Happy Fourth of July! Blow Shit Up, Eat Too Much and Be American!

                My girlfriend uses this as her status every year on this day, it is an homage to the comedian Jim Gaffigan:

"I usually don't have a burger, a brat, and a steak but, it is 4th of July. And I need the energy if I'm gonna start blowin crap up. It's what the founding fathers would want..."

                In honor of the Fourth of July I had decided to post today solely about one of my favorite sporting events of the season, the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest which has been held on this day every year since 1916 on Coney Island in New York. Joey Chestnut holds the world record for the amount of hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes.  He ate 68 hot dogs and buns in 2009 and will try and seek his fifth straight Mustard Belt this year. Over 1.7 million people watch the event yearly on ESPN's broadcast at noon EST. Last year there were 40,000 people present at the corner of Surf Avenue and Stillwell Avenue for the event and they are expecting about 50,000 people to arrive at the annual event this year.

                The field this year is extremely competitive and features a few of my favorite competitive eaters. Of course Joey Chestnut will be there but the real question is if the Japanese former champion of the world will participate this year after causing a disturbance from the crowd last year, Takeru Kobayashi. Kobayashi has been known for his famous "Shake" to really pack away the hot dogs but had a jaw injury that derailed his grip on the title but was compounded last year by not signing a contract with Major League Eating which prohibited him from participating. Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas is always the best woman's hope and holds the women's record with 41 in 10 minutes in 2009. Patrick Bertoletti has finished in 3rd the last two years with Tim "Eater X" Janus (my personal favorite) finishing 2nd last year and 3rd in 2008. His personal best is 45 hot dogs but holds world records in tiramisu, tamales, cannolis, burritos, Ramen noodles, fried pork rinds, nigiri sushi, boneless buffalo wings, and cupcakes.



Above: Joey Chestnut does his thing! (NYdailynews.com)
Below: Tim Janus woofing down a dog (NYdailynews.com)



              One of the best parts is when the announcer in Coney Island announces the people's world records like I had just listed for Eater X. They really are hilarious to listen to and sometimes make you a little queasy when you hear how much these people ate in a short amount of time. But it's all worth it as the winner takes home $10,000 with second place taking home $5,000 as well. Not a bad winning for eating hot dogs in front of a huge crowd, but remember, you can't have a "reversal" you MUST keep it down!

             So best of luck to the competitors but I'll be rooting for San Jose native Joey Chestnut and hometown guy Tim Janus from right in New York City. Enjoy the video of last years competition to really get you ready for the showdown this year! ESPN at Noon be there!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4OkT_nbj4w

Novak Wins Wimbledon and Reyes Hurts Hammy

             Ah that breakfast at Wimbledon today was just phenomenal. I woke up at 9am to the smell of fresh banana pancakes and the sound of Nadal and Djokovic warming up for the Championship match. Couldn't have been a better start to the day! The match did not disappoint either. Novak came out hitting well but Rafa looked up to the task exchanging holding service games until Djok finally broke Nadal quickly and out of no where to take the first set 6-4. He followed that set up with quickly taking an early break from Nadal and rolling through the 2nd set 6-1 to firmly take control of the match. But the 3-time Wimbledon champion would not go away easily battling back and finally breaking Djokovic to win the 3rd set 6-1 and to force play to continue on. But in the 4th set Djokovic regained control and used his retooled serve and excellent court coverage to outlast Nadal and get the 1 break of serve of the set to win it 6-3. Final score: 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. With the win Djokovic quells any discussion of him not being worthy of the World's number one ranking that will soon be his. He also improved to 48-1 on the year winning his first ever career grass court title. Novak has now defeated Rafa 5 times in title championships (majors and regular tournaments), 2 on clay, 2 on hard court and now 1 on grass.

Novak Djokovic Wins Wimbledon (dailymail.co.uk)

              Short post today since we do have company for the holiday weekend but I won't leave out winners and losers of the night!

Biggest Winner of the Night: This is a combo award today- both players were part of their teams 1-0 victories yesterday. Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox  went 7 innings allowing 5 hits, 3 walks while striking out 4 as Matt Thornton got the 2 inning save, retiring all 6 batters he faced to defeat the cross-town rival Cubs. On the west coast Corey Luebke of the San Diego Padres went 6 strong innings allowing 2 hits, no walks, while striking out 7. Chad Qualls, Mike Adams, and Heath Bell combined for 3 dominate innings of relief allowing 1 baserunner (on an error) and struck out 2 to close out the Mariners.



Biggest Loser of the Night: Jose Reyes of my New York Mets. Jose is having one of the best seasons of anyone in the league hitting .352 going into yesterdays game but he injured his hamstring and could be out anywhere from a week or two to the rest of the season. Reyes was voted the National League SS starter today as well and more than likely will not be able to participate. He is a free-agent in the off-season and this could really hurt his status as he is injury prone.



Jose Reyes Hurts Hammy Running to First



Wimbledon Women's Winner and Other Holiday Weekend Notes

        Breakfast at Wimbledon was pretty entertaining this morning as the favorite Maria Sharapova took on upstart 21 year old Petra Kvitova. During the match the announcers continued to compare Kvitova to another Czech lefty, Martina Navrtilova, and it was well deserved. Kvitova dominated the very shaky Sharapova 6-3, 6-4. Kvitova saved her first ace of the championship for match point and just blew Sharapova off the court by having 19 winners to Maria's 10. Sharapova's shaky service games once again came back to bite her as she double-faulted 6 times and was broken of serve 5 times in the match. This is the first major title in her first chance for the young Kvitova and she will break into the world's top ten once the next rankings are released for the first time in her career.

Petra Kvitova- Wimbledon Champion (Yahoo Sports/Getty Images)

             So it's a holiday weekend and Wimbledon is wrapping up, the Women's World Cup continues, NASCAR is at Daytona, MLB regular season blazes on and the most important event happens on the official holiday- Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest! I love this event so much and if you do as well, read my post that will go up Monday morning about the Mustard Belt, Joey Chestnut, Sonya Thomas and Tim "Eater X" Janus as well as the rest of the festivities in Coney Island, NY.

           Another busy MLB day but since it is the weekend I won't go into detail or give my opinion too much today. Dodgers and Yankees took the first game of their crosstown rival series vs. the Angels and Mets respectively. And saves leader Brian Wilson once again blew a save (2nd day in a row) but ended up with the win after San Fran scrapped 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to salvage what would have been yet another gut-wrenching defeat. The Rangers pounded out 15 runs on 15 hits against the sinking Marlins and Mark Ellis impressed Coors faithful in his debut for the Rockies by going 3 for 5, 2 runs, 3 RBIS and a home run to lead them to a 9-0 win over the Royals.

Biggest Winner of the Night: Easy pick from last night- the man from the Netherlands Antilles, Jair Jurrjens of the Atlanta Braves. This young man is quietly having a PHENOMENAL season. He is 11-3 on the year (tied for most wins in the majors), he also sports a 1.89 ERA (leads the majors) and a 1.06 WHIP. But his most recent performance was just domination at its finest. Jurrjens baffled the Baltimore Orioles lineup all night allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk in a complete game shutout victory. He allowed his first base runner in the 6th inning and his only hit in the 7th to Adam Jones. In his complete game win he also snapped Nick Markakis' 19 game hit streak for the Orioles. 

Jair Jurrjens (Getty Images)

Biggest Loser of the Night: Tough choice- do I go with Sharapova who lost in the championship by mostly beating herself or Anibal Sanchez's stinker of a start against the Rangers? I think Sanchez's implosion will be the winner as he lasted only 3 2/3 innings while allowing 7 hits, 4 walks and 7 earned runs while striking out 4. His ERA rose from a very excellent 2.82 to 3.30 after last nights start and the Marlins did lose 15-5 in this game so their bullpen certainly was no better.