Second Thoughts

Chestnut set for some pain at Petco Park

Joey Chestnut (foreground) is nervous about participating in today’s ice cream sandwich eating contest in San Diego because too much ice cream numbs the mouth and affects a body’s core temperature.
Joey Chestnut (foreground) is nervous about participating in today’s ice cream sandwich eating contest in San Diego because too much ice cream numbs the mouth and affects a body’s core temperature.

Competitive eating's one-stomach dynasty has inhaled nearly 13 pounds of deep-fried asparagus in one sitting and 141 hard-boiled eggs in another.

He's been willing to ingest and miraculously digest almost anything, from 103 Krystal burgers to 55 mutton sandwiches, during a dozen years of chomping his way along a food-abusing road.

Petco Park, though, has Joey Chestnut nervous.

"It's going to suck really bad," Chestnut said. "The last time I did ice cream, it was the most painful thing I've ever done."

Chestnut is preparing his psyche and small intestine for a tongue-twister called the Baked Bear World Ice-Cream Sandwich Eating Championship, before today's Padres-Rockies game.

Talk about an ice-cream headache.

"It hurts, but you keep going through the pain," said Chestnut, 33, the reigning and nine-time champion of the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

"Then your throat hurts. Then your mouth is kind of numb. Then it's in your stomach. It affects your core temperature. I did ice cream in Lakeland, Fla., when it was like 100 degrees and 90 percent humidity, but I was shivering at the end."

The event held at Petco's Park at the Park will be six minutes. Chestnut predicts he will polish off about 15 pounds of the ice-cream treats, which translates to 45 sandwiches.

Total prize purse for the competition is $4,000 with $2,000 going to the winner.

Sportsmanship

When Spanish tennis player Nicolas Almagro broke down after a recurring knee injury again forced him to quit a major tournament mid-match, his opponent stepped up.

Argentina's Juan Martín del Potro went over to Almagro at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris Thursday to hug the player, who was inconsolable over exiting the French Open.

Del Potro then helped him off the court and sat on the sidelines with Almagro to comfort him further.

Instead of just observing the moment and moving on into the third round, del Potro went to his opponent's side, requested water, helped him off the court and shared words of support on the sideline.

"I told him that tennis is important, but health matters more than tennis in this case, because I want him to be out of his bad patch," del Potro said after the match.

Headlines

From Sportspickle.com:

• "Zaza Pachulia confident Warriors will win NBA Finals: 'I don't think I'll even have to injure anyone' "

• "Mr. Met blames poor behavior on head injuries: 'I still have stitches in my head' "

• "Baseball hoping to see rating boost by replacing baseball with bench-clearing brawls"

Sports quiz

In what year did the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest become a sanctioned event?

Sports answer

1997, but the contest has been around since 1916.

Sports on 06/04/2017

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