Ah, the 4th of the July. Fireworks, patriotism, and hot dog eating contests. I have no idea what consuming mass quantities of ballpark franks has to do with the birth of the United States, but nevertheless, it's become quite the tradition this time of year. By far the most-famous eating contest -- the one in which the world's top eaters take part -- is the July 4th annual Coney Island hotdog eating competition.

This year there was some considerable drama, as the defending champion, 28-year-old Takeru Kobayashi had a jaw problem -- but persevered, and still managed to eat 63 hot dogs in spite of his injury. It was a valiant effort, but he couldn't beat Joey Chestnut, an American from San Jose, who managed to down 66 hot dogs -- and in doing so, set a new world record.

"It just feels awesome," Chestnut told Reuters.

Just to put that in perspective:

66 hot dogs with no buns = 7,260 calories of awesome
66 hot dogs with the average bun = 13,860 calories of awesome

In 12 minutes.

Source