5 Reasons Why Joey Chestnutt is America's Next Top Role Model

Last Fourth of July, the world's top-ranked eater, Joey "Jaws" Chestnutt, won the Nathan's Hot Dog eating competition for the sixth time in a row. Competitive eating stars are commonly laughed off as novelty acts, but compared to a mile long list of professional athletes plagued by sexual assault, cheating, dog-fighting, doping and infidelity scandals,  Joey Chestnut might just be the positive role model America's been waiting for. 

1. He's a Humble Winner: Chestnutt won the annual Fourth of July competition by forcing 69 hotdogs down his gullet in ten minutes, that's one hotdog every 7 seconds. He dunked each one in a glass of water and swallowing the whole dripping mess whole to consume them fast enough to win the coveted Nathan's Mustard Belt, besting the second place winner by 18 hotdogs. Later, he attributed the win to the weather not being "too hot" and the hotdogs being "pretty good." That, my friends, is called sportsmanship. 

2. He's Got His Priorities Straight. Even though Chestnutt is an international professional eating star with a line of his own trading cards  and legions of fans, he says that he'd like to give it all up one day to settle down, have a family, and return to his former career of construction management. Isn't that adorable? That makes me want to give Lance Armstrong a stern look and say, "See, now that's a nice man." 

3. He's a Try-Athelete: The champion believes that when it comes to competition, variety is the spice of life. He's tried his hand at lobster guzzling, competed in the kimchi arena, broken world records in wing-eating, eaten pizzas nearly whole and made himself seriously ill shooting for the win at a crab cake eating contest. The athlete made sure to note that he still, "loves crab cakes, though." It just goes to show, if at first you don't succeed...

4. He Knows How to Get to Carnegie Hall: Chestnutt has compared his training to a marathon runner's. The athlete drinks gallons of water to stretch his stomach, goes on extreme fasts before competitions, and practices rhythmic breathing methods in order to consume gargantuan portions at precisely the right pace. Unlike many doped up athletic superstars today, Chestnutt wins the old fashioned way: practiced discipline. 

5. He Does it for Fun: Despite making a hundred grand a year off the competitions alone and an undisclosed amount for appearances at private parties and food events, Joey Chestnutt still claims that competitive eating is just a hobby he enjoys between earning his civil engineering degree from San Jose university and managing construction sites. Keep in mind that Chestnutt broke 15 competitive eating world records last year. How do you use your weekends? 

So, what do you think? Do you consider Joey Chestnutt to be a positive role model?