Defending Champion Joey Chestnut Wins his 11th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

Joey Chestnut set another world record yesterday when he ate 74 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win his 11th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest - a 4th of July staple event!  It wasn't without drama, though.  Even though he beat his nearest competitor by 10 hot dogs, the scorekeepers got it wrong - big time.  The actual count was underreported as 64 hot dogs instead of the correct, record-breaking, total of 74 dogs (and the runner up's total was also incorrectly underreported).

Thankfully, post-contest review corrected the totals!  But, for those of us watching it live on ESPN, we'd have to wait for the taped replay later that afternoon.  ESPN cut away immediately after the event and went to its next scheduled program - without waiting for the correction.  That was pretty lame - and a real disservice to the viewers.  Fortunately, the 4 PM rebroadcast (and subsequent ones) included the extra footage covering the mini-tempest.

Let's see if the scoring system is changed/modernized for the 2019 edition?!

joey chestnut defeated by matt stonie at nathan's hot dog eating contest

the Nathan's annual hot dog eating contest is a regular part of my 4th of July -- and watching joey chestnut win it was almost an automatic bet... until today!!  Instead of garnering his ninth consecutive mustard belt, he lost to matt stonie by 2 hot dogs (60-62)!  stonie, no newcomer to hot dog eating (he took second place to joey last summer) - at one more hot dog than chestnut did last year, while joey was one short of the 61 he ate in 2013.  neither one came close to joey's all time best - 69 hot dogs.  that record may stand for a few more years!

i last posted about this annual event back in 2009 - it was joey chestnut's 3 mustard belt that year (and he downed 68 dogs).  now we have a great re-match to look forward to in 2016!!  it will be even more fantastic if kobayashi got back into the mix!!