Hot Dog! Duo Shoots for Title Tomorrow

With Takeru Kobayashi’s hot-dog hegemony in doubt at tomorrow's Coney Island throwdown, the Village Voice accompanies a pair of contenders as they train for the event. Roommates Crazy Legs Conti and Tim Janus hit an all-you-can-eat sushi bar in preparation for Nathan's July 4th institution, the 10-minute contest described by an organizer as "the Master’s of competitive eating."

Initially crossing paths on the corned-beef-and-cabbage circuit, Conti and X live and train together, with the latter holding records in tamales, sushi, ramen, and tiramisu (4 pounds in 6 minutes). While competitive gluttony may give some critics heartburn, X replies that “other sports are just as wasteful. ... NASCAR is wasteful of fuel; golf is wasteful of water and fertilizer." (More competitive eating stories.)