On the Fourth of July, we visited a local diner for a late lunch. The diner has a huge flatscreen TV on the wall I was facing, so all through my meal I was treated to a viewing of the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. 
For the record, that's not the sort of thing you should watch if you want to maintain your appetite. There's a good reason that Pepto-Bismol co-sponsors this event.
The kids observed that one of the contestants was wearing headphones, and that led us to wonder what kind of music a competitive eater would listen to. Some options included:
"Hot Dog" by Led Zeppelin
"Saltydog" by Flogging Molly
"Jalapeno" by Big & Rich
"Green Onions" by Booker T. and the M.G.'s
"Gravy (for my mashed potatoes)" by Dee Dee Sharp
"Hunger" by Christopher Cross
If that's not enough music to motivate you to eat, why not try songs by these artists:
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Smashing Pumpkins
Meat Loaf
Wild Cherry
Bananarama
Phish
The Cranberries
Pearl Jam
Cream
Vanilla Ice
Bread
Salt-N-Peppa
Limp Bizkit
Black Eyed Peas
Bowling for Soup
How do you competitive-eat all that food? Johnny Cash would tell you to take it "One Piece at a Time." And that last hot dog? Hopefully you won't want to play "It's a Mistake" by Men at Work. But if you want to win the contest, definitely don't play "Leave It" by Yes. By the end of the contest, though, most competitors will probably be ready to sing Todd Agnew's "No Room." But the winner, instead, will rock out to "Simply Irresistable" by Robert Palmer.
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