CONEY ISLAND HOT DOG EATING CONTEST: Kobayashi Ate 69 Hot Dogs In Vain Yesterday

CONEY ISLAND HOT DOG EATING CONTEST: Kobayashi Ate 69 Hot Dogs In Vain Yesterday: "Unable to compete in yesterday’s Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest, Japan’s legendary Takeru Kobayashi took to a rooftop bar in Manhattan and scarfed hot dogs simultaneously with the eaters in Brooklyn." In the end, he ate 69 dogs. One more than his mortal enemy Joey Chestnut’s 2009 world record. And seven more than the 62 Chestnut ate to win the hallowed Mustard belt yesterday.

Kobayashi is locked in an ongoing contract dispute with Major League Eating, and was thus banned from taking on Chestnut in person.  As a result, MLE is refusing to recognize Kobayashi's 69 as the official the record.

“I don’t know if it was a magic show or an eating contest, MLE president Richard Shea told CNN yesterday. “Not having been there, it seems like a bit of a farce. The hot dog eating contest is on Coney Island.”

A magic show it was not.

Kobayashi assembled a crowd of several hundred fans, two judges, and a whole bunch of hot dogs on the rooftop of 230 Fifth and ate as the Coney Island contest aired on a big screen TV alongside him.  But Chestnut pointed out that eating in a controlled setting is very different from grubbing on the big stage at the Coney Island Boardwalk.  “It wasn’t a competition. … It was no different than what I do at practice on my own and I’m able to break a record at my house,” he said.

The owner of 230 Fifth is hoping to get Chestnut to agree to a mano y mano eat-off with Kobayashi this Labor Day, according to Deadspin.