He prefers his hot dogs with mustard and flaxseed oil

Say it is so, Joey Chestnut.

The record for the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest has ballooned from 13 to 68 since the event's inception in 1916 — thanks to Chestnut's gutty performance on Saturday — and, even better, no one is demanding any asterisks.

Maybe Barry Bonds should've loaded up on hot dogs instead.

Blank-it statement

Think they're angry in Pullman over Washington State football players running afoul of the law? You fill in the blanks, in this editorial in Wazzu's student newspaper (dailyevergreen.com/story/28938) under the headline: "________ is an embarrassment to WSU football."

Explained the editor's note: "Due to the absurdly high number of arrests of football players, The Summer Evergreen is publishing this fill-in-the-blanks editorial rather than having to publish a new piece every few months or so."

He's bad, he's bad

The Canadian Football League has fined Toronto Argonauts receiver Arland Bruce for "excessive actions" for his end-zone tribute to Michael Jackson — taking off his helmet, shoulder pads and jersey and lying down, pretending to be buried — after scoring on a 21-yard pass play Wednesday night.

"In related news," wrote Mike Penner of the L.A. Times, "Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens are sorry the NFL season doesn't start for two more months."

Foregone conclusion

For U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, choosing golf over football and baseball as an eighth-grader wasn't such a tough decision.

"I was a short, dumpy kid, so I played football and I didn't like to be on the bottom of the pile," he told the AP. "I was a catcher, and I got hit a few times where it didn't feel great. So I pulled the plug on that pretty quick."

Talko time

• Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, after race officials DQ'd Italian swimmer Flavia Zoccari when the lower back of her skintight swimsuit burst open: "When Zoccari's swimming career is over, she will make a great plumber."

• Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post, on one surefire motto that Reebok overlooked in its new line of NFL maternity shirts: "Brett Favre thinks I'm a boy — no, a girl — no, a boy — no, wait."

• Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, after Chestnut's latest hot-dog binge: "Here's one American champion who still has the fire in his belly."

• Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, on ex-boxer Evander Holyfield facing foreclosure on his 109-room Atlanta mansion: "It's sad. That place cost Holyfield an arm and a leg and two ears."

Passing judgment

Former Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang, the NCAA career leader in passing yards, was questioned by Honolulu police after he allegedly grabbed a woman's camera and threw it onto a nearby rooftop to keep her from filming a brawl, the Honolulu Advertiser reported.

Possible charges range from first-degree robbery to misdemeanor intentional grounding.

Sideline Chatter appears Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com