America is a nation full of hot dogs

JOEY CHESTNUT is not the only person eating hot dogs in this country of ours. According to www.hot-dog.org (yes, there is such a website), Americans devoured 150 million on the Fourth of July.

But nobody devours them faster than Chestnut. The San Jose, Calif., resident accounted for the consumption of 68 of those 150 million doggies on Wednesday on the way to winning The Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island.

Chestnut, a three-time Wing Bowl champ (2006-08), won the event for the sixth straight year. His hot dog intake amounted to about 20,000 calories — in 10 minutes. To put that in perspective, that's like eating 95 soft pretzels (without the mustard) or 41 3.5-ounce bags of potato chips or 9.5 pounds of trail mix or, if you want to think you're really eating healthy, 571 rice cakes — in 10 minutes.

Last year, Americans spent more than $1.7 billion on tube steaks in supermarkets alone. The biggest hot dog eaters in the United States? New York? Nope. NYC finished third. The winner was Los Angeles, which beat out San Antonio/Corpus Christi, Texas. Go figure.

Other frankfurter facts:

Chicago's O'Hare International Airport consumes six times more hot dogs (725,000) than L.A. International Airport and LaGuardia Airport combined.

The 150 million dogs consumed on Independence Day can stretch from D.C. to L.A. over five times.

During hot dog season, Memorial Day to Labor Day, Americans typically consume 7 billion hot dogs or 818 hot dogs consumed every second.

While you're digesting all that, I've got a hot dog waiting for me — with mustard.

Andy Murray, who advanced to the semifinals in his bid to become the first male Brit to win Wimbledon since 1936, compares his plight to that of LeBron James, whose quest for an NBA championship ended last month.

"There's a lot of people who said [James] never played his best in the Finals," Murray said. "In the fourth quarter of games he never steps up. Then you see how he played the whole of the Finals, the whole of the playoffs. Sometimes it takes guys a bit longer than others."