Think of the weirdest sport you have ever seen. You may have images of cricket, curling or even Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest
swimming in your head.
Here are five sports that you may have never seen or even heard about. Chessboxing, wife carrying, bossaball, ferret-legging and camel wrestling are all legitimate sports that I discovered with a quick internet search.
• Chessboxing originated in Berlin in 2003 and is exactly what it sounds like;
a hybrid of knocking out and checkmating the competition. A match consists of 11 three-minute rounds that alternate between chess and boxing.
Chessboxers can win by knockout in the ring, by a checkmate in the chess rounds, by a judge’s decision at the end of 11 rounds, or if their opponent exceeds the nine minutes allotted for the total chess portion of the match.
• Wife carrying is another matter altogether. Male competitors carry their wives through an obstacle course looking for the fastest time using the piggyback, the fireman’s carry (over the shoulder), or the “Estonian-style,”
in which the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband’s shoulders and her arms holding his waist. The Wife Carrying World Championships have been held annually in Finland since 1992 and the winner’s prize is his wife’s weight in beer.
• Bossaball is a team sport that originated in Spain in 2005. This sport is played on an inflatable court with a trampoline on each side of the net.
The trampolines allow the players to bounce high enough to spike the ball over the net and score points. Bossaball combines elements of volleyball, football and gymnastics with music to create a high-flying, fast-paced game.
• In the sport of ferret-legging, competitors tie their trousers at the ankles before placing two ferrets inside and securely fastening their belts to prevent the ferrets from escaping. Each competitor then stands in front of the judges for as long as they can.
Competitors cannot be drunk or drugged and the ferrets cannot be sedated. In addition, competitors are not allowed to wear underwear beneath their trousers in order to allow the ferrets free access from one leg to the other. The ferrets must have a full set of teeth that must not have been filed or otherwise blunted. The winner is the person who lasts the longest.
• Camel wrestling is a sport in which two male camels wrestle, typically in response to a female camel in heat being led before them.
It is most common in Turkey, but it is also practiced in other parts of the Middle East and South Asia. The camels fight by using their necks as leverage to force their opponent to fall down. A camel is declared the winner if his competitor falls to the ground or runs away from the fight.
The next time your favorite team is involved in a blowout game that you are no longer interested in watching, maybe you should try to find one of these unorthodox sports and check it out.
