# Unusual local sports or games in your area? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2002, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-local-sports-or-games-in-your-area/99823 "2002-03-24T05:59:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-local-sports-or-games-in-your-area/99823/21 "2002-03-24T22:58:49Z")
In San Diego we have Over-the-Line [http://www.ombac.org/over\_the\_line/](http://www.ombac.org/over_the_line/), a sort of beach version of softball played with two teams of two people each. Mostly it’s an opportunity to get a wicked sunburn and to oggle a lot of skimply clad women. The teams all have disgusting or X-rated names so network sports coverage has been lacking. I recall a women’s team name from some years ago: The Screaming Steaming Semen Demons. ---
**Author:** ![Tsubaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Tsubaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tsubaki)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-local-sports-or-games-in-your-area/99823/22 "2002-03-25T02:11:20Z")
Well, sumo is pretty strange to outsiders… Also, the Japanese have this strange habit of watering-down sports. For example, they play “soft volleyball”, which is volleyball with a larger, softer ball and easier rules. They also play “soft tennis”, which I think is played with larger racquets and a rubber ball (WHY? Tennis balls aren’t exactly hard). There’s also a sport called kendo, which basically involves dressing up in armour and hitting each other over the head with sticks. Ok, there’s a bit more to it than that, but I can’t for the life of me think what… ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-local-sports-or-games-in-your-area/99823/23 "2002-03-25T05:41:07Z")
We’ve got [Hoover-ball](http://hoover.nara.gov/education/hooverball.html), which I’ve never played: > [@](#): > > **Hoover-ball was played by teams of 2-4 players with a six-pound medicine ball over a net eight feet high on a court similar to one used for tennis. The game was scored exactly like tennis, and played in similar fashion. The server throws the ball. The opponent must catch it on the fly and immediately return it, attempting to put it where it cannot be reached and returned. The side that misses the ball or throws it out of bounds loses the point.** I understand that it, too, requires large amounts of alcoholic refreshment. ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-local-sports-or-games-in-your-area/99823/24 "2002-03-25T05:56:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > \*\* > To answer the OP, well I guess Australian Rules Football would be the obvious one here (though it’s not a niche sport here - it packs stadiums. I only include it because it’s barely known overseas). We have lots of those gimmicky student-bar type of things such as canetoad racing, and in the outback, at Alice Springs, they have a yacht race. Not any old yacht race, mind you. It’s held in a dry river bed. The “yachts” are powered the same way the Flintstones’ car is. \*\* **TLD** it’s not just a yacht race, it’s a regatta! [url=http://www.henleyontodd.com.au/]The Henley on Todd. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-local-sports-or-games-in-your-area/99823/25 "2002-03-25T07:31:07Z")
anyone know Liar’s Dice? if so, please explain - the noise is too much to sit through ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-local-sports-or-games-in-your-area/99823/26 "2002-03-25T08:23:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spitzoli \* > \*\* > > That’d be Morton, IL, the Pumpkin Capital of the world, and where I went to high school. Apparently they can 90% of the world’s pumpkin there. In the fall you can smell pumpkin cooking for miles. \*\* Actually,[it would be Rehoboth Delaware](http://www.worldchampionshippunkinchunkin.com/). ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-local-sports-or-games-in-your-area/99823/27 "2002-03-25T12:46:34Z")
The [Embassy World Darts Championship](http://www.embassydarts.com/) takes place just a couple miles from where I live. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-local-sports-or-games-in-your-area/99823.md?page=1)