Basketball, football, baseball, and the other sports we know and love are popular all over the country and the world. Believe it or not, there are sports that are as popular, if not more than, our beloved classics. Sports such as outhouse racing, swamp soccer, bun climbing, and air racing are among the adored yet strange sports that we know little to nothing about. Time to change that!
1. Outhouse Racing
Image courtesy of Sewer History
I know what you are thinking. Yes, this could be the most disgusting thing ever known to entertain the masses. As the Visit Virginia website states, “the hilarious tradition is returning again to Virginia City October 4-5, 2014.”
Now, how exactly is this supposed to work? Well, teams of fully costumed adults and their matching decorated outhouses race each other. One member of the team rides inside the latrine while the other teammates push, pull, tug, drag, and do just about everything they can to move the wood encased toilet down the strip.
Outhouse racing was started as a commemoration of a historical moment when the “townspeople once took their outhouses to the streets and marched to city hall to protest new ordinances that outlawed outdoor toilets.” Well their protest is our entertainment and it is here to stay, unlike the golden age of outdoor plumbing. Thankfully!
2. Air Racing
Image courtesy of American Air Racing
Wikipedia states that air racing “is a motorsport that involves airplanes competing over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a previously estimated time.”
The first air race was held on May 23, 1909 and was called the Prix de Lagatinerie, at the Port-Aviation airport in the south of Paris, France. Four brave pilots entered the race, only two actually competed, but nobody completed the obstacle course.
3. Bun Climbing
Image courtesy of Flickr
Thousands of Hong Kong inhabitants and visitors take over the tiny fishing island of Cheung Chau each spring to witness what can only be described as man vs. bun.
List Verse describes bun climbing as this: “Just outside the Pak Tai temple, 60 foot tall bamboo and metal structures are covered in steamed, sweet and blessed buns.”
This festival of carb-y goodness lasts an entire week. On the final night of the festival week at midnight, in an event known as the Bun Scramble, the bread crazed athletes scurry up the 60 foot tall bun towers and attempt to collect more buns than their adversaries.
4. Swamp Soccer
Image courtesy of Personnel Today
Much like other sports, swamp soccer is a form of association football played in, yes, you guessed it, swamps. Legend has it that the sport comes to us from Bishop Auckland, in the northeast side of England. It was originally created as an exercise activity for soldiers and athletes because playing in the swampy bog-like turf is extremely physically demanding.
Currently, there are approximately 260 swamp soccer teams all over the world. In fact, at the swamp soccer world championship games of 2005, just over 5,000 participants waded it out in the swamp.
5. Mountain Unicycle
Image courtesy of Unicycling
Clowns. Those are the first things I think of when I think of unicycles and I am almost positive that that is the same for you. I bet when you think of unicycling you do not think of rugged men and women daring to ride the unicycle down some of the rockiest terrain known to man, but that is exactly what mountain unicycling is! Though this sport seems like it was created by and for the clinically insane and adrenaline junkies, it has received national coverage from news sources, such as FOX.
6. Chess Boxing
Image courtesy of Chess Maniac
Of all strange sports, chess boxing has to take the cake. If you are one of the rare and few intellectual jocks searching for the next and best challenge, your search is over. After a two minute round of throwing punches around the ring, the boxers sit down to flex their intellectual muscles with a four minute chess competition. No, this sport is no joke–just ask the World Chess Boxing Association.
7. Mindball
Image courtesy of New Scientist
Though Chess Boxing is a close second, this game is the ultimate way to put that intellectual muscle to the test. This two player game is all about trying to control a ball’s movement across a table by becoming more relaxed and more focused than your opponent. Meditation meets athleticism.
Yes, these sports are strange, but what makes them so strange is definitely what keeps us so entertained.