Chestnut's 50 debated on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption

Joey Chestnut’s awesome performance in the Las Vegas qualifier was among the topics discussed on the “Mail Time” segment of today’s episode of Pardon the Interruption (aka PTI) on ESPN. I personally am a big fan of the show, which airs daily on ESPN (I TiVo it for my regular fix of baseball headlines and opinions). For those not familiar with the program, it features a pair of veteran journalists who debate the daily sports headlines. Often their commentary is laced with sarcasm and sometimes – as in this case – their topics spill over into the wackier side of sports and pop culture. Here’s a transcript of the Chestnut discussion:

TONY KORNHEISER (reading email from viewer): American Joey Chestnut downed 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes over the weekend. Kobayashi’s record is 53 and a half. Has Kobayashi finally met his match?

MICHAEL WILBON (over footage of Joey aside Rich Lefevre during the final seconds of the qualifier): I hope they both get sick and throw up all over the table in this competition and have to have Pepto Bismol sort of pumped in them intravenously.

TONY: Here’s what I think about this. Kobayashi gets to eyeball this guy at the same trough and this guy’s gonna fold. If this guy’s got any brains, he studies the film of the Kodiak bear. (Cut to footage of bear vs. Kobayashi hot dog eating stunt.) That’s the way you beat Kobayashi. You grab about 18 in your big paw and you shove ‘em down, bang, bang, bang! You put Kobayashi to shame.

MICHAEL: Is he a bear? Is he as big as a Kodiak bear? Does he have the jaw structure and the hands and paws of a Kodiak bear?

TONY: Well, that would be a problem. That would be a problem.

MICHAEL: Yeah, you shoulda thought of that!