Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest

Todaya is the day. All eyes, especially where it is raining, will be focused on Nathan's Famous 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Contestants and ESPN will meet in Coney Island to see who can claim the Mustard Yellow Belt and $20,000.

The Festivities will begin 12:00pm EST at (where else?) Nathan's Famous Restaurant
at the corner of Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn .
The usual winner, except for last year, Takeru Kobayashi. Kobayashi may only be 160 lbs but, he is a force for the competition. His conquests incoude the following;

		Brats: 58 Johnsonville Brats / Brat Days / 10 Minutes/ Aug. 5, 2006 Cow Brains: 57 (17.7 pounds) / 15 minutes Lobster Rolls: 41 Lobster Rolls in Boston challenge / 10 minutes/Sept. 23, 2006 Rice Balls: 20 pounds rice balls / 30 minutes (photo and info courtesy of international federation of competitive eating)
Kobayashi is a legend in the world of competitive eating. He won the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest six years in a row, until 2007 when Joey Chestnut did what no American had done before. Chestnut dethroned Kobayashi, beating him by three hot dogs and buns--66 to 63. After suffering from a serious jaw injury, the great Kobayashi lost to Pat Bertoletti and Joey Chestnut in the Spike TV MLE Chowdown and was unable to defend his title in the Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship.

Cant be there to witness it?

Tune into ESPN at 12:00pm EST. Actually, knowing ESPN, you'll probably be able to watch it at other times as well, over and over...

The Competition:
Joey "JAWS" Chestnut
Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi
Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti
Tim "Eater X" Janus
Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas
"Humble" Bob Shoudt
Hall "Hoover" Hunt
Tim "Gravy" Brown
Rich "The Locust" LeFevre
"Patrick "Vandam" Vandam
"The Lovely" Juliet Lee
Juris "Dr. Bigtime" Shibayama
Eric "Badlands" Booker
Erik "The Red" Denmark
Arturo Rios "Grande"
Pat "From Moonachie" Philbin
Allen "Shredder" Goldstein
Crazy Legs Conti
"Nasty" Nate Biller
"Pretty Boy" Pete Davekos
"Double-0" Kevin Ross .

Two full minutes would be shaved from regulation time after it was recently revealed that the original competition in 1916 was just 10 minutes long, instead of the 12-minute limit used in more recent years.