It would be nicer to donate the hotdogs to a foodbank, but you know what would make a bigger impact? Disbanding all the football clubs in the world, selling the equipment and real estate, and donating those proceeds to charity! Everybody's quick to pick on something they don't enjoy watching, but if that kind of standard was imposed on all games and sports, there would be no games or sports at all.

And if we "devoted a fraction of the resources expended for that ridiculous waste of time..." I would imagine you would have just ended up donating several hundred hotdogs to "solve the world's hunger problems". Not quite enough there.

Jay, Birmingham,

Yes Jennifer, Kobayashi is known as an eating guru all over Japan with much respect for him and what he does...and who are you? Jennifer the comment poster from denver.

people like you don't seem to stop until the entire world is middle class and boring!

slick rick, Oxford, UK

No pride needed to have been restored.

Mark, Washington, DC

hey Jen, do you think they took down the towers because we are all over weight? If that was the case, how come Japan hasn't been attacked since Kobyashi (The 6 time champion) is from Japan.

God Bless Joey Chestnut and his grand victory of the mustard belt! After 6 long years, i can finally eat a hot dog again!!!!

John, Orange, CT

Good to hear someone stating the facts. Good on you Jennifer

Feroz, Dubai UAE,

Blah, blah, blah, Jennifer.

I'm sure you never perform anything of "hollow value." You consume like everyone else. Hey, an eating contest uses far fewer resources than a NASCAR race or any pro team sport, what with their cavernous stadiums that need to be heated/cooled and filled with overpriced sodas to purchase.

It's just an extension of age-old county fair competition, and I'm certain you'd find similar contests in cultures worldwide, at least historically. It's not as if the 66 hot dogs Joey Chestnut ate were going to be otherwise used to feed malnourished children abroad.

Give these eaters credit; what they do is a lot harder than swinging a wooden bat.

Will, Cambridge, MD

This was amazing. I hope now competitive eating gets the respect and recognition that it deserves. Maybe Jacques Rogge will finally allow eating into the Olympics.
But what a contest - Kobayashi the 6-time champion, the Lance Armstrong of the competitive eating world! Taken down by Joey Chestnut, the young student from San Jose, California, and winning the mustard yellow belt back for the USA on the proudest of days: the fourth of July!
And yes - some of you will balk at the gluttony of it all, especially with thousands dying of hunger. They donate to hunger charities, offsetting the gluttony in order to help those less fortunate.
Why don't the UK do events like this? Joey Chestnut - We salute you!

Paul Parry, London, UK

Just don't stand behind the winner

Jim VanFleet, LAS VEGAS, wa

Although this is a traditional American event, wouldn't be nicer for Nathan's to donate all these hotdogs to a food bank?

Kim Righetti, Upland, California USA

Jennifer. Lighten the Hell up. And if "The Terrorists" you speak of are hung up on how some gluttons decide to spend their fourth of July...who the Hell cares.

Popo, washington, DC

So how did Joey "Block the Drains" Chestnut celebrate his victory?

Andrew Milner, Yokohama, Kanagawa

"The Terrorists" don't hate our freedoms--they hate what we do with them. They hate our gluttony, our greed, our arrogance, and our glorification of hollow values. Competitive EATING? This is a sport?!? One wishes that as a society, we would devote a fraction of the resources expended for that ridiculous waste of time to solving the world's hunger problems.

Jennifer, Denver, CO

i believe now after 6 years i as an american can look in to the mirror and finally beable to say iam an american who now has his hotdog pride back again.ya..ya..

mel, portland, oregon