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YOUR HOLLYWOOD HOT DOG EATING CONTEST

What would a Fourth of July barbeque with family and friends be without your very own hot dog eating contest?

The hot dog eating contest has been a mainstay of the larger Independence Day celebrations for decades. The first one on record appears to have occurred in 1916, on July 4th at New York's Coney Island boardwalk. A few recent immigrants to the United States decided to prove their patriotism for America to one another by eating as many hot dogs as they could at a little concession called "Nathan's". Perhaps you've heard of the place.

Irish immigrant James Mullen proved his patriotism to his friends by eating the most Nathan's hot dogs in the impromptu contest: 13 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. And so began the tradition of competitive eating on the Fourth of July.

Recent contestants at the annual Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest at Coney Island gobble down far more than thirteen dogs and buns these days, but in any contest you have on the holiday someone could surely tie the first record set by Mr. Mullen.

The supplies and ground rules are simple: Have on hand for each contestant at least 13 hot dogs in buns, a stop watch, and instruct the participants that they must make that last tortuous swallow and have empty mouths at the end of the twelve minutes. A glass of water is also helpful to help wash down the gluttony during the contest, as well as a small trash bucket next to each person to contain anything the guests can't.

Everyone has some kind of a movie camera these days and you'll want to record the contest for posterity in living color. With some of the high tech special effects available on many models and the software on your computer you could edit the final version with music, voice-overs, and even replay in rapid succession a guest barfing- over and over again. The younger kids will love watching this and won't be able to get enough. Uncle So And So' or Dad's buddies will never live down having partially digested hotdogs power puked from their mouths and power shot from their noses, only to see the vomit disemerge, then reemerge all over again!

Of course, the contestants will probably have had their share of beer before competing. So, stay out of range near the end of the contest or you're apt to be sprayed with a well-liquefied volume of digestate.

One upside to the modern internet age is that the contest clip can be posted on your personal website or to UTube. With hundreds of thousands of hits at your site, you just might make a little money from any advertisers you have there.

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