How desperate are we for college football season to start? Or any football? (Note: preseason NFL begins this Thursday night, so there’s that).
If that isn’t for you, you can watch the Cardinals and Panthers play Thursday. Come to think of it, I might rather watch Ice Football instead.
So, for today’s Roundtable, what’s a non-traditional sport you enjoy watching…by this, I mean something outside of soccer, baseball (although watching the Braves fumble at the trade deadline makes for non-traditional hate watching), or basketball.
A few that I like to watch:
Jai Alai
I don’t know if it’s because of the old Miami Vice intro, the fact I can’t fully understand it, or that someone could be killed instantly by a 100 mile per hour pelota, but it’s intriguing to watch and pass the time away. How people bet on it is also beyond me.
Cricket
If you need something to keep you entertained for anywhere between 8 and 96 hours, this is the sport for you. And I’m not kidding.
Test match cricket is international cricket played over three or more days. Nowadays all men’s Test matches are scheduled over five days. In the past some Tests were ‘timeless‘, that is, they were scheduled to be played to their conclusion regardless of how long that took. The longest Test on record was between South Africa and England in Durban, South Africa. The game started on 3 March 1939 and play continued on the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th and the 14th. Play was scheduled for the 11th, but none was possible because of rain, giving 9 days of actual play and 10 days of scheduled play. By the evening of 14 March England were 316 & 654–5 chasing South Africa’s 530 & 481, needing just 42 more runs for victory. However, England needed to leave Durban the following day to catch their boat home, so, despite being a ‘timeless’ Test, a draw was agreed. England’s 654 is the highest ever Test cricket score for teams batting last (beating the next highest by more than 200 runs).
Like Jai Alai, this one is hard to figure out, at first, but somewhere around the 3rd day of watching you start to figure it out. And you thought the pace of college football games was getting slow.
Rugby
Either women’s or men’s, this is an enjoyable watch. Fairly easy to pick up on the rules, and constant beating the hades out of each other, it’s fast paced with plenty of scoring and knocking heads. Watching Ilona Maher (pictured above) during a women’s match makes one wonder if she could throw on some pads and knock heads in a men’s American Football game, and I pity any one who tries to tackle her in a game.
Some other favs:
- World Series of Poker
- Darts
- Pool
- American Gladiator reruns
- Rodeos
So how’s about you? What’s your fave unusual sporting match to watch?
WSOP was interesting years ago because of the top player personalities but they over saturated the market and now too boring to watch. Thank goodness college football isn’t headed that way. 🙄
I enjoy F1 but if they don’t fix the stupid battery use/charging requirements back to more combustible engine power then that will have been a short lived fling too. I’m so close to just watching big events and nothing more in only a few sports.
Absolutely on poker. Texas Hold ‘Em is a great game, but watching the same thing over and over is boring. The pace of play in poker makes Aimpoint in golf seem like speedy.
I used to watch Australian Rules Football when espn was young and showed sports without social commentary.
Me too. Love the ref that signals the scoring.
This, and the lumberjack competitions.
Definitely like 11 on 11 rugby (7s has no appeal to me). When I was in New Zealand a long time ago, it was in the middle of the Tri-Nations (NZ, SA and AUS). The Kiwis/All-Blacks and the Australians have a rivalry on the level of Georgia-Florida or Michigan-Ohio State. They played in Wellington, and the referees got pelted with beer bottles due to a foul called late that allowed the Aussies to win the game in the last minute. I was also in SA when the World Cup was going on. On the flight home, the crew announced the Springboks had won the final.
I don’t know if golf qualifies (doubtful), but there’s a reason the PGA Tour says “These guys are good.” While the game is less about shot-making now (which is a step back) due to the equipment, the way these guys consistently find the middle of the club face is incredible. There are structural issues the sport needs to face at the highest level.
The other I would mention is swimming. I love watching it during the Olympics. It’s incredible to watch these athletes in the pool. The power and athleticism of both the men and women is just jaw-dropping.
We went to the Rugby 7s final at the Paris Olympics and it was amazing. Part of that, though, was due to the French winning gold in a full Stade de France. One of the best stadium atmospheres I’ve ever seen. That said, definitely prefer 15s over 7s.
Going to a couple of interprovince URC matches over Christmas in Ireland and can’t wait. Wish the sport was more accessible here but I guess it’s just too similar to American football to take hold.
My son swam competitively from 6 years old all the way through high school so I watched a whole lot of swimming. I still enjoy it .
The early morning practices before school? Not so much. 😉
School bus racing and trailer racing are fun to watch.
Tractor pull – especially if you’re from east central Alabama
I’m from west central Georgia and spent too much time on a tractor to watch that shit!
Is that similar to sow mud wrasslin?
I was going to say F1 like others have mentioned and I can get hooked into some American Ninja Warrior also.
Also like mentioned above, I used to consistently watch the WSOP, but it has become boring and the coverage isn’t very interesting anymore.
It isn’t a sport, but watching Bob Ross paint can be addictive…lol. A little Titanium White, Phthalo Blue, Sap Green, Van Dyke Brown, Alizarin Crimson with a little happy tree right there and next thing you know I have killed an hour and a half and several cocktails.
Watched some of the WSOP last night. What was more shocking to me was the fact that everyone at the table had been “done up” with makeup. Everyone. Jesus, these people are supposed to playing card games for a living and we’re trying to make them look younger? Just stop.
I also find their current theatrics just stupid. I’m going to read my cards, sit them side by side, stare at a guy for exactly 5 seconds, then muck. Every time. Everyone with sunglasses. I liked it better when it was Brunson and Chan and just bullying you or going on a wing and a prayer.
I also liked watching Phil Hellmuth get busted and watch him rant for hours about how someone isn’t supposed to play like that. What a brat.
Used to enjoy the WSOP back when Rounders came out. Then, you had maybe 1 or 2 guys who everybody disliked and you could enjoy the strategy. Now, they’re all douchebags (including the announcers – they’re playing cards, not curing cancer you blowhards!) and I couldn’t care less about it.
Still enjoy Rounders tho…
I don’t think they should allow sunglasses, hoodies or anything used to cover the eyes.
Roller derby was always fun to watch on Saturdays. Actually was as much fun as watching Dick Dunn on Saturday wrestling on the channel out of Dothan.
Also watching and going to JCKC Greyhound dog racing in Monticello. We went at least once a week. Damn sham PETA got them shut down.
Still like to watch bull riding, although now they wear more padding than a hockey goaler which takes a bit of the thrill out.
I saw a collegiate cornhole match back around Thanksgiving. Felt like I was pretty sorry sitting on my duff and watching that.
Sumo Wrestling
I like to watch IMSA racing. Been going to the Rolex24 and petit Le Mans for a few years.
Hurling.
https://youtu.be/jQ-TOK2FiI4?is=28p5Gt4yne0HnlMc
They’re all amateurs. You play for the County where you were born. For free. Or not at all. No contracts. No transfers.
Its ancient. Its culture. Its identity. Its pride.
Its also amazing to watch what they can do with a sliotar (ball) and a hurley in the midst of all that chaos and violence.
The GAA app is available btw.
Mostly I have to have played it or for some cultural reason know the rules well to be interested. I know guys that watch hours and hours of golf, but to me it’s just too boring. Playing golf is fun. I will say that the World Cup saturation has helped me learn some things about soccer that have made it more interesting still wouldn’t watch an entire match. The one thing I like to watch is collegiate women’s fast pitch softball. But it’s not on now that I know of.
Australian Rules Football if you want to see were all the great Punters come from.
College football and soccer that is about the extent of my sports watching these days. My girlfriend plays tennis and likes to watch the big tournaments so I will watch along with her. I do enjoy the majors especially the US Open.
Every once in awhile, I do like watching insane mountain bike races with a POV view like the one below. Some of the ones in cities are really cool but I also enjoyed this one where 1000 people race down a glacier.
https://youtu.be/gGjklMjMKms?si=Ze4sFfe8vQEUsKRg
Come on guys. Women’s beach volleyball! Duh!
Just to stir the pot. Maybe!!!
I have been to the Cheyenne (WY) Rodeo, the Grandaddy of Them All, many times over the years, and enjoyed the Chuckwagon Races {a rider throws a footlocker onto the back of a chuckwagon, think OK Sooners, jumps into the wagon, the driver races the wagon around the oval ring, and two outriders have to cross the finish line within ten feet of the wagon crossing. The footlocker has to be in place or disqualification.
The other event was the Wild Horse Race where a team of drunk cowboys or damn fools from one of the many bars in town, would catch a wild horse, saddle him, a rider would get on and take off around the oval, supposedly clockwise. The first one to cross the finish line with the rider still in the saddle was the winner. This event would make you laugh, scare you, and make you throw up when someone would get kicked in the head by the horse or a rider would be thrown, but the best would be when one horse went the wrong way and collided with a horse coming the other way.
These two events have been cancelled to stop the insanity.
Anybody ever been to a bullfight? Don’t knock it until you try it. Told folks it felt a lot like the short track stock car racing I grew up going to.
Sadly, it’s almost completely gone now.