Morning Briefing: It’s a dog-eat-dog-eat-dog-eat-dog-eat-dog-eat-dog world

The Fourth of July was a day of many things. Remembering this country’s freedoms. Celebrating the red, white and blue. Fireworks. Parades. Picnics. Beaches. All the values the U.S. was built upon. And Joey Chestnut eating 71 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win the annual Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest in New York.

Of course, he didn’t break his record of 74 hot dogs in 10 minutes, set last year, so it wasn’t a total victory. And Chestnut was disappointed, saying afterward, “I feel like I should eat a couple more.’’

Miki Sudo already won the women’s competition by eating 31 hot dogs, well short of her personal record of 37 and well short of the overall record of 45 set by Sonya “the Black Widow” Thomas. Perhaps she can take comfort in the fact that she has won the title six years in a row.

Chestnut and Sudo will each take home $10,000.

Chestnut has lost only once since 2007. He and Soto each won $10,000.

“It’s not something that there’s books written about,” Chestnut said.

And isn’t that a shame. Where’s my “Dummies Guide to Eating 74 Hot Dogs in 10 Minutes”? Where’s the inspiring movie, “Hot Dog Day Afternoon”? (Please, be careful, “Jaws” is not about this competition and could leave you scarred. Unless it’s a different type of mass-eating competition geared toward sharks.)

Only in America.

Your favorite sports moment

Another in our occasional series of readers’ favorite sports moments involving local teams or events. To take part, email your favorite sports moment to houston.mitchell@latimes.com. Here’s the next one:

Keith Veraldi, Eagle Rock: “I have been fortunate to grow up in the 1960’s as a sports fan living in L.A. Many great pro and college teams, legendary columnists in the local newspapers, HOF announcers, historic venues. Plenty of championships as well as heartbreaks in fifty-five years. Thousands of remembered moments.

“But my absolute favorite was on Sept. 2, 2017. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC hosting Western Michigan in the season opener for both football teams. For a fourth quarter point-after attempt, the Trojans sent out blind long snapper Jake Olson. The WMU coaches and defensive players, knowing beforehand the incredible story of this young man and the chance he might be inserted into this game, chose not to “rush” the line upon the snap thus allowing this very special moment to occur.

“For me, the moment, as well as Jake’s story, his courage and heart are the essence of sports. And sportsmanship. I was privileged to bear witness.

They are very sorry

The double-A Tennessee Smokies, an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, apologized to Colin Kaepernick for a tweet they sent Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Nike recalled a sneaker that featured an early American flag at Kaepernick’s urging. On Wednesday, the Smokies drew the 13-star symbol on their infield and tweeted images of it with the caption, “Hey @Kaepernick7 after a lot of thought, we have decided it’s best to just do it. #America.”

Connor Pearce, marketing and community relations manager for the Smokies, told the Associated Press that “it was just a lighthearted take on a current situation. We did not mean to offend anyone by it. If it did, we certainly apologize.”