What's exciting in world competition?

First off, Happy Independence Day to our rowdy neighbours to the south. After my Canada Day blog, it only seems fair to talk about the 4th of July a bit. Today I'm eagerly awaiting news on my favorite competitive event.

I'm excited about an annual international competition that happens every 4th of July in New York. It's the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July international hot dog eating contest. Yes, another IFOCE event. While Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas is competing, all the attention will go to the 5-time defending hot dog champion: Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi. (You gotta love the ominous nicknames these guys have.) Kobayashi has won the coveted Yellow Mustard championship belt many times, and is unquestionably the best competitive eater when it comes to hot dogs. (On that note, it's really difficult to find a photo of a hot dog eating contest that isn't phallic in some way.)
The contest is probably happening right now, and the Americans want to reclaim that Yellow Mustard belt. I mean, they must feel a little silly losing to a skinny Kobayashi year after year. The American press are rallying behind Joey Chestnut as a possible challenger to Kobayashi. I think this is unlikely, since Chestnut recently finished a distant third to Kobayashi in a recent hot dog challenge. Who was second? Sonya Thomas of course!

If you're a gambling man, the odds on this event are 1:3 for Kobayashi, 3:1 for Chestnut, and 21:1 for Sonya Thomas. (Personally, I think they underestimating Sonya Thomas.) The over/under bets are for Kobayashi eating 50 hot dogs, Chestnut eating 47, and Thomas eating 37. I'll tell you now that those numbers are wrong. Here is my prediction: Kobayashi-51, Thomas-43, Chestnut-35.