Terror at the hot dog eating contest: What's Kobayashi's beef?

First question: is working security at a hot dog eating contest considered a great assignment if you’re a cop? I have to think that would generate a few snickers at the morning meeting. Sergeant: “Williams, McBride, Ellewitz … you go to the United Nations building and help work security for the ambassador to Iran. Conrad, Martella … you go to Coney Island and guard the wieners.” But little did they know that this year, the calm of the Famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest would be shattered by terror. Takeru Kobayashi was released from jail this morning following his arrest for rushing the stage at the contest on Sunday. The former eating champ issued only a short, cryptic, and somewhat amusing statement as to why he did it:
Video following the jump.

“I’m really hungry. I wanted to eat hot dogs,” he said as he walked out of Brooklyn Criminal Court after being arraigned on charges of storming the stage at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island Sunday.

Kobayashi, 32, was released without bail on charges of trespassing, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration.

More from the New York Daily News:

Kobayashi was barred from competing this year following a contract dispute with the event’s organizers.

His absence left the door wide-open for his arch nemesis, Joey Chestnut, to storm to his fourth consecutive title with 54 dogs in 10 minutes.

Still wearing a “Free Kobi” T-shirt as he left court, Kobayashi said he’d only tried to get on stage to congratulate “his buddies” and to “prove himself.”

Why did he really do it? Perhaps it’s as GeekoSystem suggests, that Kobyashi is a little miffed that he was shut out of the contest because he was not willing to sign an exclusive contract with Major League Eating, the organization that controls all of these big gobbling contests these days. Kobyashi, Geekosystem notes, put the Nathan’s contest — and competitive eating in general — on the map, after all. So perhaps he just wanted people to remember that.
And perhaps to point out the absurdity of an organization called “Major League Eating.” Quite ironic that a hot-dog eating contest on the Fourth of July, which is supposed to represent freedom and patriotism, would require participants to sign restrictive, exclusive contracts. Must every popular activity we touch in this country become a corporate, bloated money-grab?
It might also be the first time someone’s performed an act of civil disobedience with pre-printed T-shirts while accompanied by an interpreter.
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Former hot dog champ Takeru Kobayashi released from jail after distrupting Nathan’s eating contest [New York Daily News]
Why Was Takeru Kobayashi Arrested? The Backstory (And the Arrest Video) [Geekosystem]