What's your favorite unusual sport?

I can probably beat you at ping-pong

from JoeUser Forums
For most of my life I have specifically set myself apart from the mainstream, looking for unusual things and non-obvious choices. I never listened to top-40 music, I never played or watched any organized sport except soccer (when it was still a relative oddity), I was never interested in popular culture.

In the case of sports specifically, I abhor baseball and golf especially for their glacial pace and relative lack of excitement. I remain convinced that most of the time baseball fans cheer just because something--anything at all, doesn't matter what--happened. The pitcher spit? YAY! The coach scratched himself? WOO!

So in college, I did two main sporting activities: frisbee and ping-pong. It happens that my college, Carleton College in Minnesota, is a veritable mecca of frisbee activity; hardly an hour goes by without a game going on somewhere. And after I graduated, I eventually joined a summer frisbee league. Ping-pong took me longer to get back into after college, since it requires more than just a $10 disc and some open space, but eventually I discovered the local ping-pong clubs and became a decent tournament-level player. (Currently I have about an 1850 rating, which on a scale of 1 to 3000 (approximately, with 3000 being the best) means I can beat about 3/5 of other tournament players.) I travel to ping-pong tournaments all over the country, usually about 3 or 4 major tournaments a year.

If you love football, golf, basketball, or baseball, I don't want to hear it. What UNUSUAL sports do you like, or better yet, play? (And feel free to mention things that I as an American would consider unusual even though, for example, half or more of Great Britain loves cricket.)
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Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I watch my husband play hockey. He's a goalie. He also plays paintball but that's harder to watch. I would like to play but its hard to find a babysitter for my three hooligans. And you definately could beat me at pingpong - : )
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
I watch my husband play hockey. He's a goalie. He also plays paintball but that's harder to watch. I would like to play but its hard to find a babysitter for my three hooligans. And you definately could beat me at pingpong - : )
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I love watching Rugby--actually it's a love that was forced on me, but that I now enjoy, nonetheless. I worked at a pub during the Rugby world Cup and being a newcomer, I got most of the 4am game shifts--by default I watched every game! By the time the Six Nations came around, I was dying to see each match.

I also like watching the odd GAA (gaelic football) game, but they're harder to come by--and a little brutal!
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
shades, how does one play Gaelic Football?
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
The best way I can describe it is that it is a mixture of soccer, rugby and the odd volleyball serve. There's a soccer-esque goal, but also an upright like in American Football. You get different point amounts if you score a goal or if you kick it through the posts. There's this funky way that they have to dribble the ball (it's like continuously kicking the ball back to yourself). It's cool to watch, but near impossible to learn how to play. You might be able to find some pictures of it at http://www.gaa.ie/
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top

On my weblog I have written a few articles about Japanese sumo.  I have been following it pretty closely for nearly ten years.


I am even more of an avid follower now that I live in America.  (I watch the matches on Japanese satellite TV.)


By the way, Northfield is a nice place to live, isn't it?  Of course if it weren't for academics, there wouldn't be much reason to live there, right?

Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
Sounds very odd, shades.

Jamie, if you took away the colleges, you'd still have "Cows and Contentment"... but yeah, without them I certainly wouldn't bother to go to Northfield. After them the only thing it really has is Jesse James Day.
I have seen a bit of sumo wrestling. I liked Akebono and the hawaiian (?) guy whose name I can't recall at the moment.
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
I would rather mow the lawn or dig a ditch than watch or participate in any sports event. Yawn...
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
when I was young we used to go "Bunny bashing" a popular sport for horny pubescent youth in my country (Zimbabwe).

However, one of the popular leisure sports in China is off course pingpong. They actually have permanant tables set up in public parks and every convinient store is well stocked with gum, condoms and pingpong balls
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
I have only played once but loved it-- paint ball!  You have running, crawling, crouching, aiming, shooting and heart pounding fun. 
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
White water rafting is one of my favorite.
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ya know, you COULD make this a non baseball bashing thread, but since ya didn't...lol

Some years back, I discovered bocce ball, which admittedly is slow paced, but is one of those games that is enjoyable because it relies a lot on skills that don't require you being the smartest and fastest. Being a skilled novice chess player (I can beat most novices handily, and have caused many a master to sweat), I appreciate sports that rely a lot on strategy.

I am also an avid hiker, the more intense the hike, the better. I am hoping to advance to some climbing (technical hikes), but still have about 30 pounds to lose before that's a safe possibility (the weight on the ropes is a concern).
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hey, Gideon. I have played your basic backyard bocce ball occasionally. I agree, it's fun and low-impact. I don't think my yard would be very good for it right now, though, since it's almost all either downhill or trees.

My dad was the Maryland Amateur Chess Champion in 2000, got his USCF rating over 2000 briefly as a result, and had quite a few good results in a variety of tournaments. I got a few of his chess books (mostly the more basic ones since my own chess skills are relatively deficient), but my preferred strategy board game is Go.
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
Well, I will admit, ego drove me back to chess after a 15 year absence.

2 years ago (at 32), I realized it was one of the few activities that I could realistically still develop to the point of being nationally ranked.
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top

Reply #10 By: JillUser - 7/29/2004 12:13:12 PM
I have only played once but loved it-- paint ball! You have running, crawling, crouching, aiming, shooting and heart pounding fun.


i'm with jill, citahellion. i thought i would hate paint ball, but there i was, scurrying through the bushes, crawling around in the dirt, having the time of my life. i even shot somebody in the butt !. (most unlike me).

vanessa XXX
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
i even shot somebody in the butt !. (most unlike me).


You like to look 'em in the eye when you waste 'em, eh?

I played paintball a couple of times, a long time ago. I enjoyed it too, but (a) it's a loooong way out of town, (b) it's relatively expensive, (c) I can't get that many people organized to go do it, and (d) I got shot in the trigger finger and that really hurt.

Though perhaps I should write a little something up about the BB-gun battles that my brother and I used to have with some of our friends....
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top

I played rugby until I was 21 and still enjoy watching the game Saturday mornings. I also enjoy Muay Thai kickboxing and am looking forward to seeing a live match in Thailand. I think Sumo wrestling is cool and I'd like to learn more about it. Poker's not a sport, but I play a lot of poker tournaments and manage to eek out a meagre existence of thin gruel and cheap beer from it One of the cool things about poker is that as long as you have the money you get the chance to play world champions; not everyone gets to play Kasparov, Agassi, or Tiger Woods. Butting heads with world champions is bad business in the long run but in the few times I've played them it's brought out the very best in me.
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
You like to look 'em in the eye when you waste 'em, eh?


ewwww !.

I played paintball a couple of times, a long time ago. I enjoyed it too, but (a) it's a loooong way out of town, (b) it's relatively expensive, (c) I can't get that many people organized to go do it, and (d) I got shot in the trigger finger and that really hurt.


i agree with a, b & c, but i am proud to say the only place i got shot was my foot !. and i had a big boot on. (but then i fell over and ruined my triumph. i do things like that fairly regularly .


I played rugby until I was 21 and still enjoy watching the game Saturday mornings


i'm with david on this, too. if i watch any sport on tv it's probably going to be rugly or rugby league
One of the cool things about poker is that as long as you have the money you get the chance to play world champions


citahellion & david, have you ever seen one of those late night poker programs on tv ?. i watched one last week and it was so intense. i plan to watch it this week, too. so strategic. the bluffing had me nervous big time. riveting.

wow. my life is so exciting i can hardly stand it

vanessa/mig XXX
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top
citahellion & david, have you ever seen one of those late night poker programs on tv ?. i watched one last week and it was so intense. i plan to watch it this week, too. so strategic. the bluffing had me nervous big time. riveting.


Mig, I always seem to miss poker when its on TV but I've seen a few. Fortunately, poker is getting popular enough that a kazaa search for 'poker' now returns more than naughty movies and I can find many of the episodes there. I can think of few activities that gives me the range and depth of emotion that I get from poker, and many other players feel that way too.
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
One of the cool things about poker is that as long as you have the money you get the chance to play world champions; not everyone gets to play Kasparov, Agassi, or Tiger Woods


Actually, that's one of the cool things about table tennis, in the US anyway; you can enter the Open event at a large tournament and have a decent chance of playing someone who has a world ranking. A friend of mine who is rated about 1400 (and the table tennis ratings are essentially the same as Chess ratings, by the way) played the #1 US player (rated about 2800) in a tournament.

have you ever seen one of those late night poker programs on tv ?


Oh, I watch those quite a bit. They're not late night over here, they're on ESPN and Bravo and a couple of other channels. "The World Series of Poker", "Championship Poker", and even "Celebrity Charity Poker". They are pretty interesting. I've actually learned the names of a fair number of poker celebrities.
Reply #21 from JoeUser Forums Top
Mig, I always seem to miss poker when its on TV but I've seen a few. Fortunately, poker is getting popular enough that a kazaa search for 'poker' now returns more than naughty movies and I can find many of the episodes there. I can think of few activities that gives me the range and depth of emotion that I get from poker, and many other players feel that way too.


david, having watched that program, i can fully relate to that statement. i've actually got a (very unfashionable) penchant for canasta. i adore the game. i seem to enjoy being challenged in a way that requires me to think hard and keep control at the same time. i doubt i'd have the nerve (or the mental speed) for poker, but i understand the attraction. i'm funnily enough, very non-competitive, and i even like losing if somebody did something insteresting to make it happen. this makes me a rather boring opponent !


Oh, I watch those quite a bit. They're not late night over here, they're on ESPN and Bravo and a couple of other channels. "The World Series of Poker", "Championship Poker", and even "Celebrity Charity Poker". They are pretty interesting. I've actually learned the names of a fair number of poker celebrities


citahellion, the tension in those things is unbelievable. we have only 5 channels here (no satellite access = no cable tv). 2 of those stations are 'local' (ie: awfully boring and about cows and pesticide and stuff), so i have 3 to choose from. fortunately, i don't like televsion much, but invariably the things i do like are unpopular and on at 2am.

the 30 second clock on the poker tournament i watched was so tense i could barely stand it !. there were 2 old rich guys, a guy who sweated a lot and lost because of it, and young guy who wore dark sunglasses the whole time. one guy bluffed on a pot of $200,000 usd. i nearly fainted !. the self control is amazing, and the study of human behaviour is so fascinating that that alone makes it worth watching. i will report to you on my next one (can't see any listed on the tv guide this week, though).

vanessa XXX
Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top
shades, Gaelic Footbal sounds a lot like Australian (Aussie) Rules football. If the games weren't broadcast in the asscrack hours of the morning here in Ohio, I'd definitely watch more of it, very entertaining. I love the way the referee signals a score as well; you'd have to see it, it'd be impossible to describe any other way than in person.
Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top
Aussie rules football is great! It should be shown more (though in our litigious society, they probably don't show it as much out of fear people will start playing it here and sue ESPN...go figure).
Reply #24 from JoeUser Forums Top
the 30 second clock on the poker tournament...


Whoa! Okay, THAT sounds tense. A mere thirty seconds to decide if you're in or out? Yeah, that would ratchet the anxiety level up a few notches....

Aussie rules football is great! It should be shown more


Actually, that reminds me that I do get the "sports channel package" on my cable setup (had to get the package in order to receive The Tennis Channel, where they were showing an hour out of the 2003 Swedish Table Tennis Open yesterday), so I will have to actually look at some of the other 7 channels in the package and see if they've got some of these other things.
Reply #25 from JoeUser Forums Top
shades, Gaelic Footbal sounds a lot like Australian (Aussie) Rules football


I'm not sure, I've never seen Aussie Rules, I'll have to check it out. The Quarter Finals for the All Ireland GAA title are going on now. There were two games over the weekend and two more next weekend...so if you are interested in seeing what it's like, you might be able to find an irish pub that will show the matches. As well, the Hurling Championship in is full swing. The last of the semifinal games is next weekend. Perfect time of year to get your Irish sports fix!