll every 14.25 seconds for 12 minutes! According to this article, his weight went from 113 pounds to 129. Has this guy had some weird stomach surgery or something?
posted by quirked at 9:13 AM on July 5, 2002

Linked to here before, I think, but worth pointing out: the Institute of Competitive Eating. And in Philly we're oddly proud of our annual Wing Bowl, which was won this year by a guy who ate 143 buffalo wings in 30 minutes.
posted by luser at 9:16 AM on July 5, 2002

he can really choke down those wieners.
posted by manero at 9:30 AM on July 5, 2002

But in the final seconds, with many of the 20 competitors already satisfied with their effort, Kobayashi's body heaved as his cheeks ballooned with remnants.

I think the article should have been titled "Accusations not the only thing hurled at hot dog contest!"
posted by krunk at 9:30 AM on July 5, 2002

I saw video of this on CNN last night. There was hurl, but nothing came out of his mouth. A little came from his nostril, but it only came after time was called. Kobayashi is a machine.
posted by ColdChef at 9:53 AM on July 5, 2002

I saw a show on the Discovery channel, Gut Busters, that showed the first time Kobayashi won. They illustrated the amount of dogs and buns consumed, by Kobayashi, in a water balloon. Then they talked about how a thinner competitors' stomach can expand more than a heavier competitor because there is less mass to restrict the expansion.
Gut Busters airs again on 7/14.
posted by sailormouth at 9:55 AM on July 5, 2002

...his weight went from 113 pounds to 129

120, not 129, which means the 50.5 hot dogs weighed about 7 lbs as opposed to 16.
posted by jaden at 10:00 AM on July 5, 2002

Wow. Take a look at some of the other records. Four 32 oz. bowls of mayonnaise in 8 minutes? 57 cow brains in 15 minutes?
posted by Gilbert at 10:02 AM on July 5, 2002

57 cow brains in 15 minutes?
The war on Mad Cow Disease has been lost.

...and pieces of liquid bun spouted out of his nose
This is really, really, gross
posted by matteo at 10:14 AM on July 5, 2002

I'm fasinated by competitive eating.
posted by corpse at 10:16 AM on July 5, 2002

I'm fascinated by competitve interior decorateing. Iron Decorator on HGTV.
posted by stbalbach at 10:27 AM on July 5, 2002

there was a great article about fox's glutton bowl in one of this year's issues of giant robot (issue #24, spring 2002). the author wrote at length about kobayashi and his technique, but what was exceedingly wonderful were the photos they snapped after the competition of kobayashi's belly -- it honestly looked like a cartoon character had eaten a football.

sadly, this image is nowhere to be found on the web.

also: this. (ok, i can't read it, but i like where it says : "Start of Japanese Domination")
posted by fishfucker at 10:31 AM on July 5, 2002

Kobayashi is a machine.

There was a lawyer...
posted by adampsyche at 10:38 AM on July 5, 2002

Kobayashi is the great grandson of Admiral Yamamoto and he is subsidised by the Japanese government to the tune of $150,000 yearly. It's therefore obvious that we have no choice but to invade Japan with a four-pronged attack.
posted by Mack Twain at 10:59 AM on July 5, 2002

It's therefore obvious that we have no choice but to invade Japan with a four-pronged attack.

Surely, millions (of Americans) will die unless we firebomb their capital and rain nuclear fire upon their civilians.

ESPN has been all over this today, I had no idea that an eating contest was a sport...
posted by insomnyuk at 12:08 PM on July 5, 2002

Then they talked about how a thinner competitors' stomach can expand more than a heavier competitor because there is less mass to restrict the expansion.

If you paid much attention to the program, that was the theory assumed by the other competitors, but scientists dismissed it with no hesitation. Be wary of what information you spread.
posted by Mach3avelli at 12:18 PM on July 5, 2002

Oh yeah, and the reason he performs so well is becuase he doesn't waste time chewing. He just bites into small chunks and swallows.
posted by Mach3avelli at 12:20 PM on July 5, 2002

I'll bet he can fill a normal-sized toilet bowl in one sitting.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:05 PM on July 5, 2002

I think he must have gone from 113 to 129lb (16lb) increase as opposed to 113 to 120(7lb).
Multiply each by 16 to get the number of ounces:
16*16=256oz.
7*16=112oz.
Then divide each by 50(actually 50.5 hot dogs) to get the weight of each dog and bun. This yields:
256/50 = 5.1 oz.
112/50 = 2.2 oz.
I'm no expert but 2.2 oz. seems too light for a hot dog and bun. ergo it must have been 5.1oz. for the pair and his weight must have increased 16lb.
posted by nasim at 4:02 PM on July 5, 2002

That article features my new favorite euphemism for vomiting: "a roman-method incident."
posted by litlnemo at 7:03 PM on July 5, 2002

*urp*
posted by the_ill_gino at 9:37 PM on July 5, 2002

'm no expert but 2.2 oz. seems too light for a hot dog and bun.

Usually in these competitions (i didnt see this one) they dip the buns in water so they're easier to eat. Now you have to factor in how much water the bun retains.
posted by skallas at 5:33 AM on July 6, 2002

I'm no expert but 2.2 oz. seems too light for a hot dog and bun.

I'm no expert either, but google is.

Beef hot dog with bun (2 ounce hot dog and bun)

I also found out the packages of hot dogs can be 10 or 12 ounces. So it looks like the original amount still stands.
posted by jaden at 11:38 AM on July 6, 2002