Competitive eating legend Joey Chestnut won his 16th Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest title on the 4th of July, and the ESPN commentators drew an interesting comparison that got 670 The Score hosts Laurence Holmes and Dan Bernstein fired up on Thursday.
Talking about the greatness of Chestnut as a competitive eater, Rich Shea, president of Major League Eating and broadcaster, said his 16 hot dog eating titles made basketball and civil rights icon Bill Russell’s accomplishments “look pedestrian.”
Bernstein said that was just a case of speaking without thinking.
“Sometimes, thought starts in the brain, thought works its way down into the chamber and it loads itself and you lock the bolt,” Bernstein said. “And sometimes you just gotta unlock the bolt and remove the thought from the chamber.”
Bernstein added the comparison and Shea downplaying Russell’s accomplishments was just too wild to believe.
“Here’s what I needed in that moment,” Holmes had said previously about the clip. “In that moment, I needed Will Smith to appear I need him to walk up to the broadcast booth and go, ‘Keep Bill Russell’s name out your f–king mouth!’ And slap the both of them.”
Both mocked the line about Russell just being “fine” compared to Chestnut.
“You know him with all of his championships and him being first at things and this civil rights leadership stuff,” Holmes said. “But let me tell you something right now about this is where it’s at. Getting these glizzys down, that’s what he does.”
