Nothing Says America like a Hot Dog Eating Contest

Ah.....America.

Nothing is better than the sweet freedom of living in the USA. This freedom began over 200 years ago through blood, sweat, tears, war, violence, death and bravery.

Today we celebrate it an entirely different way. Usually through - cook outs, beer, steak, beach, burgers, fireworks and then more beer.

I typically take part in the celebration through one or two of these mediums, however yesterday I found myself in awe watching another way of celebrating on TV:

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest



Skip about 2 minutes in to see the eating begin.

Ok, what?

Let me first start by saying I like hot dogs. Hot dogs of all kinds. Many think they are outright disgusting as they are "a combination of all of the bad parts of the pig". I'm just of the belief that they are a combination of all of the good parts of the pig, and when you throw them on the grill there really can't be anything better.

Personally, I like cheese on my dog with ketchup only. I don't like chili, onions, lettuce or another other strange addition which simply attempts to drown out that pure dog taste.

I have even had a Nathan's Hot Dog before. It's good. Awkwardly enough, I have only ever seen a Nathan's in an airport lobby so I have only been able to try them once or twice. Now.....let's discuss how many I think I could eat in one sitting. I'm guessing maybe 3-5. If I HAD too.

The people in this video are truly insane. How can they eat this many hot dogs? As I dove a little deeper in understanding this hot dog phenomenon it came to my attention that this "tradition" has been going on for 90 years!!

The other side of this contest aside from the repulsive realization that there are people out there that eat this many hot dogs, is that Nathan's is genius. Somehow 90 years ago they decided they would turn the 4th of July into their holiday. Some dude at Nathan's was sitting in an office one day and was like, "Sales are down. I have an idea...let's see how many hot dogs people can eat."

Only in America could a restaurant chain pull something like this off. Nathan's probably sells more hot dogs on July 4th then they do the rest of the year.....my guess is that people who watch this or participate in it don't want to see, touch, eat or smell a hot dog for at least a year.

When you watch this video you will either think one of two things:

1. This is disgusting, I can't believe people actually do this.

2. I love America because only here can I watch insane people eat 1,462 hot dogs without it being illegal.

I say, GO USA.