The Wierdest Games To Play
There are plenty of crazy sports out there today. It just seems to be getting stranger and weirder. Once you think you’ve witnessed the weirdest sport imaginable, you’ll tune into a sports channel one day and see something that takes the cake (probably a cake-eating contest). While not so long ago it seemed strange to watch billiards on television, the extent things have gone to in today’s world makes hitting a few spheres around with pool cues look pretty conservative. Why have sports come to this? What is it about the way we live that makes us think such weird sports would be interesting?
One such game that actually has its own program is that of hot-dog eating. This is one hunder percent true. The show consists of one man (or woman) standing at a podium with a plate full of hot-dogs, and trying to eat as many as he can until the time ends. There’s a crowd cheering the competitor on, and commentators talking about strategies used by the “sportsmen” to achieve their wanted goal without throwing up. Half of the challenge tends to land with the viewer, who’ll likely also be battling a case of nausea after watching this show for too long.
Another game that has gained an ever-increasing amount of popularity is that of poker. While there’s no doubting that it’s more interesting to see and requires more skill and mental prowess than hot-dog consuming, it’s still strange to watch an hour-long program purely based on people playing poker. In years to come, will we be viewing the solitaire championships? How will we know who’s won?
These new games are funny to view, but they’re also a bit disconcerting as well. In ancient times, sport was often something that was actually a life and death situation for those playing, and the reason sport was created by the elites of a country was to keep people distracted from the problems of their country, such as the corruption of their government. Have sports really gotten any better since that time? Okay, so nobody’s being killed, but people are seriously damaging their health if they’re able to eat as much as fifteen hotdogs within the space of a couple of minutes. And mixed-martial arts boxing hasn’t even been mentioned.
It may be possible that just like the ancient Greeks, governments of today like their citizens to take a keen interest in games at the cost of taking an interest in the way their country is run. Certainly this is the case in Brazil, where massive levels of poor people and corruption are rife throughout the political arena. The response by those at the top isn’t to fix these problems, but to focus money and attention on getting the soccer team to the World Cup every time.
Perhaps it’s worth it if we took a step back and looked at the way we treat sport in this society. While a little distraction can be a good thing, there’s no use gaining an interest in a sport that’s ridiculous, or to lose focus on our lives and start to think sport is the most vital thing of all.
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