Last weekend in Austin, Texas the world’s greatest competitive eatingchampion of our time captured yet another record of epic proportions. In the span of just 60 seconds, Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi ,“The Tsunami,” ( consumed 13 grilled cheese sandwiches!!! Yes, you heard me right. His closest competitor in this event downed just four sandwiches over the same time. But this isn’t hot dog eating!
Even Takeru Kobayashi’s competitive eating rival from the US, the legendary Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, has consumed a mere 47 grilled cheeses in 10 minutes… or only about FIVE per minute. Along with Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak and Wayne Gretsky’s 2,857 career points, I guarantee this individual athletic feat will NEVER be broken by any other competitive eater. Really! Who would want to be backed-up for three months with so much cheese anyway?
The 5’-8”, 130-lb. Kobayashi has built his reputation primarily from being a six-time champion of Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, televised by ESPN every 4th of July from the famous Coney Island eatery. Unfortunately due to appearance contract disputes, he hasn’t competed in the last two annual Hot Dog Eating events. Takeru Kobayashi lost his previous world record to Joey Chestnut… who has now won Nathan’s hot dog eating contest every year since 2007. In 2009, Chestnut inhaled a record 68 dogs and buns in 10 minutes in one of sport’s greatest all-time moments. That’s absolutely mind-boggling considering that I feel a little glutinous when asking for my third hot dog during the neighborhood cookout. Let’s hope these two World Eating League (WEL) titans get back together at Coney Island this summer. It’ll be just like Chamberlain battling Russell….only with lots of mustard, relish, and bun-softening drinks!
Even though Takeru Kobayashi may no longer possess the world record for hot dog eating, he does still hold several very impressive WEL achievements. Make sure you’re not on an empty stomach before reviewing these other Kobayashi feats of competitive eating:
• 14 Twinkies in one minute
• 41 lobster rolls in 10 minutes
• 58 brats in 10 minutes
• 64 tacos in 15 minutes
• 20 lbs. of rice balls in 30 minutes, and my personal favorite……
• 17.7 lbs. of cow brains in 15 minutes (why is anybody trying to set records consuming this French delicacy?)
Last month, Takeru Kobayashi won the $20,000 first prize in “Wing Bowl XX” held at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center. In two, 14-minute rounds followed by a 2-minute sprint round, he woofed down an astonishing 337 wings. After waving away on-site medical assistance, he remarked thru an interpreter that “if you brought me 100 more wings right now I could eat them”……..definitely the words of one mean eating machine. You can sense “The Tsunami” is getting back into form for Nathan’s this coming Independence Day. Make sure you tune in for all the gastrointestinal fireworks!
Related articles
- Kobayashi scarfs 13 grilled cheese sandwiches in 60 seconds, has lunch with Greg Jennings (video) (offthebench.nbcsports.com)
- Kobayashi Cuts The Cheese, Record [VIDEO] (wzlx.radio.com)
I still have a hard time with golf and bowling being called sports, and now you through this flyweight female looking Takeru Kobayashi at me as some type of athlete in what… competitive eating? Did the world sports council suddenly declare competitive eating as a sport? If competitive eating is a sport, I’m not buying it! And, I’m not buying this Takeru Kobayashi as an athlete. Jeez… what’s this world coming to?
Now that you’ve reeled in the critical competitive-eating demographic, things will really blow-up now! I can only imagine Wilt’s excitement when you compared his game with “Jaws” Chestnut. Or perhaps you were referring to one of his clashes with Jane Russell?