We had guests the other night and the conversation somehow drifted to Cheese Rolling which prompted someone to find relevant YouTube videos on their iPad. We quickly discovered everybody had a favorite YouTube rabbit hole based on amusing competitions. The common denominator was that the crashes and failures were more interesting than who reached the finish line first (or at all).
We spent the rest of the night watching:
Soap Box Racing and Wife Carrying.
Wasn’t that the whole point of shows like Takashi’s Castle and the like?
Not that I’m denying it’s fun, and physical/slapstick humor always appeals to my inner 12 year old, even if my 50 year old self says I should be ashamed of myself.
I frequently ignore the adult me, it’s boring.
I don’t find people getting hurt funny. But failing at something that is already ridiculous in nature tickles me.
I’m not even sure there is any way to “win”:
Nobody ever did it better (or worse) than Vinko Bogataj, nor came closer to immortality for doing it.
Who can remember what the “thrill of victory” was without cheating? Everybody knows that the “agony of defeat” was a skier.
Successful human-powered flying machines do exist, if that’s what you mean. I’m sure that if the Gossamer Albatross entered that “competition”, they’d be able to “win”.
It’s tough, though, and unless you’ve got a crack team of aeronautical engineers and an Olympic-level cyclist flying it, yeah, you’re probably going to crash.