Kobayashi blogs bilingually on the 2008 Nathan’s finals
Kobayashi has written two blog entries containing English about the recent Nathan’s finals. One thanks fans for their support, the other contains Kobayashi’s thoughts on the overtime format (not automatically translated):
In this case, I think the correct approach is to look at the situation as this: we decided the winner through a different event (rather than that we decided the winner in an extension of the 10-minute battle).
So for me, deciding the champion in a five hot dog challenge is no different to deciding the champion by playing “rock, scissors, paperâ€.
Kobayashi also has a blog entry comparing winning qualifier totals with the amounts eaten in the finals.
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Kevin Carr said
July 8, 2008 @ 2:30 am
Hmmmmm… Sour grapes anyone?
What about pulling a half of a hot dog from your mouth after time is called, then proceeding to eat it? Is that more definitive than rock, paper, scissors?
This guy is turning into an embarassment. Sure, he was the first to break the 50-HDB barrier. But his flurry of excuses, refusal to do a qualifying round and continued whining about his jaw is making him look like a spoiled brat.
anonymous said
July 8, 2008 @ 7:00 am
I think that eatoff was stupid. Kobe will never let himself fall behind in a sudden death first one to finish. I dont think a 5 hot dog eatoff is a fair process of determining the actual winner. It looked like a tie as far as i saw it . I think a 3 to 5 min OT would be the proper way of determining the winner although 5 min might be pushing it
Mega Munch said
July 8, 2008 @ 8:44 am
I’m not sure I follow or agree with Koby’s overtime thinking. It’s like any sport, if it’s tied, you go to overtime by playing more of the same sport. In baseball, you play extra innings of baseball. In hockey, you play an extra period (hockey still exists, right?). You wouldn’t decide a tie game in the NFL by having both quarterbacks play hopscotch.
Rhonda Evans said
July 8, 2008 @ 10:07 am
I think it might be a bit of sour grapes on Koby’s part, as it would likely be with most anyone with an ego who has been the champ 6 years in a row.
After Koby’s reversal last year there is no way the IFOCE would let the contest go for anything longer than an additional minute. I don’t blame them either.
On the other hand, when you have two eaters of equal talent and declare the winner based on the first one to eat a handful of dogs, the person with the biggest mouth holds a tremendous advantage. What’s in the mouth at the end counts. No way was Koby going to win the eat-off.
Ray said
July 8, 2008 @ 11:28 am
I think a Two Minute eatoff would have been better than the Five Dog battle.
KevinRoss said
July 8, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
I agree with you Ray. Me and Nate did a 2 minute eat off in Dallas when we tied in regulation. I didn’t quite get why the final should be different than the rules at a qualifier. I suppose because they didn’t want to risk a reversal on national TV like last year. But I think both Joey and Kobayashi came in ready to battle, so I doubt either of them would have puked with an extra 2 minutes. Really it would have been a 12 minute battle just like years past. It would have been interesting to see how that played out.
Jake from SF said
July 8, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
I think Koby meant that he would rather have had an extension of the contest to see how many more dogs each could eat, than a speed contest of who can eat 5 the fastest. It’s like diverging into a separate type of contest (from a capacity competition to a straight up speed competition).
North Pole said (Registered April 28, 2008)
July 8, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
I think they went to the rule book and it said first to stuff 5 hot dogs in thier mouth. Oh, wait, my bad. There is NO rule book, so it doesn’t really matter what anyone thinks.
The Natural said
July 8, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
Kevin Ross has great hair
mike landrich said (Registered July 4, 2007)
July 8, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
No matter what format the tie-breaker took, someone would bitch, just like I, and others, bitched that Kobayashi shouldn’t have been credited with the last HDB. Kobayashi had his chance and came up second. Get over it. As has been said many times, this is not a real sport and the Sheas will do what is good for publicity, just like Vince McMahon in the WWE. That’s how they make money. Plus, according to the post from Dr Bigtime’s judge, Koby reversed thru his nose at the end of the contest (as he ducked under the table for a second). What would’ve happened had they had another minute or 2 to gorge themselves.