Every July 4th, a group of great athletes descend upon Coney Island to compete in a legendary competition of skill and intestinal fortitude: The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. The Mustard-Yellow International Belt has been battled over for dozens of years. The winner of the past six contests has been eating wunderkind Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi , who has dominated like no other sportsman in history. The belt, a true American treasure, has been held in Japan for too long.

This year, that may change.

First came the news that Kobayashi’s seemingly immortal record was shattered by an American, Joey Chestnut . Mr. Chestnut has played Karl Malone to Kobayashi’s Michael Jordan for a decade, but his new record of 59 hot dogs (with bun) destroys Kobayashi’s old mark of 53 and ¾. Kobayashi, like any hero, didn’t take the challenge lying down. He rededicated himself to training, and planned to retake the record and retain his belt this summer at Nathan’s. Unfortunately, all that hot-dog wolfing turns out to be not so good for you. Kobayashi has arthritis of the jaw. On his blog, Kobayashi got frank and spilled the beans.

Right now, the Tsunami is “day-to-day” and hopes to compete on the Fourth. One can only hope. I want the Belt back in the good ol’ USofA as much as anyone, but not like this!