Month: July 2009 (Page 52 of 59)
Two years ago, reigning Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating champion Takeru Kobayashi of Japan was injured with a jaw problem, and since he was not at 100% he let American Joey Chestnut (from San Jose) take over the yellow mustard belt. But Chestnut proved last year that the win was no fluke, beating Kobayashi in a dog-off, and today he won for the third straight year, eating a world record 68 dogs (last year’s record was 59 before the 5-dog tiebreaker). Kobayashi ate 64.5 to finish second, while Patrick Bertoletti came in third with a very respectable 55 dogs.
After announcing the rules, including the new 5-second dunking limit, and after sideline reporter Rob Stone whirred a few dogs in a blender and drank a slug of what he called a “Stoney Shake,” (ewwwwww) they announced each competitor as they do every year, as if they are the Lakers and Celtics players. Other standout competitors were Sonya Thomas, aka “The Black Widow,” who looks like she’s barely 100 pounds but holds world eating records for oysters, buffalo wings, and Vienna sausage. Another tough female competitor was Juliet Lee, who has records in Cherrystone clams and cranberry sauce. Tim “Gravy” Brown, Eric “Badlands” Booker and Tim “Eater X” Janus rounded out the top of the field.
The pace began frenetically, as the announcers said a good rate was 8 dogs per minute, but after the first minute Kobayashi held an 11-10 lead over Chestnut, and at the halfway point it was 42-40 Chestnut. With one minute left, Chestnut, who looked like he was in agony as usual (how could he not be?), was slowing down but managed to have downed 63 dogs by then, to 61 for Kobayashi.
So Chestnut, who also holds world records in funnel cake and deep-fried asparagus, broke his own hot dog record and with three straight yellow belts, is only three away from tying the number of titles held by his arch rival Kobayashi.
Yum, I bet you all now just have to go have a hot dog or sixty. Enjoy your Fourth and be safe!
Last week we picked apart the American League all-star voting. Well, this week we will look at the National League, and after last night the starters have all been selected (aside from pitchers). You ready?
First base
Leader: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Mike’s pick: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals. Well, this one is a no-brainer. Is it possible that Albert gets better with age? Yes, and his numbers border on staggering. 81 games in, he’s batting .336 with 31 homers and 82 RBI and a slugging percentage of .748. That projects to 62 homers and 164 runs batted in. What’s more, dude has a .993 fielding percentage. There is little doubt Pujols is the best player in the game, and he gets to flaunt it in front of his hometown crowd a week from Tuesday.
Second base
Leader: Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
Mike’s pick: Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies. This one is also a no-brainer that the voters got correct, though as a Mets fan it pains me to say that. Utley has 17 homers, 54 RBI, he’s batting .303 with 16 doubles and a .980 OPS—all unbelievable numbers for a second baseman. This guy is a gamer.
Shortstop
Leader: Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
Mike’s pick: Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins. This is getting to be a trend, but the numbers in the National League don’t seem to lie, do they? Hanley is batting .344 with 13 homers and 58 RBI, 26 doubles, 12 stolen bases and a .972 OPS. By comparison, he is hitting 119 points higher than JJ Hardy and 132 points higher than the slumping Jimmy Rollins. Case closed.
Third base
Leader: David Wright, New York Mets
Mike’s pick: Mark Reynolds, Arizona Diamondbacks. Wright was leading the league in batting for quite a while, and he’s currently hitting .333 but with just 5 homers and 42 RBI. By comparison, Reynolds has clubbed 22 home runs with 57 RBI while batting a respectable .271. At a power position, I’m giving the nod to the guy barely anyone gets to see play.
Catcher:
Leader: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
Mike’s pick: Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves. This is close, because Yadier’s brother Bengie has 10 homers and 46 RBI for the Giants, but McCann is batting .311 with 8 home runs and 33 driven in, with 15 doubles and a respectable .988 fielding percentage.
Outfield
Leaders: Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
Mike’s picks: Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
Brad Hawpe, Colorado RockiesIbanez is having a career season, batting .312 with 22 homers and 59 RBI, and Braun just continues to rake, with 16 home runs, 58 driven in and a .326 average. But Beltran, while he plays in the biggest media market and makes mega-bucks, is not going to get my all-star nod over Brad Hawpe. Beltran is hitting .336, but has just 8 homers and 40 RBI. Hawpe is hitting .328 with 13 homers and 56 runs batted in, 25 doubles and a stunning .993 OPS. If Manny Ramirez was playing most of the season, he’d probably be on this list, but I can’t consider a guy who’s only played 28 games, regardless of why he missed all that time.
Starting pitcher
As you all know, pitchers are chosen by the managers and will be announced this Sunday.
Mike’s pick: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants. Last year’s NL Cy Young winner got off to a slow start, but has been mowing hitters down lately, to the tune of 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA and league-leading 132 strikeouts with just 28 walks in 114 innings. Arizona’s Dan Haren is a close runner-up, with a 7-5 record for a crappy D-Backs’ team, and a league low 2.19 ERA with 113 K’s and 0.81 WHIP.
Relief pitcher
Mike’s pick: Heath Bell, San Diego Padres. When this former Met helped christen Citi Field by mowing down his ex-teammates in April, I thought it was just a phase. But dude leads the NL in saves with 22, and is 3-1 with a 1.34 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 33 innings of work. And here’s the best stat of all—Bell has saved or won 74% of his team’s wins. If he keeps that up, Bell will contend for the NL Cy Young and even garner some MVP votes.
In the fourth all-Williams final at Wimbledon, Serena beat her sister Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Saturday for her third title and 11th Grand Slam championship.
Venus was trying to win her third straight Wimbledon, but was denied by her sister.
Kevin Arnovitz of TrueHoop examines how Ben Gordon’s absence will affect Derrick Rose.
Rose stands to improve his numbers — that’s usually what happens with a talent as impressive as Rose. But here’s the rub heading into his second year: It’s going to be much more challenging without Gordon. With no knockdown perimeter threat beside him and nobody else on his squad who demands a double-team, Rose’s path to the rim will be clogged with more traffic. Given the composition of his team, Rose might not improve much upon his 57.7 field goal percentage in the immediate basket area. He’s also more likely to be bothered in the backcourt more persistently by opposing guards, and trapped uniformally on the pick-and-roll.
Rose is a transcendent talent with incredible court vision and sharp instincts. He can improvise with precision — a rare gift. But even a magician needs props, and Rose lost his best aide in Gordon. It’s possible Rose could endure a very rough sophomore campaign with the Bulls. If he does, it might say a lot more about his team’s roster than it does any lack of resolve on Rose’s part.
The piece goes into great detail and is worth a read, especially for Bulls fans and NBA nuts.
The luxury that the Bulls have is that they’re going to get Luol Deng back from injury, and that will help offset the loss of Gordon. John Salmons averaged 18.3 points per game for the Bulls and has really come into his own over the last three seasons. If he can keep up his accuracy from long range (42% in 2008-09, 36% in his career), and Deng returns to his 15/6 form, then there’s a chance that the Bulls won’t miss Gordon much at all. As good as he was offensively, he had as much trouble on the other end of the court and had a reputation for being a defensive liability. Maybe a Salmons/Deng combo won’t quite have the offensive punch that the Gordon/Salmons combo did, but they should more than make up for it on the defensive end.
I also like the idea of playing Deng as a small power forward at time with Kirk Hinrich at the two and Salmons at the three. With Rose leading the way, the Bulls could be really effective pushing the ball and spreading the court, maybe running the pick-and-roll with Joakim Noah and allowing Rose to create with three shooters as outlets.
If Rose can turn in an All-Star caliber performance next season, Chicago will be an attractive place for one of the free agent superstars of 2010 to land. It’s a big market, and with Rose, Deng, Noah and Hinrich locked up for the foreseeable future, the Bulls have a nice core to build around.
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