Tony Hightower: I am 100% in this group. It me. Kobayashi is the Babe Ruth of competitive eating. He made the game what it is today. Without the Tsunami, Joey Chestnut would still be working a steam table at an Applebee's in San Ysidro.

I am 100% in this group. It me. Kobayashi is the Babe Ruth of competitive eating. He made the game what it is today. Without the Tsunami, Joey Chestnut would still be working a steam table at an Applebee's in San Ysidro.

Love to connect with my people* * folks who love Takeru Kobayashi and hate Joey Chestnut

Kobayashi is also VERY COOL and Joey Chestnut is not

He literally transformed competitive eating, not just by setting records, but by treating it like a sport rather than sheer gluttony

Absolutely. Honestly, when he got railroaded out of the sport for not playing ball with MLE, and was immediately replaced with this Maga goober, I kind of lost my enthusiasm for the whole spectacle.

Yeah I mean it really drove home that I don’t care about competitive eating, only Kobayashi

What did Takeru even do WRONG?

He didn't want to be beholden to the IFOCE, who really overplayed their hand. Competitive Eating isn't like, say, the NFL or something, where there are no other meaningful competition options. Kobayashi wanted to go compete in Japan sometimes, and they told him no. So he quit. LIKE A BOSS.

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