A thread asking about the rules of scoring in wrestling (real wresting, the varsity kind) led me to think about how some sports have become popular entertainment while others have remained less mainstream.
Any ideas for inventing a new sport? I stipulate the following rules:
-it has to be a genuine competition, no choreographed spectacles ala’ WWF.
-it can’t be so violent or lethal that it would not be permitted in the real world. Fighting up to the pain/injury level of professional boxing is allowable.
-It must have enough flow of action to be entertaining to a television audience. Nothing involving waiting ten minutes for something to happen.
Guess that means I can’t invent pro basketball, American/Canadian hockey or baseball.
Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine
manhattan,
Which one of those qualifiers are you using to dismiss hockey? Certainly not the 10 minutes one, I hope…
Nope. The violence. As a Ty Domi fan from way back when he was a Ranger, I can testify that he delivers far more violence than one sees at a typical prize fight. (Although he’'s better now that he learned to skate) That’s why I limited the exclusion to American/Canadian hockey. Euro and Olympic hockey is still a great game.
Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine
OK…I’m with you there. I remember some of the Domi/Rick Tocchet fights of 8-10 years ago. You’re right, some of that action would make Hollyfield cringe.
Needed: A tennis racket, 10 wadded up pieces of paper, and a small room, 2 people.
Designate what objects and locations in the room are worth (no set rule here)
One person pitches (overhand), the other swings. A strike or a catch = 0 points. Anything else, count it. Keep playing until you get sick of the game.
This is particularly fun in high school, when you have lots and lots of free time as a writing tutor and a friend that has snuck out of study hall. I mean, I imagine that would be fun, since I would never, ever have thought of doing that myself.
Well, shut my mouth. It’s also illegal to put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling.
Felching For Dollars?
Strip TiddlyWinks.
High interest but low violence; little strategic knowledge required from fans.
For PBS:
Strip Monopoly.
The Romans of old would flood their coliseums and have boats - rowed by teams of men - come out and have actual battles, maneuvering to try to ram and sink each other etc. I think that would be cool.
Other battle-style games could include 18th-century style warfare re-enactments, with large numbers of “troops” marching up towards each other in linear formations and firing single-shot paint guns at each other.
Baseketball! Just like the movie!
>^,^<
KITTEN
Fluff yer hair Beula, I’s feelin frisky - M.S.
When I was a pre-teen, my friends and I invented at least two games.
The first game was called “Going”.
[list=1][li]A large mat is placed in the center of the room (an unzipped sleeping bag is the traditional mat, but a heavy quilt will do in a pinch.[/li]
[li]Four contestants, drape sleeping bags over their shoulders and kneel at each corner of the mat.[/li]
[li]The four contestants bow to the center of the mat, saying “Going!” at each bow.[/li]
[li]On the third going, the contestants rise to their feet and attempt to push the others off the mat.[/li]
[li]If any body part touches the floor outside the mat, that person is “out”, and must retire from the current round of Goinging.[/li]
[li]No contestant may let go of his sleeping bag, and the use of hands is a disqualifying offense.[/li]
[li]The last person on the mat is the winner.[/list=1][/li]
The other game was “Butterworth”.
[list=1][li]Only two contestants may play at once.[/li]
[li]The two contestants move to opposite ends of the back yard (the traditional arena for this particular competition).[/li]
[li]Upon a signal given by a third person, they charge at one another as fast as possible.[/li]
[li]At the last possible instant, each person leaps into the air and attempts to strike his opponent with his butt for all their worth.[/li]
[li]If any part of a contestant’s body, other than his posterior, is strikes his opponent, he is disqualified and loses the round.[/li]
[li]If each contestant successfully strikes the other with his posterior, the winner is the one who lands on his feet.[/li]
[li]In case of a tie, the process is repeated until one or the other contestant is disqualified, or until someone (usually a parent of one of the contestants) yells “You kids pipe down back there!”[/list=1][/li]
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APHORISM, n. Predigested wisdom.
– Ambrose Bierce
http://members.tripod.com/~Bob_Baloo/index.htm
<font size=5>43-Man Squamish, anyone? The Usual Gang Of Idiots will understand.</font>
:D
“Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you.”----Jung
Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor- Dammit- You took mine! Oh, well. What, me worry?
Chief Scott- No. … … … … No.
JMcC, San Francisco, JJM’s page from the Bay
If I were beaned with a fastball, fling my limp, lifeless body to first, cause, dammit, I earned it!
Tackle Golf.
Full Contact Bowling.
Rock Cliff Falling.
Minefield Auto Racing.
Javelin Catching.
Naked women’s tennis/golf/figure skating.
Then maybe I’d watch it on TV.
Happy New Year Everyone.
Extreme Toenail Clipping.
It would involve a cliff, a dozen tequila shots, and a red-hot nail clipper.
You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.
Bosda, thank you - as soon as I read the OP I immediately thought of 43-man Squamish. I’ve always wanted to get together a team but getting that many shepard’s crooks would be tough …
When I was a lonely and energetic junior high student, I invented a game which is sort of like soccer or hockey but with badminton rackets. Each person had two badminton rackets, the field was a large as my driveway, and you dribbled just by hitting the birdie. One cool move was to hit the bird toward the opposing goal in such a high arc that you could catch up to it at the end of its flight and knock it gracefully into the goal.
Of course, it was pretty boring, since all the games were one-on-zero. It would have been cool to play against another person some of the time.
When I was into space travel, I thought of all sort of neat zero-gravity games that could be played in the recreational area of a space station. The game I envisaged in most detail was another football/soccer type thing. Each team would have an opposing wall at opposite ends of the arena. The goals would be four small holes on each wall. The walls would be of a ferrous material, but only the goalies would have magnetic boots. Everyone else would just bounce around from wall to wall, passing the ball to teammates as it become obvious they were on collision courses with members of the other team.
I never quite resolved the issue of how turnovers would be achieved. I mean, in soccer, you can’t hold the ball so it’s easily stolen; in football, you can hold it but have to surrender it after four falls. I just imagined in this game you’d have to pull it out of the other guy’s hands; a better solution would have just been to make it big and hard to hold onto, like a slick beach ball.
I also mentally experimented with control fins on the player’s feet, so they could change course in mid-air. Otherwize, most of the time would be spent flying past people you were trying to steal the ball from.
Ooh, I just thought of a new thang. You could add in a few air currents to make the ball travel more easily. Each team would have a “highway” of air currents leading toward the enemy goal. Once it got on the air current toward you, you’d have to intercept the ball and knock it out (preferably toward the favorable air current), or it would be a piece of cake for the other guys to score on you.
- Boris B, Hellacious Ornithologist
Me and the hole fam-damily (including grandma) had a rollicking game of Christmas Eve butt-darts. My brother clenched his cheeks a little bit too tight because instead of a quarter, two dimes and a nickel fell into the bowl.
A fun time was had by all.
Back in the olden days, a cousin and I invented Pool-Table/Air-Hockey. We played it just like air hockey except we would hold a pool ball in our hands and hit another ball back and forth trying to get it in the corner pockets at the opponents end of the table. Corner pockets were foul balls.
We found out that it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch when the fingers got caught between balls so we began putting socks over our hands and the ball.
We put giant holes in every pair of socks in the entire house and cracked a few balls in the process.
>^,^<
KITTEN
Fluff yer hair Beula, I’s feelin frisky - M.S.
ULTIMATE RUGBY
You set up two goal posts 1/4 mile from each other. You have two teams of 25 players.
The first team to get the ball in the other teams goal, no matter how long it takes, wins.
Here’s the kicker: THERE IS NO OUT OF BOUNDS!!!
In other words, the game could go on for days. And if you play it in a neighborhood, you need to incorporate strategy as to how to snake your way to the other teams goal!
XXXX
TEAM JAI-ALAI
Here’s another one: team Jai Alai. Its like Jai Alai except you use a larger court and like lacrosse, you have teams and try and score on the other team!
Of course, the game would require HEAVY PADDING.
XXXX