A Nathan's Famous hot dog eating qualifier comes to Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers Saturday. And local Ben Brown has been training his whole life for this.
Can Ben Brown eat 26 hot dogs in 10 minutes?
Even he's not so sure.
"I grew up in Chicago going to Cubs game," Brown, a box office manager for the Fort Myers Miracle, said of his hot-dog eating roots.
"I would never just get one hot dog. It was always three or four."
But 26?
"Yeah, that's a lot," he said, laughing.
And this year, 26 may not even be enough.
The Miracle are hosting hot-dog eaters from around the country at Hammond Stadium in south Fort Myers Saturday, when a sanctioned qualifier for the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest returns to Southwest Florida.
Men and women will be packing it in, trying to eat as many dogs as possible in 10 minutes. The winning male and female eaters get a spot on the nationally televised Coney Island stage this summer.
At last year's event, which took place at Germain Arena, Californian Pablo Martinez spent his first-ever trip to Florida cramming in 25½ hot dogs to take the men's victory. On the women's side, Mary Bowers downed 10 dogs to punch her Coney Island ticket.
Brown thinks he can get at least 12 hot dogs in him.
He may be a rookie. And he may have only signed up because the competition was literally in his workplace's backyard, but he's taking this thing (fairly) seriously.
Brown's studied the tapes. He's read up on the techniques. He's taken notes on what hot-dog-eating legends such as Joey Chestnut and Matt Stonie do to fit 60-some hot dogs into their otherwise trim builds.
"They're fit guys, so, you know, I've done some running," Brown said. "I try to eat fast. Whatever it is I'm eating. Speed. That's my focus."
He's even tried the hot-dog-bun-soaked-in-water technique.
"I did it once, just one bun," Brown said. "It wasn't the tastiest thing, but it does make eating bread a lot easier."
In a way, Brown's been training for this day his whole life.
He's eaten food since he was a kid. At the University of Kentucky his fraternity once won a dance competition. Well, actually it placed fourth in one. Probably.
"They only ranked the top three teams," he said, "so we placed fourth, I assume."
So, yeah, watch out Pablo Martinez.
"I've just got to stay confident, stay cool," Brown said.
And eat a few hot dogs, right?
"Enough to win."
Connect with this reporter: @ATometich (Twitter)
If you go
Nathan's Famous hot-dog eating qualifier
When: 4:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Hammond Stadium at CenturyLink Sports Complex; 14100 Six Mile Cypress Parkway, south Fort Myers
Followed by: Fort Myers Miracle vs. Tampa Tarpons at 6 p.m.
Admission: Free tickets for the qualifier and Saturday night's game are available today at the Nathan's Famous store at 11150 S. Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers
More: nathansfamous.com