Louisiana Man Headed for Coney Island Dreams of Hot Dog Dominance

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The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest held on the 4th of July every year at New York's Coney Island has long been the gold standard for professional eaters.  When it comes down to scarfing down ridiculous amounts of food - it's basically their Olympic Games!  It's where all of the bragging rights (and a fair bit of indigestion) come from in this weird world of "sports."

The king of this competition is Joey Chestnut.  This bottomless-pit of a man has won the past 5 contests, and has taken home the belt 13 out of the last 14 years!  According to the official Nathan's Hot Dog site, he currently holds the world record at a whopping 73 hot dogs in less than 10 minutes!  To put that into perspective, his record-breaking, 12,000 calorie meal weighed 16 pounds - that's equivalent to 42 billiard balls.

As impressive as that is, don't think he isn't afraid of the competition.  This year, Joey will see a familiar face at the stuffing table: Louisiana's own competitive eating champion, Adrian "The Rabbit" Morgan!  Adrian is no slouch in the eating-incredible-amounts-of-food department, either.  According to WGNO, this hungry New Orleans native has quite a few impressive victories under his belt (which no doubt has a few extra, homemade holes in the end of it).  Standing at 6 foot tall and weighing in at 210 pounds, this Louisiana eating machine currently holds the New Orleans oyster-eating record.  He reportedly downed 44 dozen oysters in eight minutes.  If my calculations are correct, that's a rate of an oyster a second!

Currently, the Rabbit is ranked number 17 in the world amongst pro eaters.  His all-time best at the Nathan's contest is 39 - a number he'll almost have to double to take the title.  He says he's ready for the challenge and hungry for victory - and I believe him!