Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest

CONEY ISLAND -- For the second straight year, I had the privilege of working alongside some of the nation's finest journalists covering one of America's most important events -- The Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Wednesday's spectacle was indeed historic, at least by competitive eating standards, in that American fave Joey Chestnut finally ended the reign of Japan's six-time defending champ Kobayashi. Chestnut downed an impressive 66 hot dogs -- a new world-record -- in 12 minutes.

So here is a link to some of the coverage I provided, including still images, a video clip or two (Flash Player 9, please) and even some audio blogs. Most of the written content on the page you're linking to is from the Associated Press. And there's a renegade sentence fragment that obviously doesn't make sense near the bottom. Please ignore it. Thanks, and enjoy. I'm off to eat some hot dogs.

PS -- My friend Barry voiced a surprisingly sensitive opinion yesterday when I told him about my trip to Nathan's. He said he thinks it's disgusting that we celebrate these events while at the same time we pretend to care about the dozens of nations where children die of starvation by the hundred each day. Sure he's not the first to say it, but just something to think about. What are your thoughts?