'The Fridge' in hot dog eating contest
The highlight of the July Fourth holiday will not be tonight's fireworks. It will be at 11 a.m. today on ESPN.
The national hot dog eating contest will be held at New York's Coney Island.
Among this year's contestants are former Chicago Bears defensive lineman William "The Refrigerator" Perry, above, who earned a spot in June by eating 12 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes to qualify.
"Most of his colleagues are spending time doing other endeavors that are not in the sporting world," said Rich Shea, president of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, which sanctions the hot dog eating contest. "It has to be joy for him to be back in the sports arena. After all, this is the Super Bowl of competitive eating."
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To be frank, Perry will have his work cut out for him to win the title.
Two-time defending champion Takeru Kobayashi of Japan won last year's competition with a record 50.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes, setting a world record. He weighs in at 130 pounds.
Counterintuitively, thin guys can eat more than fat guys because they don't have layers of fat limiting the expansion of their stomachs.
There will be 20 contestants -- 19 regional winners and one wild-card entry.
The Rail is relishing to see this event. We'll see who can cut the mustard and if any of the other contestants can ketchup with the Japanese muncher.
Welcome to the brain-eating trust
Kobayashi isn't just a master of eating hot dogs -- he also likes to devour cow brains.
On Feb. 12, 2002, Takeru wrote another chapter in the eating record books by slurping down 57 cow brains in 10 minutes. That's almost 18 pounds of brain.
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For his sake, let's hope none of those bovines were of the mad cow variety.
Other eating records
- Beef tongue: Dominic Cardo ate 3 pounds 3 ounces in 12 minutes.
- Butter: Don Lerman ate seven quarter-pound sticks of salted butter in five minutes.
- Doughnuts: Eric Booker ate 49 glazed in eight minutes.
- Hamburgers: Lerman at 11¼ quarter-pound burgers in 12 minutes.
- Jalapenos: Jed Donahue ate 152 in 15 minutes.
- Jell-O: Steve Lakind ate seven 16-ounce portions in three minutes.
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- Mayonnaise: Oleg Zhornitskly ate four 32-ounce bowls in eight minutes.
Source: www.ifoce.com
To contact The Rail, send an e-mail to features editor Dean Rhodes at drhodes@forumcomm.com or click on Valley R&R at In-Forum.com
Today's best bet
Fourth of July Celebration,
1 to 10:30 p.m., music, food, games and fireworks.
MSUM campus, Moorhead
