We are the champions

At last, our long national nightmare is over—after six years of domination by a skinny Japanese guy, an American is once again the hot dog eating champion of the world:

In a gut-busting showdown that combined drama, daring and indigestion, Joey Chestnut emerged as the world's hot dog eating champion, knocking off six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi in a record-setting yet repulsive triumph.

Chestnut, the great red, white and blue hope in the annual Fourth of July competition, broke his own world record by inhaling 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes _ a staggering one every 10.9 seconds before a screaming crowd in Coney Island.

"If I needed to eat another one right now, I could," the 23-year-old Californian said Wednesday after receiving the mustard yellow belt emblematic of hot dog eating supremacy.

Normally, I'd write some sort of wisecrack here, but I'm just so damn proud. *Sniff* I promised myself I wouldn't cry...