America's Pride Restored

So with the Round 3 results of the last two days in Venezuela, the U.S. Soccer team has been officially eliminated from Copa America. Sorry, but the U.S. vs. Colombia match tonight is relatively meaningless.

But don't fret fellow Americans. Joey "Jaws" Chestnut brought the back the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Championship yesterday, finally ending Takeru Kobayashi's 5 year reign atop the sport. Not only did Jaws take down Kobayashi, he shattered his previous world record at Nathan's of 53.5 HDB's, burying a total of 66 HDB's!!

According to Sportsbook.com, Chestnut was actually the favorite in the event at 10:13 odds (Koby was an even 1:1). Many had thought that Chestnut, who had a 1.5 HDB lead late last year, choked by not finishing off Koby when he had him on the ropes. In another event last month, Jaws actually downed 59.5 HDB's, so perhaps his role as the favorite were justified.

Major props to Koby for battling injuries, and even competing in the event. He'd just recently had a wisdom tooth extracted, and was experiencing pain in his jaw days leading up to the Championship. The proud champ battled Chestnut to the end, even bettering his previous career best (and previous world record) with 63 HDB's.

There are rumors that Koby appeared to puke up some dog / bun at the end, which would've disqualified him, but the experienced veteran was able to gather himself, and swallow anything that may have otherwise been regurgitated.

This is probably the best programming ESPN has done since NCAA Championship week earlier this March. Here's the last 5 minutes (I'm still looking for guerrilla footage of the supposed puking, which ESPN couldn't show on air)...