In the front row having an awesome time.
Living in New York City for the summer I was fortunate enough to see one of the most beautiful Fourth of July spectacles in the Country. The Nathans Fourth of July Hotdog eating contest. For those of you who are not aware Nathans is a world famous Coney Island which has been on the corner of Surf and Stillwell serving hotdogs for years. Every year on the 4th of July they have a hotdog-eating contest that brings out the best eating competitors in the world. However the real and only story is the battle between Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut. Kobayashi who has won the contest easily for seven or so years was de-throne last year by Chestnut. Reports say he had a jaw injury so this year was being talked up like it was Ali Fraser II. Also they lowered the time limit from 12 min to 10, this was going to be a factor in favor of Chestnut as he starts of big and Kobayashi tends to end strong.
A break in the action and let me tell you my cool story about my day there. I wanted to bring my big camera down their in hopes to get some cool photos for the blog. So I woke up early at about 8 and met my friend Kevin who would be joining me for the day. It takes about one hour on the subway to get to Coney Island from where my apt is. Not a bad train ride if the sub is not packed. We left so early because we wanted to get as close as we could to have good spots. However upon our arrival merely 2 hours before the show begins it was already packed. I have certain techniques that I have learned that I use to get into events or places with my camera that normally I would not be aloud access to. I was hoping to put those to the test there. Once getting there I went into sneaky mode and successfully attained a media pass for the contest. On top of that I was also able to acquire a VIP pass for my friend Kevin. So already the day was going very well. I shot like crazy in the just 3 hours we were there and was very satisfied after I was all done. Although a lot of the photos you see below are some of the best I had a hard time editing, really what problem every photographer loves to have. Accordingly I didn’t want to put everything up here so if you like what you see and want to see more get with me I have a ton.
So Chestnut and Kobayashi ended up in a tie at the end of the 10 minutes with both eating an astounding 59 hotdogs (YES I know 59 hotdogs with the buns in 10 MINS). So in the first time in the contests history the contest went into a 5 dog first one done wins overtime. In the end Chestnut pulled out the W keeping the title and the mustard colored belt in the USA for a second consecutive year. I believe the photos tell the story and I had an amazing time there. So many years have I bet on this with my older brother Tom and to finally see history in the making in person was an awesome 4 of July experience.
Whelp less than A MONTH to go here in NYC then its back home to chill for a lil bit. Then on my birthday I will be seeing an AMAZING concert with a bunch of the guys and then the very next day, very early I have to drive to Petoskey MI for Camp Quality. One month left in NYC and I am surely feeling the money pinch. I want to leave with some money because I have so much to pay for once I get back to school. However I don’t want to short change myself for my last month. I truly feel I have really pushed myself to get out there and explore the city and I am very happy about that. So one month left keep coming back for updates and I will try to keep the blog as fresh as possible.
CYA BYE
PS
The most coveted award in all of Major League Eating, the mustard colored bet!
He is a machine
The Tsunami
Thought this one was really cool.
This is George, he is the MC for the event and he truly is the heart and soul of the Nathans Hot-dog eating contest. Basically he does a lot of shtick in between and before the contest, "hes a hype man".
Pat Berttoliti "SP" was one of the main contenders, he used koolaid to get his buns wet to consume them easier. I got some on my shirt i was mad.
There was one part where Kobi had taken the lead and Chestnut looked over and knew he had to turn up the heat. He went nuts and came from 2 and a half down to tie it up in the last secs.
History in the making the first time ever the contest went into a five dog over time and Chestnut pulled it out in a photo finish.
There can only be one! USA USA USA!!!
All photos property of Patrick Siller
Ok thats all for now I am tired of uploading hope you like them.
