Amazing People

Perhaps an overlooked Forth of July tradition is the Coney Island Hot Dog eating contest.

The hot dog eating circuit is currently being dominated by a small Japanese man named Takeru Kobayashi (see picture, on right), who won for the fifth straight year. He is the world record holder for hot dogs and other types of speed eating contests. Last Monday, he "gobbling a nauseating 49 dogs in 12 minutes - but missing his own world record of 53 1/2, set at last year's July Fourth competition." Also, consider that Kobayashi stands 5 feet 7 inches and weighs just 144 pounds.

He has an up and coming competitor in an American woman.

The runner-up was Sonya Thomas of Alexandria, Va. (see picture, on left) - known as The Black Widow on the competitive-eating circuit - who set an American record by downing 37 hot dogs in the same 12 minutes.

Yes, there is a competitive eating circuit.

Thomas, who weighs a remarkable 105 pounds, is a rising speed-eating star. Last December in Atlantic City, N.J., she finished off 89 meatballs - about six pounds' worth - in 12 minutes. And in August, she captured a lobster-eating contest in Maine by consuming 38 of the creatures in 12 minutes.

I actually caught one of these contests on ESPN, and saw where they televised this year's competition. It is an amazing site to see. Most of these people are quite petite. Only a few lard asses. It is amazing to watch them work.