Kansas City - Fat City - The big dogs of hot dogs

New brunch spot!

The big dogs of hot dogs

By Owen Morris in Out & About

Monday, Jun. 8 2009 @ 9:30AM

This past Saturday at high noon, as the temperature started to climb into the 80s, a crowd of a hundred or so gathered in a tent on the east side of the Sam's Club parking lot at 135th Street in Overland Park. Here was where dreams were achieved but also shattered as 13 contestants gathered for the Nathan's hot dog regional contest.

The winner would move on to the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island on July 4.

Emceeing was George Shea. Wearing his trademark sports coat and skimmer hat, Shea stoked up the crowd as if this were a once-in-a-lifetime contest -- even as he admitted to the crowd, "We have the production values of a high school play."

As the contestants took the stage, each to his own theme music, the crowd roared.

Shea doing what he does best. Warming up the crowd.

The last two to take the stage were the favorites Tim Brown from Chicago and Jim Reeves of Buffalo, New York. Although Brown and Reeves had been chatting amiably backstage, once they were in the limelight each had on his business face. After a countdown, the contest was on.

How to describe competitive eating? First of all, it's gross. Many of the eaters literally fling the hot dogs at their mouths or try to cram three hot dogs in at once. The crumbs and pieces that miss end up hitting attendees in the front rows. The contest is 10 minutes long and it takes about four minutes before the first contestant starts to slow down. At the eight-minute mark, several were hunched over looking as if they were on the edge of "reversal of fortune," a nickname for vomiting and an automatic disqualifier.

Two competitors finished under 15 hot dogs and watching them try to eat next to people like Reeves and Brown helped show just how skilled those two are. While the amateurs got stuck trying to swallow buns whole, Brown would dip the bun completely in water and and swallow it without chewing, the entire process taking a matter of seconds. Reeves did the same and it didn't look like he chewed the dogs themselves, either.

Brown on the left and Reeves on the right

Reeves made it to Coney Island in 2004 and has tried to get back ever since. "I have finished second place eight or nine times since then, two times by half a dog," he said. "I'd love to get back. That's why I flew out here and it'd be great to do it here." Alas, Reeves finished second again to Brown, who downed 32 hot dogs.

Brown looked physically ill for several minutes afterward. "Oh man, those dogs were boiled. I wasn't expecting that. I grill mine and train with grilled ones. I knew it was going to be tough but that was tougher than I expected." Brown grabbed his knees and breathed deeply a few times. By then people were gathering around him wanting autographs and Brown immediately shot up and began working the crowd. Sickness may be hazard of the job, but when the perk is fame, it's a risk these contestants are willing to take.