We don't know "The Tsunami," but his accomplishments make him worthy of a very special page in his honor. For you see, Kobayashi is no ordinary eater. He is the king of eaters. He is the king of men. His unprecedented four consecutive triumphs at the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest put him in the upper echelon of athletics, not just in present times, but in all of history.

We have seen lots of atheletes win consecutive titles over the years, but rarely do we see complete and utter domination on the scale that Kobayashi delivers. In the past four years he has won the Nathan's Contest by an average margin of 18.3 hot dogs, breaking the world record on three of those occasions. And nobody has ever come close to breaking his record of 53 and 1/2 hot dogs in 12 minutes. It's like if Lance Armstrong finished the tour de france hours before his competitors, or if Tiger Woods got a hole in one on every swing of the PGA tour.

But the fact that he always completely shatters his competition isn't what makes him great. What makes Kobayashi great is the style and grace with which he performs. To see a 130 pound, 20 something Japanese kid come in and completely destroy a group of 300+ pound American slobs is amazing, but the fact that he takes it in stride and doesn't get cocky is truly inspirational. He carries himself with an air of genuine nobility and class, with the charisma and dignity of a true champion. He took a sport that had previously been a spectacle of people piggishly stuffing as much food as possible into their mouths and transformed it into a science, into an art, and into something that is worth being celebrated.

--watchmeeatahotdog.com