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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Defending champ Chestnut sets record with 74 hot dogs
By REBECCA GIBIAN
Associated Press
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
Reigning champion Joey Chestnut
eats two hot dogs at a time during
the men’s competition of the Na-
than’s Famous Fourth of July hot
dog eating contest Wednesday in
New York’s Coney Island.
NEW YORK — Joey “Jaws”
Chestnut extended his reign as cham-
pion eater at the Nathan’s Famous
July Fourth hot dog eating contest
Wednesday, downing a record 74 wie-
ners and buns in 10 minutes to take
home the coveted Mustard Belt for
the 11th time.
Miki Sudo held on to her title as
the top women’s competitor at the
annual Brooklyn eat-off, chomping
37 franks and buns to take home the
top prize for an unprecedented fifth
consecutive year.
Chestnut said he was “feeling
good.”
“I found a vicious rhythm,” the
34-year-old Chestnut said after the
stuffing session.
But while Chestnut ate 10 more
dogs and buns than second-place fin-
isher Carmen Cincotti, a judging error
cast initial doubt over their totals after
jurists didn’t see the eaters were tak-
ing the dogs and buns from two plates.
“Frankly, the judging was just off,”
said George Shea, the longtime Coney
Island announcer. “Joey said, ‘Look at
my plates,’ and Carmen said, ‘Look at
my plates.’ We counted the plates that
they had eaten and it was 64 and 74.”
Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn dis-
trict attorney, certified the final tally
and Chestnut’s record of 74, two more
than he consumed last year.
“At the end of the day, Joey Chest-
nut came in here and ate 74 hot dogs,
broke a world record,” said Cincotti,
who celebrated his 26th birthday on
Wednesday. “Apparently they were
good dogs.”
A total of $40,000 in prize money
was up for grabs, with the first-place
winners taking home $10,000 each.
Sudo fell short of the 41 hot dogs
she consumed last year but easily beat
out second-place finisher Mischelle
Lesco, of Tucson, Arizona, who
chowed down 28 wieners and buns.
Thousands of attendees, many
donning mustard-colored hot dog
caps, braved 83-degree temperatures
and a heat index of 91 degrees to
witness the annual July Fourth com-
petition on the Coney Island board-
walk. The outlandish tradition dates
to 1972, though the company has long
promoted what a former president
acknowledged was a legendary start
date of 1916.
Fan Martha Pleasant, of Franklin,
New Jersey, said she was attending
the competitive eating competition to
support her husband, Dwight Pleas-
ant, who “loves wieners.”
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Pella stuns Cilic
at Wimbledon;
Djokovic, Nadal
advance
LONDON — Guido Pella of
Argentina came from two sets
down to stun third-seeded Marin
Cilic at Wimbledon today, beat-
ing last year’s finalist 3-6, 1-6,
6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the second
round.
Cilic looked headed for a rou-
tine victory before the match was
suspended by rain in the third set
on Wednesday but the former U.S.
Open champion couldn’t find the
same rhythm today.
“Yesterday he was playing so,
so good, and hitting the ball so
hard that I couldn’t do anything,”
the 82nd-ranked Pella said. “So
the rain helped me a lot.”
Cilic was runner-up to Roger
Federer last year and showed
great form by beating Novak
Djokovic in the Queen’s Club
final last month.
His early exit opens up Feder-
er’s path to the final even more,
with No. 8 Kevin Anderson the
highest-seeded player left in the
Swiss star’s half of the draw after
No. 6 Grigor Dimitrov lost in the
first round.
Stan Wawrinka also exited,
losing to Italian qualifier Thomas
Fabbiano 7-6 (7), 6-3, 7-6 (6).
That match was also suspended
on Wednesday with Wawrinka
leading 6-5 in the third set, but
Fabbiano wrapped up the victory
quickly to equal his best Grand
Slam result by reaching the third
round.
Neymar urged to
stop acting, win
titles to get FIFA
award
MOSCOW — After a decade
of duopoly, the FIFA-run vote to
crown soccer’s best player finally
seems open to third parties after
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ron-
aldo left the World Cup early.
Neymar must help Brazil lift
the trophy next week if he wants
to join the greats, according to the
World Cup winner who first took
home FIFA’s top individual award.
Cutting out the play-acting
would also help Neymar win votes,
1990 World Cup winner Lothar
Matthaeus said Wednesday.
“We need players like Ney-
mar,” said the former West Ger-
many captain, who won the inau-
gural FIFA world player award in
1991. “But not with this acting
what he was doing now in each
game.”
A debate about Neymar faking
injury and overreacting to tack-
les is polarizing opinion between
European outrage and Brazilian
defense.
Former England forward Alan
Shearer called Neymar’s behav-
ior “absolutely pathetic” in a Brit-
ish broadcast Monday. Neymar’s
theatrics distracted from Brazil’s
2-0 win over Mexico that took
the five-time champion into the
quarterfinals.
“The criticism is nonsense,”
Brazil great Ronaldo told report-
ers Wednesday. “I am against all
these opinions you mentioned.
I don’t think referees have been
protecting him enough.”
— Associated Press
AP Photo/John Froschauer
Los Angeles Angels’ Kole Calhoun flips his bat after hitting a two-run home run off Seattle Mariners’ Nick Rumbelow during the sixth
inning of Wednesday’s game in Seattle.
Calhoun homers, Angels end
Mariners’ streak with 7-4 win
Associated Press
S
EATTLE — Kole Calhoun has come a
long way since getting a needed break
on the disabled list last month, and Gar-
rett Richards looked pretty sharp after his own
DL stint.
Calhoun hit a two-run homer, Richards
pitched effectively into the sixth inning and
the Los Angeles Angels beat the Mariners 7-4
on Wednesday to snap Seattle’s eight-game
winning streak.
Batting in the leadoff spot for only the
fourth time this season, Calhoun had three hits
and drove in three runs to help lift Richards
(5-4) in his return.
UP NEXT: MARINERS
• Los Angeles Angels (44-43)
at Seattle Mariners (55-32)
• Tonight, 7:10 p.m. TV: RTNW
Calhoun’s towering homer in the sixth
gave the Angels a 6-2 lead. He also had a sin-
gle in the fourth inning for his first RBI. Cal-
houn is batting .306 with four homers and
eight RBIs since coming off the DL on June
18. He was hitting .145 before that break.
“Kole did his job today,” Angels manager
Mike Scioscia said. “That’s what we need
from the guys at the top of the order. It gave
us a lot of opportunities today.”
Richards, who went on the DL on June
15 with a left hamstring strain, allowed three
runs, including back-to-back homers to Kyle
Seager and Ryon Healy, over 5 1/3 innings.
He struck out eight.
“I just overthrew a couple of heaters
there,” Richards said of the home runs. “But
I felt good. The hamstring felt good. I knew I
would be on a leash (80 pitches), so I just tried
to execute pitches.”
Richards retired 10 of the next 11 hitters he
faced after the home runs.
“Garrett just exhaled (after the homers)
and made some really good pitches,” Scioscia
said. “He gave us a chance to win the game.”
As midseason point nears, parity ruling the day in WNBA
By DOUG FEINBERG
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Parity is ram-
pant in the WNBA this season as the
league reaches the midway point.
Only three losses separate the top
eight teams.
Phoenix, Los Angeles and Seattle
are at the top of the standings. Minne-
sota got off to a rough start, but lately
has turned things around with seven
consecutive victories.
“I think it’s the best and I’ve been
in the league a lot of years. It’s the
best year since I’ve been here. Every
team has everyone playing for them
with no one sitting out,” Seattle coach
Dan Hughes said. “There’s a fine line
between a lot of us. If you’re not on
your game every night you’re proba-
bly going to get beat.”
Seattle’s next opponent is New
York on Tuesday night. The Liberty
have struggled to a 5-11 start this sea-
son after finishing with the third best
record the past few seasons. New
York has nearly the entire team back
and just seem a play or two away
from winning games.
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Seattle Storm’s Breanna Stewart
celebrates a score against the
Connecticut Sun in the second
half of a June 15 WNBA game in
Seattle.
“We’re right there, we just are
missing a rebound or a defen-
sive assignment,” Liberty forward
Shavonte Zellous said. “We still have
faith in each other that we can turn
things around.”
New York is currently sitting in
11th place in the standings. The only
team that is below the Liberty is the
Indiana Fever, who is off to the worst
start in franchise history with a 1-16
record. They are in danger of break-
ing the record for the league’s worst
season set by the Tulsa Shock in 2011
when they went 3-31.
Phoenix took over the No. 1 posi-
tion in the power poll for the first time
since it began three years ago.
POWER POLL: A look at this
week’s WNBA poll:
1. Phoenix (13-5): Suffered a big
blow when Sancho Lyttle was lost for
the season with an ACL injury.
2. Seattle (12-5): Storm plays
seven of their 10 remaining 10 games
in July on the road.
3. Minnesota (10-6): Seven
straight wins has vaulted the Lynx
back into the thick of the race for the
top seeds. Maya Moore has been put-
ting up MVP-type numbers during
the streak.
4. Los Angeles (12-5): Lost a cou-
ple games in a row with Nneka Ogwu-
mike sidelined with a back injury. She
returned and the Sparks won again.
5. Washington (10-6): Come to
a difficult part of the schedule with
seven of 10 games this month on the
road.
6. Connecticut (9-7): Have three
more road games before finally get-
ting a chance to head home again. Sun
play 11 of final 15 games at home.
7. Atlanta (8-8): Finally have
everyone healthy and have been get-
ting qualities minutes from Imani
McGee-Stafford.
8. Dallas (7-8): Wings suffered a
scary moment when Liz Cambage
got poked in the eye against Minne-
sota. Fortunately all tests came back
negative.
9. Las Vegas (6-12): The Aces
got Moriah Jefferson back from her
microfracture surgery and could
make a surprising run to the playoffs.
10. Chicago (6-10): Won three
straight before a tough overtime loss
to New York on Sunday.
11. New York (5-11): It took over-
time, but the Liberty snapped a five-
game losing streak with a win in
Chicago.
12. Indiana (1-16): Signed Cappie
Pondexter on Sunday to get a little
more veteran leadership in the locker
room.