American Beat: Japanese Sputnik

"Just thinking about it makes me want to barf," said golfer-"athlete" Danielle Ammaccapane in SI's June 26 issue.

All of these so-called professional athletes obviously haven't been to the Nathan's contest. Watching a guy eat 501/2 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes ranks up there with the greatest achievements in sports history-and I say that having seen the 1969 Mets, Super Bowl III, the American hockey team's "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Olympics, the Michael Jordan era and even the New York Yankees' championship runs.

But we're not going to produce an American Kobayashi until we start taking this sport seriously.

"He's out there, somewhere," Shea said. "Maybe on some farm, hundreds of miles away from the nearest city, occupied with the mundane chores of the agrarian life. Or maybe he's some kid in the middle of Bed-Stuy or South Central who doesn't even realize that he has the gift. But I know he's out there. The trick is to find him."

Gersh Kuntzman is also a columnist for The New York Post and the Brooklyn Cyclones beat reporter for The Brooklyn Papers. His website is at http://www.gersh.tv.

© 2002