competition I can get excited about. sort of. err...

"If (Kobayashi) doesn't improve himself, he's going to lose,"

"There's physiology in this for sure, but a lot of it is mental,"

"It's just about how bad do you want it and how far you're willing to push yourself,"

"'ESPN will broadcast the competition for the third year in a row live Tuesday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT. The first two broadcasts drew more than 700,000 households,' channel spokesman Nate Smeltz says."

Now guess what "sport" those comments are about:

Competitive eating.

More specifically, competitive hot dog eating. I kid not. According to USA today, "Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, N.Y. — the Super Bowl of competitive eating" happens tomorrow - and America squares off against the world champ, Japan's Takeru Kobayashi.

We just can't beat the guy. He's held us off for the last five years. Our only hope is Joey Chestnut (who holds all sorts of world records for grilled cheese sandwich, rib and hot wing-eating), but even Joey admits that to even "come close" would be victory enough - 144 lb Kobayashi just keeps eating more wieners than anyone else in the world.

"........."

There's apparently an International Federation of Competitive eating. Interestingly, the less-sumo-than-you'd-guess members of the federation are increasingly "sporty." This year's competitors are younger and thinner - yes, thinner - than eaters in the past - ESPN broadcasts the eat-off for the third year running. Personally, I'm not sure why anyone would want to watch the World Cup when you can watch a skinny Japanese guy shovel 50 hot dogs down his throat...