I know this may sound ridiculous, but watching Joey Chestnut beat Kobayashi in overtime at the Nathan's hot dog eating contest was one of the more exciting things I've seen in a while. Hey, there's not a lot going on during the summer months, ok.

Anyway, Chestnut started out dominating the contest in regulation, but Kobayashi caught up to him, passed him, and Chestnut had to scramble to tie it up.

Chestnut then dominated the 5-dog overtime period. All told, Chestnut ate 64 dogs today. 59 in regulation, 5 in OT. That's ridiculous.

The good news is that the Nathan's mustard yellow belt of glory will remain in the US for another year thanks to Chestnut. Now get out there and enjoy the 4th of July.

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Following the colossal success of last year's Nathan's hot dog eating contest live thread, we're back to do it again. Face it, there's nothing better you could be doing right now. Watching grown men and women try eat as much highly-processed meat as possible is much more entertaining than your family and friends.

Last year, Joey Chestnut, American Hero, took back the mustard belt from Takeru Kobayashi of Japan by eating 66 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes? Will Chestnut repeat as champion? Will Kobayashi regain the title he held for so many years prior? Will someone choke to death on a hot dog? The drama will unfold at high noon Eastern on ESPN.

While many people have been talking about how technology is making swimming world records obsolete, nobody is talking about how hot dog eating world records are becoming obsolete. In 1991, Frank Dellarosa at 21.5 hot dogs to set a new world record. Kazutoyo "The Rabbit" Arai ate just over 25 in 2000. Just 7 years later, Joey Chestnut set the latest bar at 66. Imagine if someone had followed up Roger Bannister's 4 minute mile just a few years later by running a 2 minute mile, and you have some idea of just how this record has fallen.

Bodog has the following odds listed for the event:

Joey Chestnut 5/7
Takeru Kobayashi 11/10
Field 13/4

For those curious about who they get with those 13/4 odds, here is the complete field, courtesy of the International Federation of Competitive Eating:

Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti
Tim "Eater X" Janus
Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas
"Humble" Bob Shoudt
Hall "Hoover" Hunt
Tim "Gravy" Brown
Rich "The Locust" LeFevre
"Patrick "Vandam" Vandam
"The Lovely" Juliet Lee
Juris "Dr. Bigtime" Shibayama
Eric "Badlands" Booker
Erik "The Red" Denmark
Arturo Rios "Grande"
Pat "From Moonachie" Philbin
Allen "Shredder" Goldstein
Crazy Legs Conti
"Nasty" Nate Biller
"Pretty Boy" Pete Davekos
"Double-0" Kevin Ross

As for me, my hypothetical money is on Chestnut. Any other pick on this day would be un-American.

The lineup is set. The hot dogs are cooked. You've got nothing better to do. Let's get this live thread started!