Hot dogs + eating contests

This is my first blog post inspired by a Plinky prompt:

Would you ever participate in a food eating contest?

Short answer: Ew. No.

Long answer:

Common. That's just plain gross.

We strive to be politically correct here at Bite-Sized Daily Observations, so here is a picture of a person of a  different race (American?) participating in the same contest...  (joking, of course, but I found both pictures, so I wanted to use them both...)

Mhm. Still gross, yes?

A few interesting (unsettling) facts about hot dogs, the most commonly eaten food in an eating contest:

• Every summer, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, American’s will eat 7 billion hot dogs. That kind of makes me want to throw up.
• Americans will spend more than $1.9 billion on hot dog purchases in supermarkets this year. That kind of makes me want a refund. (I’d rather spend my money on identifiable meat.)
• On July 4th, Americans will consume 150 million hot dogs. The hot dog business suddenly seems very lucrative.
• Joey Chestnut won the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest’s top prize – a mustard yellow champion’s belt for the third year in a row last year when he ate 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. *Sigh.* Only in America.

Regardless of our culture, it isn't natural to eat countless hot dogs! Please, do yourself a favor and refrain from going into the double digits with those cylinders of fake meat. You're digestive system can thank me later.

Question for ya: Well, I am obviously not exactly the eating contest type. Are you? Would you stuff your face with mystery meat for money or other prizes? Would you down ten in one sitting for, say…  $20? $50? Answer in the comments, por favor!

Tab Count: 8 (how did that happen?)
WILT (What I'm Listening To): Jar of Hearts by Lea Michele. Her voice is sooo beautiful! I'm jealous!

(It's from tonight's Glee.)