July 6 - It took nearly a decade, but Lenny Amarosa, a patriotic American, a proud Brooklynite, a disgruntled postal worker, finally admitted it.

advertisement

"It kills me to say this," he said on July 4, seconds after Takeru Kobayashi of Japan broke his own world record and became the first man to win four hot-dog-eating contests in a row, "but I have to concede that there's no American can beat him."

It takes a beaten man to admit defeat on America's most patriotic holiday. But that's what happens seemingly every year on July 4 in Coney Island. While most of America celebrated  our nation's 228th birthday in that time-honored fashion—driving gas-guzzling SUVs to friends' houses to eat grilled, antibiotic-tainted meat, and then finishing it off by watching explosions masquerading as entertainment—another patriotic tradition plays out in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, these days it's only patriotic if you're Japanese.

In breaking his own world record on Sunday, the man they call "The Tsunami" did more than just eat 53 ½ hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes; he became the only person to win the annual Nathan's Famous contest four times. That he's done it four times in a row is even more impressive. He is, without a doubt, the greatest eater in world history. Even Amarosa admits it.

As a journalist who has chronicled the contest for more than a decade—hey, some reporters are born to greatness, others have mediocrity thrust upon them—the one question that everyone always asks is: "How does he do it?"

It's a question I never answer. In fact, I resent it. Kobayashi is not some machine on auto-devour. He is the world's greatest athlete, yes, but he is an artist first. Asking Kobayashi how he eats hot dogs with such ease is like asking the poet where the words come from or asking the river why it runs to the sea. You don't ask Picasso how he paints. You don't ask Barry Bonds how he hits. You don't ask Alan Greenspan how he sets rates (although, come to think of it, you should).

But perhaps I don't answer the "how does he do it" question because I don't know the answer. For four years, I have had the distinct privilege of serving as Kobayashi's official judge (and when I say "distinct privilege," I of course mean that I love spending my July 4th holiday getting covered in spittle, tiny bits of processed beef and soggy hot dog bun). In my years of covering sports, I've seen all the greats. I saw Joe Namath in his prime, saw Michael Jordan at Madison Square Garden, saw Tyson before he became a joke, and even saw Secretariat win the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths.

Advertisement Hair! Mankind's Historic Quest to End Baldness by Gersh Kuntzman

All pale by comparison to Kobayashi. But I mention Secretariat for a reason. There are only two beings that have beaten Kobayashi. At the Glutton Bowl in 2002, Kobayashi ate 17.7 pounds of pan-seared cow brains (an achievement for which few men have the stomach) only to lose the final round to an Alaskan Brown Bear. Don't protest; it was a fair fight.

Sunday at Coney Island, the only human being to beat Kobayashi—Nobuyuki Shirota—was standing just a few feet away on the Table of Champions. And I was thinking upset: Shirota destroyed Kobayashi—twice! —at Food Battle Club, a Japanese eating contest that makes an Ironman triathlon look like a walk in the park.  Competitors eat bowls and bowls of soba noodles, rice, and other Japanese delicacies;  then the winners of each round keep on eating. It's a grueling affair. There was no reason to believe he couldn't do it again.

In the end, this year's contest was never in doubt. Kobayashi chewed to an early lead and never looked back. The partisan, patriotic crowd initially booed the Japanese legend—but those jeers turned to cheers when Kobayashi passed his old record of 50 ½ and kept on going. Even Kobayashi's supposed competition put down their buns in salute.

"To be on the same stage as him when history—not just sports history, but human history—is made is such a thrill," said "Crazy Legs" Conti, who downed a paltry 16 ½.

By the end of the 12 minutes, Kobayashi had a belly full of beef (16,500 calories worth) and Shirota had a belly full of crow.

"Look at this man, the world champion!" screamed the contest's organizer George Shea, lifting Kobayashi's shirt to display the distended belly to the crowd of 7,000 gathered at the flagship Nathan's hot dog stand at Surf and Stillwell avenues—the Mt. Sinai of mastication.

"He looks like an anaconda who's eaten a goat!" Shea added. "You could not build a more perfect hot-dog-eating machine. He has hand speed, jaw strength, stomach capacity and the intangible je ne sais quois of a champion."

AMERICAN BEAT     Current Column | Archives • Investigating Clinton’s Couch What kind of sofa did the president sleep on after telling his wife about Monica? Was it comfortable? Our columnist investigates • Hybrid Mania Hits the Big Time GMC's giant hybrid pickup truck doesn't gain much mileage, but our columnist says the new Sierra is still an improvement over its gas-guzzling predecessors

Was there any part of Independence Day that gave America a reason to be thankful? Well, Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas did finish third with an impressive 32 hot dogs and buns (a new American record, as well as a new women's record). To fans of competitive eating, Thomas's figure—32—is even more impressive than some supermodel's 36-24-36. But 32 might impress America's gustatory washouts—and, yes, I'm talking about "Hungry" Charles Hardy, Eric "Badlands" Booker, Ed "Cookie" Jarvis, Rich "The Locust" LeFevre, and Don "Moses" Lerman—but it's still 21 ½ hot dogs and buns behind the master.

When a man—and I'm talking about a Japanese man—puts up such numbers, the partisan crowd at Coney Island cries foul faster than the United States government at the Court of International Trade. We've seen these ugly allegations before, of course. These same "fans" said that Hirofumi Nakajima had two stomachs. They said that Kazutoyo Arai was seen shooting antacids before the 2000 contest. This year, fans of Booker went so far as to say that Kobayashi was taking steroids.

"This is Balco all over again!" said Mike Piparato, referring to the steroid scandal that has consumed baseball. Whoa, now. The International Federation of Competitive Eating, the governing body of all stomach-centered sports, does extensive drug testing. Kobayashi was probably giving his sample even as I spoke to Piparato. When I told him this, he said something I have never heard in all my years of reporting.

"If he's peeing in a cup, I want to see it," he said (you do, Mike?).

For Thomas, the fault lied not with the steroids but with herself. "I really wanted to bring the Mustard Yellow International Belt back to America," she told me.

It was, of course, not to be—as it has not been since the Japanese first won the bejeweled belt in 1996 ,  when Nakajima defeated Ed "The Maspeth Monster" Krachie. Only one American has held it since then. There's not a fan of competitive eating who can honestly believe that an American will hold it again for many years (or if Kobayashi decides to pursue another line of work).

"I will be back next year and I will break the record again," he said.

If words like that make your stomach queasy, you're not alone. You're an American.

Gersh Kuntzman is also a reporter for The New York Post who has been covering competitive eating for 12 years. His website is at http://www.gersh.tv

MORE FROM NEWSWEEK SOCIETY Newsweek Society Section Front • The Secret Lives of Wives • Confessions of a Personal Trainer • Talk Transcript: The New Infidelity • Newsweek Society Section Front

TOP STORIES • Clift: What Edwards Pick Says About Voters • Varia: A Movie’s Message for the Faithful • Dickey: Iraq’s Version of the Rule of Law • Starr: Doping and Denial at Olympic Trials • Terror Watch: Will Edwards Push Domestic Spy Plan?

• Senate report rips CIA 'failures' • Al-Qaida leaders behind threat • Will Bush drop Cheney? • World Court rules against Israel • Marine going to Germany