These are a bunch of folks who decided that not only are they going to embrace a diet rich in carbs and saturated fats, ........ but will in fact make a sport out of it. After all, why be a healthy nobody when you can be a famous food eating fiend, a pie eating professor, a dog eating 'Don', a gastrointestinal genius?!
That being said, this year's competition had all the drama and intrigue of any great sporting event ! ...The defending champion Joey Chestnut versus Takeru Kobayashi.
For nearly 6 years the mere 110lb. Kobayashi absolutely owned the event , eating 50 to 60 hot dogs in 12 minutes... an accomplishment that Oprah has called ....... "just an ordinary brunch for me!" ..... Although when Oprah does it, her buns are 3 times the size. ........ You can interpret that ANY way you want. 
The event lived up to all the the hype. .... It was virtually neck and neck all the way to the end, even going in to overtime. ......
Joey Chestnut prevailed---- 59 hot dogs in regulation and 5 dogs in OT.
,
( It's strange how they call the initial 10 minute period ...'REGULATION'...... Why one would call 10 minutes of wanton , meat squirting, bread and saliva oozing, flotsam and jetsam squirting, gluttony, 'REGULATION' is beyond me.)
The post game interviews were quite interesting. It went something like this :
Reporter : So Kobayashi, what went wrong ?
Kobayashi :
Reporter : Joey, Take us moment by moment, second by second through your incredible performance.
Joey :
I think next year I will enter the 2009 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition. Let me go practice:
That was a huge mistake ! ........ This was not the calorie burning machine that I expected. It was more like a leg swing,...... a thigh hammock, .... a 'restless leg syndrome' come to life.
.. All those are no brainers !! ..........What does 'The Gazelle' train one for ???
