# Just because you dress like a clown does NOT make your sport extreme **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 27, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043 "2002-11-27T05:12:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/1 "2002-11-27T05:12:11Z")
I am sick as fuck of all these “extreme” sports. There is nothing extreme about skateboarding, snowboarding, rollerblading, bungee jumping, or surfing so why are they called "“extreme” sports? To me boxing, wrestling, maybe street luge, UFC, and any other sport where there is a 99% chance that you will be physically injured or have other people out to physically injure you may have the right to be called “extreme”, but for some reason they are not. As far as I can tell, the “extremeness” of the sport is directly related to how the participants dress and what music they listen to, but even that is no good any more because my mom rollerblades and my aunt surfs and neither look or act “extreme”. So please, media, teens, cooler-than-cool guys, stop saying that your “sports” are “extreme” because they aint. M’Kay? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/2 "2002-11-27T05:16:59Z")
Yeah, it’s pretty funny when sports have **names** for moves that consist of: separating your legs and putting them back together touching your foot kicking your heels up behind your butt making a walking action and so on. ---
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/3 "2002-11-27T08:21:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don’t ask \* > \*\*Yeah, it’s pretty funny when sports have **names** for moves that consist of: > > separating your legs and putting them back together > touching your foot > kicking your heels up behind your butt > making a walking action > > and so on. \*\* Yeah, like high diving or gymnastics or figure scating. Those fucking assclowns. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/4 "2002-11-27T09:04:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zen101 \* > \*\*Yeah, like high diving or gymnastics or figure scating. Those fucking assclowns. \*\* Now **that** would be an extreme sport. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/5 "2002-11-27T09:08:30Z")
What’s worse is when you have an unusual, somewhat athletic and dangerous hobby and people keep trying to make it out as an eXtreme sPort!!1!, even when none of the participants think of it as such. Fuckfoons. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/6 "2002-11-27T10:16:21Z")
Hiking through the woods or riding your bike is just a hobby. It’s when you do it in $5000+ worth of designer equipment (mass produced for people who want to show that they’re radical individualists, just like everyone they hang out with) that it becomes an ‘Xtreme sport’. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/7 "2002-11-27T10:27:48Z")
[And now, for your complete disgust: Extreme Ironing.](http://www.extremeironing.com/) Chumps. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/8 "2002-11-27T11:18:54Z")
You do realise that the linked extreme ironing webpage is satire, don’t you? Good. pan ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/9 "2002-11-27T11:22:48Z")
Although they did have a [championship](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2273167.stm) kabbes. Not necessarily associated with Mort’s link though. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/10 "2002-11-27T11:30:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kabbes \* > You do realise that the linked extreme ironing webpage is satire, don’t you? As it happens it’s for real. To quote the SAS infligt magazine: > [@](#): > > The “sport” has its roots in England, where all high-quality eccentricity comes from. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/11 "2002-11-27T13:15:41Z")
Floater, it’s a joke. If anything. it’s satirising the wave of “extreme sports” that have cropped up. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/12 "2002-11-27T13:19:25Z")
And in case you don’t think it’s a joke, have a look at the website, which contains lots of little comments such as: > [@](#): > > · Where does the power come from? > > …Dr Iron Q has developed geothermics, a method of tapping in to the earth’s energy supply to power the iron - with mixed results. ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/13 "2002-11-27T13:19:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zen101 \* > **figure scating** Thanks **zen101**. Now I have this mental image of Tonya Harding giving Nancy Kerrigan a Cleveland Steamer. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/14 "2002-11-27T13:38:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Floater \* > \*\*As it happens it’s for real. \*\* As it happens, it isn’t. Since I actually _live_ in the country this supposedly comes from, I had the opportunity to listen to a radio interview with the creator of the web page… ooh… about a year ago. He said with his own mouth that he was satirising the exact thing that this whole thread is about 'cos he thinks that it is just as stupid as you do. And just because you have a championship in something, doesn’t mean that it isn’t all an elaborate joke. There are always like-minded people who want to take the joke that bit further. But what do I know? I only heard it from the lips of the very person who wrote it. pan ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/15 "2002-11-27T13:41:22Z")
Of course I know it’s a joke. What I meant was that it really does exist and that people do indeed practice it. From [http://www.ironing.de](http://www.ironing.de) > [@](#): > > Extreme Ironing > is an outdoor activity that combines the excitement of an extreme sport with the satisfaction of a freshly ironed shirt. > > Extreme Ironing > involves taking an iron and board to remote locations and ironing a few items of laundry. This can involve ironing on a mountainside, preferably on a difficult climb, or taking an iron skiing, snowboarding, snorkelling, canoeing or just in a forrest in your neighbourhood. There are different styles for the ironing. You can be on your own or in a group. You can iron existing formations or just freestyle. What ever you prefer. The main aim is to feel good, have fun and look tidy, however. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/16 "2002-11-27T14:07:43Z")
So it’s for real, and it’s a joke, and the fact that people do it for real is what makes it a joke? I never could keep up with all this post-modernism and ironic self-reference stuff. If you need me, I’ll be sitting in a corner with Prince Charles, mumbling about the good old days. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/17 "2002-11-27T14:08:16Z")
But–but–I was told that if I wore my hat backwards and drank Mountain Dew, I would be eXtreme. Are you saying it was all a _LIE_?! ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/18 "2002-11-27T14:19:37Z")
Back to the op’s rant, I’d always taken extreme as an adjective applied to a sport, to note that you were indulging in the lunatic fringe of it. For example, I snowboard. I go to nice safe resorts, and generally board on piste and in snowparks. That is not extreme. But you do get the extreme side of snowboarding, where people attempt ludicrously dangerous manouvres and tricks. Where’s the problem in differentiating between the normal stuff, and the dangerous stuff? ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/19 "2002-11-27T14:25:29Z")
See, pit rants these days are too pedestrian and mundane. We need x-treme rants (and the logo would have a oversized X in gaudy red and white, with black borders, and ‘treme’ would be italicized, and there’d be flames shooting from the ends, because, you know, pit rants are hot…) If you don’t participate in x-treme ranting, then you’re just a sheep. You’re all sheeple. Baaah. Baaaah! Follow the corporate consumerist life! I’m different! I rant x-tremely! Yeah, just go with it. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043/20 "2002-11-27T14:43:07Z")
I didn’t say that extreme ironing didn’t _exist_. I said that it was _satire_. Which it is. To accuse the practioners of being “chumps” (for example) is to entirely miss the point that they think the whole “extreme” thing is stupid too. For it to be good satire, they have to do it convincingly, no? Anyway, I like living life to the eXtreme. Even as we speak I’m being an X-treem actuary and doing mad skillz modelling of bad data. As I do so, I say “yo!” to myself a lot and spin my seat in a totally rad fashion. I’m even thinking of undoing my top shirt button beneath my tie. Busted! pan [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-because-you-dress-like-a-clown-does-not-make-your-sport-extreme/139043.md?page=2)