Another reason to be proud to be from California: 22 year old Joe Chestnut from San Jose brings the world hot dog eating record back to America by downing 59 hot dogs in 12 minutes in Phoenix Arizona!

Professional eater Takeru Kobayashi of Japan was the former world record holder, but our boy Joe shattered the previous world record of 53 3/4 set last year at Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hotdog Eating Championship. Joe came in second in that same competition behind Kobayashi with52 hotdogs, but didn't receive half of the media attention reserved for Takeru; I guess no one cares about who finished second in an eating contest.

This recent competition where Joe "no nickname yet" Chestnut bested Takeru "the tsunami" Kobayahsi's record could be a tune up for the match of the century on the Fourth of July, I would look for it on all the major networks. I am not sure how long it takes someone to recover from such an event but I have a feeling that both champions will be up for the title hunt and we can finally see who is the world's greatest glutton.

Chestnut is no rube to the scene of competitive eating, a month ago he was downing hot wings at a competition in New York City. Joe was the first American to eat 50 hotdogs in 12 minutes and also holds the American Record, or AR for short, for eating grilled cheese sandwiches, fried asparagus and waffles.

There are a lot of other Americans on the competitive eating scene like 420 lb Eric "Badlands" Booker who ate 49 glazed donuts in 8 minutes or 130 lb Rich "The Locust" LeFebre who got his start in competitive eating late in life as a hobby he could share with his wife. Even 101lb Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas has an eating record, eleven pounds of cheesecake in 9 minutes.

If you are interested, aside from saying that you are morbid and kind of strange, I would recommend checking out The International Federation of Competitive Eating's website at ifoce.com. You will probably get a kick out of some of these "athletes."

I'm beginning to think that I have a shot in this sort of a sport, I did drink a gallon of milk in 27 minutes and didn't throw up my freshmen year in Corrado's Milk Chug Contest. I think it is time for me to take my talents past the intercollegiate level and into the pros.