# Stupidest "sport" you've seen televised **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 20, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656 "2018-09-20T22:16:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/21 "2018-09-21T03:43:23Z")
The one where they chase a round of cheese down a steep slope, which renders unscheduled broken bones to the participants (England?). The wife-carrying race (Finland?). ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/22 "2018-09-21T03:44:43Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > A lot of folks who don’t know any better might say racewalking. > > I _do_ know better; it _is_ racewalking. As a native of the Seattle area I have to link to the great Bill Nye as his super hero alter ego: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e6h4zLC5U8) ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/23 "2018-09-21T06:17:23Z")
1. Quidditch 2. Spikeball 3. Arena Football ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/24 "2018-09-21T08:17:58Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > . . . it sure ain’t a spectator sport. A lot television is predicated on the fact that so many people would rather sit around watching anything rather than get off their asses and actually do something themselves. That’s how we got reality TV. ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/25 "2018-09-21T08:54:07Z")
I’m not very interested in sport, and I tend to listen to television while doing other things, so I don’t tend to want to watch it because it’s all I can do BUT when I was stuck in hospital I watched whatever came on the telly. One show I watched was people going fishing on boats. It was actually quite entertaining. There was another show where these people caught crocodiles (alligators?). It wasn’t really “sport”, they caught these crocodiles as a job, still it was a whole other world to me. (it was Louisiana or somewhere, I’m not sure where it was set) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/26 "2018-09-21T10:42:46Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > 1. Quidditch There can be no other answer. It’s a fictional sport made up by someone who doesn’t understand sports, designed to make her character a hero, turned into a “real” sport by making people run around with brooms between their legs. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/27 "2018-09-21T11:31:29Z")
High school football. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/28 "2018-09-21T11:33:11Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > 14 posts and nobody has mentioned curling? (Although I’ll be honest, it looks fun, as does the luge.) Try it some time. The season is just starting and lots of curling clubs have open houses and introductory events. I just have to send in some paperwork and I’ll be a certified curling instructor. > [@russian\_heel](#): > > 1. Quidditch Yeah, I caught a little bit of that on TV the other day. Isn’t it basically “catch the snitch and you win, everybody else is just getting dirty for no reason”? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/29 "2018-09-21T11:34:48Z")
I’ve seen both frisbee and dominoes on ESPN. I’m not sure which was stupider. ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/30 "2018-09-21T11:36:45Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I’ve seen both frisbee Dog frisbee is quite entertaining, because the dogs are cute. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/31 "2018-09-21T12:09:55Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve heard several people say, “Why is beach volleyball so popular?” and my response has been, “Have you seen how they dress, or don’t dress in the case of the women?” Probably the only sport with a rule limiting the maximum size of the bikini a competitor must wear. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/32 "2018-09-21T12:12:25Z")
Brits of a certain age will remember the Indian sport of Kabbadi being televised on C4 for a time. Far be it from me to call it stupid, but it was defo a WTF is this all about viewing experience. Looked like professional sportsmen playing ‘Tag you’re it’. Rugby union used to be televised in the UK back in the amateur era - that was pretty stupid. Rugby union’s a fine game and all these days, but seeing assorted greengrocers, policemen, butchers etc wheezing around the pitch, leathering the ball out on the full for no reason, was hardly television material. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/33 "2018-09-21T12:13:30Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > You try vaulting, honey, if you think you’re so smart. Do you think gymnastics silly? Because it is just gymnastics only with a horse added to make it more dangerous and thrilling. … > . Wow - never guessed I’d insult a fan so quickly! Apologies. Didn’t mean to suggest it was not difficult. Only that it impressed me as silly - as I said most sports do. But using your criteria, let’s see what common athletic endeavors can be made “more dangerous and thrilling” by adding in an animal? Well, besides the obvious of water polo! Rhino golf? Moose diving? ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/34 "2018-09-21T12:30:25Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Wow - never guessed I’d insult a fan so quickly! Apologies. Didn’t mean to suggest it was not difficult. Only that it impressed me as silly - as I said most sports do. I was coming to pile on, but I see you’ve apologized. 😃 For reals, though, one of my best friends was a vaulter when we were younger. She was literally the strongest, most graceful, most fit woman I have ever known. She could run along side a cantering horse taller than her and pull herself up onto his back with one hand in one smooth motion. Then proceed to do gymnastics. I was in awe the first time I saw it. Silly, maybe, but true athletes for sure. But to answer the original question…food eating contests and playing cards are NOT sports, and to call them such is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/35 "2018-09-21T13:04:44Z")
Back in the 1960s and 1970s in the US, “Wide World of Sports” would show weird sports from across the world. The weirdest from my memory was [barrel jumping](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz5KnJ_QH_0). It was done on ice, the competitor would pick up speed and try to jump a bunch of barrels. Weirdly silly. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/36 "2018-09-21T13:09:42Z")
Well, “stupid” is in the eye of the beholder. For me, however, “synchronized swimming” is about as interesting as watching paint dry. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/37 "2018-09-21T13:54:11Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Moose diving? Well, there was [horse diving](https://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/aobriendvm/2014/july/incredible-high-diving-horses-yesteryear-31874), though it wasn’t really a sport. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/38 "2018-09-21T13:58:01Z")
Buzkashi is a Central Asian sport in which horse-mounted players attempt to place a goat carcass in a goal. So like polo, but with a dead goat. I am sure it has been televised somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/39 "2018-09-21T14:12:12Z")
Baseball. 90% of the game is literally guys just standing around. I slowly back out of the room and run away… ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656/40 "2018-09-21T14:16:54Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Poker. W-T-F. Hey now. I would rather watch poker than darts, which are also televised. I know dart throwing is a skill but calling morbidly obese men throwing darts at a board for hours on end a “sport” is stretching it. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > 14 posts and nobody has mentioned curling? (Although I’ll be honest, it looks fun, as does the luge.) The 2002 Winter Olympics women’s curling was freaking gripping - Britain was virtually knocked out and was saved by a fluke, and then came back to win gold on the last stone. Plus you got Rhona Martin’s buzzsaw-on-rebar voice for added excitement. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-sport-youve-seen-televised/821656.md?page=3)