Bay Area Sports Blogging

That familiar sizzle of meat hitting a smoking hot grill.  The weather starting to warm up.  A bunch of damn kids running around the streets.  That means summer time!  And what is summer time without the annual Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest at Coney Island in New York.

This will be the 93rd Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest.  Joey Chestnut will be there defending his mustard belt while former six time winner Takeru Kobayashi will be gunning for the championship.  Also competing at the event is Pat Bertoletti and Sonya Thomas.

In 2007, Chestnut did the unthinkable by upseting the heavily favored Kobayashi. Chestnut did it by setting a new world record: 66 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. There was some talk of Kobayashi having a fatigued jaw, and that Kobayashi wasn't at 100%.  This year, there has been no reports of any injuries.  Both competitors will be at full strength.  I am picking local fan favorite, Joey Chestnut, to win the competition.

The hot dog eating contest will be shown on ESPN at 12 noon EST on Friday, July 4th. This means West Coast viewers will need to wake up at 9 AM to watch the action. Those without cable or satelite TV can also get in on the action by tuning in at ESPN360.com Friday morning.  Hell, even if you have cable TV, you might want to check out the ESPN360.com broadcast.  It'll likely be in High Def and with less commerical breaks.