The 4th of july is less than 2 weeks away and it's crunch time in terms of training and preparation. Joey Chestnut is the king of hot dogs with Kobeyashi a close second. Last year, no doubt was left as to the champion of hot dogs and bun. Joey dominated, crushing the world record and forced kobeyashi to have multiple reversals. My memory is studded with a vivid recollection of the massive crowd, joeys overall dominance with conquest of mind over body, and a branded memory of joey en-robed in the stars and bars. The roar of those fans is not a sound I will forget.

To sum up my performance, I gave it my best shot, but fell flat on my ass. In a marathon I tripped on my shoe laces at the 20th mile and stopped to put Vaseline on my my nipples at the 22nd mile, only to limp/ waddle across the finish. I finished but not with the force and power I had visualized. I felt a surge of power and adrenaline all bottled up and a by product of the stadium size crowd. After 5 minutes the edge faded and the speed like effect once pumping through my arteries dissipated. To sum it up, my jaws got tired and I ran out of capacity.

Looking forward to 7/07/08 I am taking measures to overcome these barriers. It will be difficult to offset the jaw fatigue because nathans does not keep promises of awarding a year supply of hot dogs(for 2 years in a row). Besides this cheapness the realization occurred in that joey and kobey have both accomplished the holy grail of eating contests. Any past victory against either is bush league in comparison. No one will tout my victories over both in chicken wings and turkey as the reason I will win nathans. They don't mean much to me. This is a contest to hang your mustard belt and gastric band on. In that sense it's the last and eluding major victory that my career desperately needs to elevate it greatness. It's my thought that upon retirement I will be know as a good eater, but there is not much evidence to support the case that my legacy will be marked as a "great" eater.

I am a year behind them both in everything quite consistently. My style of eating is composed, reckless, and barbaric. Cooking and eating are my passionate traits, I am putting every ounce of passion, focus and strength into this competition. Joey can be beat, but it's going to take a perfect day with mind and body operating in maximum output mode. I will do everything from my steamer pack of tricks to prepare. I will have no regrets when all is left at the table(minus the dogs) meat sweats and all, and if another garlicky salchicha crammed down my esophagus is a human impossibility.

I can feel the excitement starting to build within and in all likely hood my abilities will be peaking on the 4th of july.

chow.

Patrick Deep Dish Bertoletti