So where does this unbelievable trick shot rank among them best ever? That question is up for debate. Just don't expect to see Kobe Bryant throwing his former prom date, Brandi, through any basketball hoops anytime soon.
Imagine Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier slugging it out for a round in one of history’s greatest boxing matches and then when the bell rings sitting down for a game of chess. Preposterous? Ok, maybe. But we would have loved to see it and you wouldn’t have to make up the rules as you go because Chess Boxing is a real sport.
Sure you can make a case that most sports are downright odd when stripped to their essence (smack a ball with a stick; throw a ball through a hoop) but RadarOnline.com decided to find the weirdest sports in the world and came up with the following nine.
9. Underwater Rugby, Germany: This sport, which has little in common with the other rugby, is played in a pool between three and a half to five meters deep. Two teams, each with six players, attempt to put a slightly negatively buoyant ball into the goals at the bottom of the pool. Because of water resistance, the ball only can be thrown roughly two to three meters at a time. The game is exhausting and teammates are often replaced during a game.
8. Unicycle Hockey: This sport is has been played for nearly 25 years in America, Europe, and Asia, with actual leagues created in Great Britain and Germany. According to the rules, all players must have both feet on the pedals to engage the ball.
7. Bossaball, Belgium: This game is just like volleyball, except that players compete on giant trampolines. The name derives from bossa nova, the Brazilian musical style, probably because the referees play drums during the game.
6. Man vs. Horse Marathon, Wales: Rather than riding horses, people race against them on a 22-mile course laden with several natural obstacles. While the horses have the advantage in the open terrain, the human competitors benefit from the thick wooded areas, making it a contest.
5. Bog Snorkeling, Wales: This aesthetically unappealing sport, first held in 1985, involves competitors swimming in water-filled trenches cut through peat bog. The trenches are 55 meters long, and swimmers must complete the race without using conventional swimming techniques. (One offshoot of the sport is Mountain Bike Bog Snorkeling, in which participants ride through the bog on specifically prepared bikes.)
4. Chess Boxing: First envisioned in 1992 by Dutch artist Enki Bilal, this sport alternates between eleven rounds of boxing and chess. It begins with a four minute round of speed chess, then with three minutes of boxing, and then repeats the cycle. Opponents either win by knockout or checkmate. (We would have loved to have seen Bobby Fischer versus Boris Spassky in this competition.)
3. Toe Wrestling, United Kingdom: The first World Toe Wrestling Competition began in 1976 at a pub in Derbyshire, and involved competitors locking toes and forcing each other's feet to the ground. In 1997 the organizers applied to have the game added to the Olympics, but were declined. However, it's a very popular sport, and top player Alan "Nasty" Nash even appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1997.
2. Wife Carrying, Finland: Originally invented as a joke centuries ago, this sport involves male competitors racing while carrying a female teammate through an obstacle course. The official track is 253 meters, and has two dry obstacles and a meter deep water obstacle. The sport is now played around the world, and has a category in the Guinness Book of World Records.
1. Cheese Rolling, England: Competitors chase a round of Double Gloucester cheese which is rolled down a hill. The first person to cross the finish line at the bottom wins the cheese. Although theoretically the goal is to catch the cheese itself, that hardly happens due to its head start and natural speed. Not surprisingly, there is lots of falling, tumbling, and grass stains
Football, soccer, basketball, baseball—these mainstream sports attract the most interest. However, there is more to sports than just hitting a ball with a stick or throwing something at someone.
Here's just a few of the most unusual popular sports...
I don't know about you, but I hate ironing. It's so boring. For all you adrenaline junkies out there, there is a way to get your blood pumping while you iron. It's called extreme ironing.
All you have to do is find the craziest way to iron your clothes. If that means ironing across a canyon or while jumping off a cliff, then so be it. As it says on goextremeironing.com, "...we just don't put our lives in danger we risk our laundry to."
Think you can iron your shirt while parachuting?
2. Wife Carrying
Husbands, have no fear. There is a sport which you and your wife can do together—wife carrying.
Originally began in Finland as a joke, the sport has become a sport that attracts many. It seems to becoming very popular in the United States with at least three major competitions a year.
3. Shin Kicking
Any sport, mainstream or not, can be considered useless. However, there is one sport that is absolutely useless but fun: shin kicking.
The point of this sport is to kick your opponent so hard with your shin, that they will fall down or you can throw them down. Talk about ruthlessness. I don't recommend wearing steel-tipped boots, unless you really want to hurt someone.
According to Wikipedia, chess boxing is "a hybrid sport which combines the sport of boxing with games of chess." Sounds simple enough. Get a guy in checkmate, then go beat him to a pulp and repeat.
This sport is mostly popular in Europe, but it is gaining world-wide recognition. The sport gains its inspiration from a graphic novel called, Froid Équateur.
Wanna feel like a hamster? Then zorbing is the perfect sport for you.
According to the official website of the Zorb Ball, “Zorb is the sport of rolling down a hill inside a giant inflatable ball and where New Zealand once again leads the world in stupid things to do while you’re on a vacation.” Sounds fun. I didn't realize that New Zealand was the world leader on stupid things to do while on vacation.
The zorbs can hold as many as three people, making it a great way to battle against rival families.
Buzkashi is so popular, that it's a national sport—for Afghanistan.
The aim is to seize a medium-sized decapitated animal (generally a goat, sheep, or calf), ride around a series of obstacles and deposit it in a circle. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it might not be once you have literally hundreds of guys on horses trying to do the same thing.
Did I mention there's only one decapitated animal? Horses, hundreds of men, a dead animal—sounds like a great time.
The rules are very simple: Someone throws a cheese wheel down the hill, and hundreds of people stampede after it. The first person who gets the cheese and crosses the finish line gets to keep the cheese. It's really just a Western version of buzkashi.
The biggest event is the annual The Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake held in England. I'm not too sure I want cheese that has been thrown down a hill though.
According to the website, grabbling is "the art of fishing with hands." To get started, all you need is a swimsuit and the ability to wrestle in the water trying to get the catfish if possible.
Don't worry—most of the time they catch and release.
9. Cell Phone Toss
"Why I hate this frik'n phone! Die Nokia!"
Have you ever just wanted to chuck your phone out of anger? I have. Chucking phones has a way of making you happy.
Every so often, people meet up and have chucking competitions. At the Seventh International Mobile Throwing World Championship, the winner chucked a phone 89 meters (or 97 yards).
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All you art collectors out there. Here is a chance to get a Giclee copy of some of Ian M Sherwin work. Ian is planning on doing a whole series of Marblehead, Massachusetts paintings. His work is amazing.
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