This is why I blog about WV hot dogs.

As I do every Sunday morning, I was watching The Today Show yesterday and I immediately perked up when the announced a segment on the top-rated components for building the ultimate summer dawg. While the list was a pretty good tool for picking the lowest common denominator for folks in Trenton, Cedar Rapids, and Puyallup, for weenie lovers in place with rich hot dog traditions like Michigan, Greater Cincinnati, Georgia, and, of course, West By-God Virginia, the list was utter bollocks.

Unfortunately, the red flags started popping up right off the bat. The first item that they introduced was Hunt's ketchup. All of our readers know how we at WVhotdogs.com feel about ketchup on hot dogs. Even at that, the only people who I know that prefer Hunt's over Heinz are a couple of bitter Republicans who don't know the meaning of the phrase "gracious winner."

Next up, they picked spicy brown mustard over the yellow stuff. SBM: great for sausages, lousy for WV hot dogs.

Then they gave the choice for best relish. Since there has never been a documented case of relish being placed on a hot dog in West Virginia, I'm not even going to pretend to have a valid opinion on this topic. Moving along...

As for buns, they picked Pepperidge Farms, a national brand. My recommendation to all (not just folks in and around WV): buy the freshest buns, regardless of the brand. Getting them from the closest baker (like Heiner's in Advantage Valley) not only helps the environment by decreasing transportation time and gas consumption, it also ensures the softest buns possible.

Finally, they showed Nathan's New York-style weenies as the top choice due to the skin-on "bite." Well, here is a news flash to the folks on the coasts: people between the Hudson and I 5 like their weenies skinless. I sorta gag and choke eveytime I have to eat a skin-on weenie. However, nathan's skinless franks are indeed quite good, if not a bit pricey.

This sort of segment is exactly why I signed up to join Stanton at WVhotdogs.com. When I was Googling around for info on hot dogs the way we in the Mountain State like 'em, his was the only site that really spoke to me. We are, in a sense, documenting an icon of regional culture that seems to get ignored in the face of the bi-coastal national media.

I'm not saying that the TV report ain't valid for some. Just don't expect WVians to listen or care.