Bossaball

With the Super Bowl over NFL fans have nothing, aside from mock drafts, to look forward to this off-season but other sports to fill the gap. May I suggest Bossaball, which is a combination of volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, kids' bouncy houses, and Bossa Nova music. Just watch the video -- it will all become clear.    

 

A Sumo wrestler's morning

This video shows a morning of the Sumo Club at Kinki University. Most of it involves a couple of underclassman cooking breakfast for the club. We are also shown some of the morning training activities.  

 

Bare-knuckle boxing

John Sullivan (click any image to enlarge)

Now that Christmas is over, we can put 'Peace on Earth and Goodwill Towards Men' back on the shelf for another 12 months and turn to other topics. In particular, today we'll look at the topic of bare-knuckle boxing. 

To modern eyes the stance of the old-time bare-knuckle brawlers looks ridiculous, but it actually served a purpose. Due to the risk of hurting their hands by hitting the bones of the skull, head punches were less common. Although they would hit the chin and face, most of the punches were thrown at the body. That meant the boxers lowered their defense to guard against body shots.

That also explains why they hold their fists in the way that they do. Modern boxers hold their fists with the palm pointing down, while the old boxers used a vertical fist (palm pointed to the side). This protected their hands when they did hit the face or chin, rather than leading with their knuckles they would do a slight sideways clubbing motion. 

Because grappling was more common, they extended their left hand to control the distance from their opponent. The right arm was folded over their lower chest, both to protect from body shots and to be already cocked to throw a punch. I do wonder what their foot work was like but found no mention of it.

So, although their stance looks silly to modern boxing fans eyes, it was functional and well developed for the style of boxing practiced in their era. 

 

Making cricket tennis balls

Above is yet another video of a small business in India. This one is making tennis balls for cricket games. The place looks like an industrial accident, or rather several industrial accidents a day, in the offing. An OSHA inspector would slip into a catatonic trance from the shock of inspecting this place.

I did look up their Power Plus balls on the internet and found Fairo, a Pakistani online shop that sold them. One ball went for 75 Rupees, which is 97 cents. 

All I know about cricket is they pitch the ball oddly, their bats look like paddles and the word wicket has something to do with it, so I looked up a video to explain cricket which I posted below. Ehhh... I still need to do more research to make sense out of the sport. I end with a video of cricket highlights.

Teqball

Teqball is a sport that is a cross between soccer and ping pong. Blending in the need to bounce the ball off the curved Teqball table adds a lot of action so, although it has the strange soccer-like aversion to opposable thumbs, at least it isn't a wheezing bore like soccer is. 

It was developed in Hungary in 22012 and has been gaining in popularity. A summary of its rules are:

• Teqball can be played with balls used in football, with size five being official and recommended.
• Teqball can be played by two players (singles game) or by four players (doubles game).
• Teqball follows a points-based scoring format and is played over a best of three sets, with each set played until a player/team reaches 12 points.
• The final decisive set must be won by at least a two-point margin.
• Players must switch sides after each set and the time between two sets must not exceed one minute.
• In the final decisive set players/teams switch sides at 6/12/18 points reached by the leading team.
• Points are started with a service, with the player/team having two attempts to complete a successful service.
• Once the point is in play, the ball must be returned to the opponent’s side onto the table by touching it a maximum of three times (hands and arms cannot be used).
• In doubles, both players on the team must touch the ball before it is returned.
• The ball cannot be touched by the same body part consecutively.
• A player/team cannot return the ball with the same body part consecutively.
• In the case of an edgeball, the point is to be repeated.
• Players/teams change service after every four points.
• While playing, neither the table nor the opponent can be touched.

Bo-Taoshi (and people wonder why women live longer then men)

The above video shows some Bo-Taoshi matches. It is a Japanese sport where the goal is to lower the other team's pole to 30 degrees or less. Each team has 150 players, 75 to attack and 75 to defend. It used  to be common at high school sports festivals, but is now banned by most, only the National Defense Academy of Japan still does it annually.

The parenthetical quote is from Emily Bluntt in the comments to the video. That pretty much sums it up -- it is the type of rough housing that appeals to the male brain. Looks like fun in a painful sort of a way.

Hornussen - a popular Swiss sport

Hornussen is an old and popular Swiss sport. It has been described as a cross between baseball and golf, although that doesn't really capture its play and rules well.

A puck, called the hornuss, is mounted on a rail and driven down field by a player swings a rather odd, long and flexible bat. In the field are players of the opposing team who wield giant rackets to try to knock the hornuss down. If they successfully knock it down the offense scores no points, otherwise one point is awarded if the hornuss travels at least 100 meters, and additional points are awarded for each 10 meters that it travels beyond that.

Teams alternate at bats. Games are said to be leisurely, and skill rather than physical strength is important so a wide range of players can, and do, participate. The below video has an English narration that explains the sport further.

Reaching for the Stars

The release of the Mitchell report concerning steroid use in baseball essentially confirms what everyone suspected but pretended not to know. People are shocked…shocked that so many players have been implicated. Some new names have emerged, especially pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Petitte. Still the litany of names is sobering. Furthermore, many sportswriters are saying that there are many more names not in the report but that “everyone” knows they’re doing it. And baseball isn’t even testing for Human Growth Hormone (HGH) at this point. Sports are a reflection of the culture IMHO. So, I’ll briefly ride on my hobbyhorse, namely living in the age of tantalization.

Tantalus was a wealthy king, who was not satisfied with his mortal powers and mortality. Seeking to have what the gods have, he cheats or commits crimes designed to acquire his objects of desire (Nectar and Ambrosia). In one version of the myth he even chops up his son in an attempt to make himself level with the gods. He is caught and punished by being eternally tantalized (seeing what he wants but having it hang just out of reach).

There are many forces in society tempting us toward immediate gratification, and we seem to crave a never-ending onslaught of excitements and powers. The thrills don’t necessarily last too long. So we can set off in search of the next big thing or pick-me-up. Fans liked seeing the legendary records fall or be obliterated, since it is also a thrill to “be a part of history”, even as a witness. In Tantalizing Times –now available at a big discount through Amazon :>)--- I wrote:

Steroids have been the subject of much controversy in recent years. These have tended to be used by male athletes looking to get some kind of edge. They enhance muscle mass, and guys have been able to get pumped up on them and achieve almost unreal sorts of muscle development. They are used to assist the athlete to become stronger and more powerful, in addition to assisting the athlete to develop the body of a Greek god. Questions were raised about the productivity of many athletes as records began to fall in numerous sports. Football players and baseball players have especially been tempted to swallow steroids in the hopes of obtaining athletic immortality. Curiously steroid use has potential health risks and not only enhancement potential. Considering the theme of the book, its risks are almost poetic, namely the potential for shrinking of the testicles and of impotence. Although they temporarily can help one climb to the top of the heap, excessive use could easily produce a person with many of the characteristics of premature aging and impaired capacity to reproduce. Pg. 53

Although steroids affect muscles (more than brain) my focus here lies on the prospect of opening the door for mind drugs as enhancers. The same arguments will be used. In the case of using an enhancer to get the advantage, we abandon whatever investment we have had in something like will power or determination as well as effort. If activities are made easy by intake of pharmaceuticals, then the outcome is privileged over the process and we acclimate ourselves to the notion that anything worth having is worth being acquired via a bottle or needle. In fact it clearly sets the stage for an entitlement viewpoint to reign supreme. Pg. 80