Coney Island Goes To The Dogs!

 First of all, here's wishing one and all a very happy Independence Day as we get farther and farther from COVID and closer and closer to normal.

John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers,wisely suggested that our independence from Great Britain be celebrated with sports,and one of the premiere events on the sporting calendar is now in the books, and no, it's not the final game of the Yankees-Mets Subway Series, The Championships at Wimbledon, or even the ACL Cornhole Championship. Today, my special Independence Day topic is...

The Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Yes, dear readers,Nathan's has a hot dog eating contest that has achieved major league status up there with the World Series, the Super Bowl and WrestleMania. Traditionally, the event has been held at the original Nathan's at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues on Coney Island in Brooklyn,NY, but this year, due to the influx of fans who were shut out last year when the tourney was conducted inside Nathan's on a closed set, the event has been moved to Maimonidies Park.

"My-mon-a-WHO?!?", I hear you ask.

Moses ben Maimon,or Maimonidies, better known by the acronym Rambam, (1138-1204),born in Cordoba,Spain and died in Fostal, Egypt,was a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. Among his most notable works are the Guide for the Perplexed and the Mishneh Torah, or "Repetition of the Torah,"a code of Jewish religious law.

"And this has to do with hot dogs WHAT?!?"

Let us now turn the clock nearly eight hundred years after the passing of the Rambam to Coney Island(2001,to be exact),where the home of the New York Mets' farm club, the Brooklyn Cyclones (a name honoring the iconic Cyclone ride which directly faces the Park) has risen from the ashes of legendary Steeplechase Park, sponsored by Brooklyn/Long Island utility KeySpan, hence the name KeySpan Park. In 2010, the Cyclones phased out the name KeySpan, which had become a defunct division of the UK-based National Grid plc, and signed a naming rights deal with Municipal Credit Union, changing the name to MCU Park. (Baseball? Hot Dogs? I think we're seeing a pattern here.) When the pandemic changed everything, MCU refused to renew its naming rights deal,leaving the door open for Maimonidies Medical Center,founded in 1920 as a result of the merger of United Israel Zion and Beth Moses Hospitals which was named after (You guessed it!) Maimonidies. In its many iterations, the Park has hosted walkathons, football games,all-star softball, the New York Cosmos, and on 7/11, a pre-Tokyo tune-up for the Israeli baseball team as they muscle in on the home turf of the Fire Department of New York. (I believe that with a handle like THAT, they should hire themselves out for synagogues that have been studying Torah on Zoom all year long so the students can actually talk to each other in person, but that's just me.)

"But what in the name of Sidd Finch about the Hot Dog Eating Contest?"

First of all, Sidd Finch is the subject of an elaborate Google-worthy scheme involving the Mets, Brooklyn, and George Plimpton, second of all, the women's competition was won by Michelle Lesco putting away 30.75 hot dog/bun combinations, but the undisputed ruler of the men's title, the king of 'em all, that would have to be defending champion Joey Chestnut, who broke his own record with 76 hot dogs. (Good thing old Maimonidies' medical namesake was there at the ready with pouches of plop-plop-fizz-fizz!)

Boy, the year isn't over yet, and we've already tackled politics, women's rights,entertainment, sports, food,AND religion! Who says we don't cover all the bases?!? (Sorry, I just HAD to sneak a baseball pun i in!)

"When are you going to shut up and let us enjoy the rest of our holiday weekend?!?"

Is now too soon?

Steve out!