Chess Football

Patent No. 5558335. Pretty much like regular chess, but inside a simulated football stadium.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 12, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Sports, Patents

Rollerskate Polo

This is a Roller Polo team in the 1890s. Roller skating was big in 1870s USA, and when polo was brought in by James Gordon Bennett in 1876, the two sports quickly blended. Roller polo was played with a ball. Roller rinks were converted to 40 by 80-foot courts with a chicken-wire goal cage at each end. The one-handed sticks were 1 inch in diameter and they played 3 15-minute periods. Players wore team uniforms and goalies wore more pads. Everybody wore Roller Skates.The man at right has a skate key hanging from his belt.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 03, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Sports, Nineteenth Century

‘The Girl With Whom I Would Most Like To Go Skiing For Two Weeks in the Cairngorm Mountains’

Dec 1966: Instead of simply being called 'Miss Cairngorm Mountains,' or something similar, June Fletcher was awarded the oddly specific title of 'The Girl With Whom I Would Most Like To Go Skiing For Two Weeks in the Cairngorm Mountains'.

Lincolnshire Echo - Dec 2, 1966

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 21, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Sports, 1960s

Lafleur!

As far as I know, the genre of disco hockey-instruction music is limited to this one album released by Guy Lafleur in 1979.

Montreal Gazette - Sep 11, 1979

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 02, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Music, Sports, 1970s

Hasbro’s Screwball

An early instance of "revenge of the nerds."

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 23, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Geeks, Nerds and Pointdexters, Sports, Toys, Advertising, 1970s, Puzzles

The Bull Bowl

As the season for College Bowl games arrives, let us always fondly recall the "Bull Bowl: Pigs vs. Freaks."

Full account here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 18, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Police and Other Law Enforcement, Rivalries, Feuds and Grudges, Sports, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1970s

1920s Motorized Skis

We previously featured caterpillar-tread skis, but here's an earlier, alternate technology.

Full patent here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 16, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Death, Sports, 1920s

Miss Magnetic Fly Reel of 1959

Source: The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) 09 Nov 1958, Sun Page 49

Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 12, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Sports, Fish, 1950s

Circular Boxing Rings

In 1975, Marvin Jenson received a patent (No. 3,876,197) for a circular boxing ring. As he noted in his patent, a circular ring is safer than a square one due to the lack of corners:


In a newspaper interview, Jenson further explained that the idea for the round boxing ring had occurred to him after watching the 1961 fight between Benny Paret and Emile Griffith, during which Paret got trapped in a corner and took such a beating that he fell into a coma and died.

Jenson's patent drawing

Jenson's circular ring in use
Jordan Valley Sentinel - June 10, 1976

Jenson was hardly the first person to come up with the idea of a circular boxing ring. The idea has been around for a long time. In fact, way back when fighters used to compete in circles drawn on the ground, which is why boxing rings came to be referred to as 'rings' in the first place, rather than 'squares'.

So how did boxing rings end up being square and continue to be so?

As far as I can tell, it's mostly a matter of convenience. It's easier to string rope in a straight line rather than a circle.

An earlier attempt at a circular ring
Newsweek - May 8, 1944

Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 27, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Sports, Martial Arts, Patents

Gravy Wrestling

The BBC reports that, after a two-year absence due to Covid, the World Gravy Wrestling Championship has returned.


More info: World Gravy Wrestling

Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 15, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Food, Sports