Sunday, July 10, 2011

Being Denied Chestnut-Kobayashi Rivalry

Sports fans are being denied what should be one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports, Joey Chestnut (current world record holder) versus Takeru Kobayashi (former world record holder) sitting at a table head to head crushing hot dogs until one man is crowned the King of competitive eating. Major League Eating (yes, there is an actual governing body over the "sport" of competitive eating) won't allow its members to compete at non MLE sanctioned events, and thus Kobayashi refuses to sign a contract with the evil empire. Who can blame him? If he wants to show up at a Pizza Hut and slam back a dozen P'Zones for a little extra money, who is MLE to deny him a living? A man's gotta be able to put food on the table!

Something has gotta give here. We have two elite athletes in the prime of their careers who should be competing against each other, not having to air simultaneous webcasts that are not officially recognized. MLE should listen to the public outcry and sign Kobayashi to a contract that allows him to compete in whichever events he so chooses. You don't need to sign every athlete to one of these contracts, but Kobayashi is an elite exception. Let's get this done, and let's squeeze the most we can out of this epic rivalry while we still can. This should be the greatest rivalry in all of sports, comparable to Ali-Frazier...

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