Tomorrow there will be no historic showdown between Kobayashi and Chestnut. Much like a reflection of the failings of America recently, tomorrow marks a sad independence day.
Instead a corporation who requires an exclusive 1 year contract, including complete control over all media appearances, and eating contests you enter, will bar a lone hero, Takeru Kobayashi, from competing in a long honored Coney Island tradition.
We live in a time when the spirit of the Mustard Yellow Belt has been corporatized and the person who turned it into a nationwide sensation no longer is allowed to be a part of it.
It will be no day to celebrate for me.
Takeru Kobayashi will be competing far away from Coney Island, probably with no television crew, but I will celebrate his spirit, the spirit of a true man, more reflective of the true American spirit that has been slaughtered. Chestnut, and the MLE corporation putting on the event in Coney island is a sham, a disgrace to America.
Silently... I will whisper Let Him Eat... and he will eat at the real hot dog eating contest, which isn't about crowds, fake corporate titles, but about a man with honor who will push through anything.
On July 04 2011 11:10 TadH wrote: wait, so why was he arrested?
He didnt have a contract to be there or something if i remember correctly. See all these people or at least the ones that specifically follow the contests sign contract agreements with the people who throw the eating contests.
It happened last year, but there was a lot less awareness about it. Hence kobayashi protesting by charging the stage and getting arrested to bring attention to the fact he wanted to eat
MLE the corporation that bought out the 4th of july event, declared he had retired and wouldnt be competing. Despite the fact he wanted to but in order to do so it meant he gave MLE complete control over his appearances/competitive eating events he could enter for a year.
It's pretty retarded considering Kobayashi did it for free for 8 years while nathans/espn organizers raked in all the money
That's retarded. I wouldn't even know that competitive eating exists if it weren't for him and I'm sure that's true for a good portion of the public.
It's like if MLG banned Boxer from participating because their sponsors decides Boxer is retired. Pretty retarded imo. Doesn't matter if he hasn't been winning. He's still one of, if not the most famous/influential eaters out there.
On July 04 2011 13:21 imDerek wrote: that is too bad i just moved ro nyc this year hoping to see him eat !!
There is a bar hosting kobayashi and he will still do the contest, just not officialy
On the Fourth, when the Coney Island eaters start gobbling their dogs, Kobayashi plans to stuff his face at 230 Fifth Ave. — near a giant plasma TV airing the Nathan's event live.
also
If the six-time champion can eat more hot dogs than the crowned winner at the Coney Island event this Fourth of July, thus making him the "would be" champion for his seventh title, Jose Cuervo has offered him an all expenses paid trip to its historic Tequila distillery, La Rojena, located in the heart of Mexico's Tequila region. In addition, Cuervo will immortalize him with a customized bottle of Especial Gold that dons his image on the label.
This one event was kind of the unofficial world championship of competitive eating and it is ruined by it not being an open event. Hopefully enough awareness is raised by Kobayashi's boycott that the event starts to lose its prestige and have no choice but to return it to an open event.
Aww, that's too bad. I remember watching Kobayashi a few years ago and quickly became a fan (I guess, I don't really follow competitive eating but I cheered for him whenever I saw it on TV).
On July 04 2011 12:08 Zooper31 wrote: It's absurd you need to sign a contract to a company giving them complete control over your for a year just to enter a freagin hot dog contest.
Anyway. The winner of this competition is going to have an asterisk next to their name because the real champion wasn't allowed to attend.
Kobayahsi hasn't been champion since 2007. He lost 3 years in a row to Chestnut before Major League Eating wouldn't let him compete. We'll see how many hot dogs he can eat this year, but the guy is certainly not the favorite.
Lol sorry but that arrest video is funny people screaming USA while a competitor is arrested because he's not signing a contract. Hopefully he will be allowed to compete i find it bullshit from the info i've read so far.
What kind of contract disallows you from eating hot dogs. If anything, they should sponsor him to wear a company shirt or something.
If he can't be at the competition, he should stream himself eating hot dogs at the same time as Coney Island and compete from home (or wherever he is).
The contract issue is because Major League Eating has taken over the competition and, in order to compete for them, you have to sign an exclusivity contract. It is the same way that KESPA controls BW progamers and the NFL controls its football players.
I can't stop laughing. There was a line by the announcer saying that if Chestnut wins it'll be his 5th title, making him the Bjorn Borg of the smorgasbord.
On July 05 2011 02:49 LoveXPn wrote: Apparently Koba ate 69 breaking the world record. Too bad it wasn't Official.
I've heard that it's fake.
How do you mean? Like they lied about the number he ate or the hot dogs that he ate were different or smaller? I agree that it can't be considered a world record since there are unknown variables.
Even if there are those who call it a farce, I will be one of those who believe it to be true. Although an unofficial record of 69 hotdogs by Takeru Kobayashi, it is still a great feat in 10 minutes, beating this year's record of 62 hotdogs by Joey Chestnut.
I don't applaud Kobayashi for the volume of food he can eat, I applaud him for not getting sick of the taste of purely hot dogs after the first half dozen @_@. I could probably eat like 5 hotdogs, or 3-4 hotdogs and 3-4 pieces of pizzas because I would find myself getting sick from the taste before my stomache gets full.
On July 04 2011 12:39 Ryuu314 wrote: That's retarded. I wouldn't even know that competitive eating exists if it weren't for him and I'm sure that's true for a good portion of the public.
It's like if MLG banned Boxer from participating because their sponsors decides Boxer is retired. Pretty retarded imo. Doesn't matter if he hasn't been winning. He's still one of, if not the most famous/influential eaters out there.
To be fair MLG does control their halo players, they can't enter other events on those weekends if they want to be an mlg sponsored player. Of course, there are no other halo events -_-, so these contracts are not really around anymore as far as I know. They have never barred someone from an event for not signing a contract, and no one has ever turned down a contract as far as I know.
On July 04 2011 12:39 Ryuu314 wrote: That's retarded. I wouldn't even know that competitive eating exists if it weren't for him and I'm sure that's true for a good portion of the public.
It's like if MLG banned Boxer from participating because their sponsors decides Boxer is retired. Pretty retarded imo. Doesn't matter if he hasn't been winning. He's still one of, if not the most famous/influential eaters out there.
To be fair MLG does control their halo players, they can't enter other events on those weekends if they want to be an mlg sponsored player. Of course, there are no other halo events -_-, so these contracts are not really around anymore as far as I know. They have never barred someone from an event for not signing a contract, and no one has ever turned down a contract as far as I know.
the analogy is different. Kobayashi competes primarily in Japan. the MLE contract is not a big deal for all the American eaters because they just enter other American MLE events throughout the year.
this would be like MLG forcing players from Asia and Europe to sign 1 year exclusive contracts to only play at MLG events if they want to compete at any MLG event, and also making them drop any sponsors that are not partners of MLG. sure, it might be nice for American players, especially Halo, where they only really compete in MLG events year-round anyways. but when the best players of games like SC2 or Tekken are from all around the world that compete primarily in their home countries, it kills the level of competition.
On July 04 2011 12:39 Ryuu314 wrote: That's retarded. I wouldn't even know that competitive eating exists if it weren't for him and I'm sure that's true for a good portion of the public.
It's like if MLG banned Boxer from participating because their sponsors decides Boxer is retired. Pretty retarded imo. Doesn't matter if he hasn't been winning. He's still one of, if not the most famous/influential eaters out there.
To be fair MLG does control their halo players, they can't enter other events on those weekends if they want to be an mlg sponsored player. Of course, there are no other halo events -_-, so these contracts are not really around anymore as far as I know. They have never barred someone from an event for not signing a contract, and no one has ever turned down a contract as far as I know.
Not being allowed to enter other events on the same weekend makes a lot of sense though. I would have no problem with other big tournaments having the same rules.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nlHgj.jpg)
i just moved ro nyc this year hoping to see him eat !!
