Nathan's Hotdog Eating Champ Retains Belt

Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, last year's Hot Dog Eating Champion defends his title in a sudden death playoff match.

Of course the competitor who forced joey to stuff down a total of 64 Nathan's hot dogs was former champion Kobayashi, the 128 pound eating machine from Japan. It's been two years since Takeru Kobayashi last held the belt and it looks like he'll have to wait one more to have another go at it. But he'll be back, you can bet on that. The fans want him and I myself am still looking for a Kobayashi T-shirt to sport. He's the main reason 35,000 fans showed up to watch the Coney Island competition.

• Shoshichi Kobayashi (mathematician)
• Takao Kobayashi (astronomer)
• Takeru Kobayashi (competitive eater)
• Tetsuko Kobayashi (actress)
• Toru Kobayashi (astronomer)
• Toshiyuki Kobayashi (mathematician)
• Yasuo Kobayashi (aikido teacher)

In the meantime, 2008 Champion Joey Chestnut is enjoying his two year run and from the looks of it, has finally earned the respect of the once invincible Kobayashi. As they say in sports, in order to be the champ you have to beat the champ, and no challenger was able to beat Joey "The Champ" Chestnut this 4th of July.

So Joey, you've just won the 2008 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, what will you eat while at Disneyland?

Congratulations Joey "Jaws" Chestnut of San Jose, Ca., you've proven that you deserve to be crowned Hot Dog Eating Champion 2008. Now if only you could hold the belt up correctly. Video clips available on YouTube.