As Fourth of July nears, Kobayashi has jaw arthritis!

In what may be the greatest upset since the 2002 Lakers-Kings playoff series, Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi has been diagnosed with jaw arthritis less than two weeks before the annual Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest (THE hot dog eating event of the year). News reports quote Takeru as saying, "My jaw refused to fight any more." Despite experiencing pain during training, Takeru continued to eat and now can't even open his mouth an inch (that's 2.5 cm for you metric folks out there). Sadly this year's contest was shaping up to be the most exciting one in years, what with the sudden appearance of dark horse Joey Chestnut who broke Takeru's world record for eating hot dogs earlier this month. I think you should consider eating a hot dog this evening in honor of Takeru, the Hot Dog world's [potentially] fallen hero and hope for a miraculous recovery - I know I will. If he doesn't compete, I'll lose a mint on all of those commemorative Kobayashi-Chestnut matchup t-shirts, decorative bandannas, and miniature pewter spoons I planned to hawk at the event.