Category:
Sports

Diet Yourself to Death

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So this is kind of a "good news/bad news" story then?

Original article here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 20, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Death, Sports, 1990s, Bodybuilding, Dieting and Weight Loss

Chicago’s Acro-Theater



Plays that also featured acrobatic & gymnastic stunts. I'm thinking Shakespeare should be performed this way. Hamlet's soliloquy delivered on a trampoline.



More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 05, 2016 - Comments (9)
Category: Entertainment, Exercise and Fitness, Regionalism, Sports, Performance Art, 1940s, 1950s

Training Table Bread

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Original ad here.

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Original ad here.



It seems that circa 1962, pro football and the bread companies decided to engage in some mutual branding, offering loaves of bread of the same kind ostensibly enjoyed by the players. It seems likely that all these loaves emerged from the same factory and got a different team name slapped on them depending on their destination. Not much difference between brands of sliced whited bread to begin with, after all.

I am surprised the current-day NFL has not picked up on this, especially with the Superbowl coming up.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 28, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Food, Sports, 1960s

What Was the Name of Ted Williams’s Car?

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Original ad here.

So what was the winning name? It's a mystery for the ages. As this blogger says, "This car was widely shown and generated considerable publicity. Surprisingly, no one at S.C. Johnson & Son seems to remember the winning name to this day. 'I attempted to find out on numerous occasions during my career with Nash and American Motors -- writing the Johnson company and perusing newspapers and trade journals of the period,' says John A. Conde. 'Unfortunately, nothing turned up.'"

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 18, 2016 - Comments (10)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Sports, 1950s, Cars

Peels and All

June 1997: Mait Lepik won Estonia's first banana-eating contest thanks to a time-saving strategy. Instead of wasting precious moments peeling the bananas, he simply ate the bananas peels and all. His first-place prize was a free trip to the Canary Islands.

That's how the story was widely reported back in 1997 (such as here and here and below), but I have a hard time believing that it could be quicker to eat a banana with its peel still on, rather than taking a brief moment to remove the peel. After all, the skin is full of fiber and takes time to chew. I think it should have been reported that he managed to win the contest despite not peeling the bananas first.

In the video below the article, professional competitive eater Kevin Strahle (aka L.A. Beast) eats six unpeeled bananas. It's not easy for him. So I don't see how it could have been an easy way for Lepik to win a banana-eating contest either.

San Bernardino County Sun - June 22, 1997



Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 17, 2015 - Comments (12)
Category: Food, Sports, 1990s

Amish Marathon Runner

Apparently the Amish practice of "plain dress" extends to marathon running, because Amish runner Leroy Stolzfus has been showing up to races dressed in a long-sleeved shirt, black slacks, and suspenders. However, he does wear sneakers. More: York Dispatch.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 23, 2015 - Comments (11)
Category: Fashion, Religion, Sports

Fox Tossing and Other Sports



This new book by Edward Brooke-Hitching looks like a good read (Amazon link), and potentially of interest to WU readers. From the publisher's blurb:
Have you ever wondered what people did for fun throughout history? Edward Brooke-Hitching began to wonder the same thing while flipping through an eighteenth-century German book on hunting, and found a bygone sport in which German nobles launched foxes into the air. This random discovery of a game that slipped through the mainstream historical cracks led him to wonder: how many other sports have been left out of modern history accounts?

It looks like it was released first in the UK with the title Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling, and Other Forgotten Sports. But for the US release, the publisher dropped the "Octopus Wrestling" from the title. Why? I think the longer title is better. Perhaps they thought the idea of octopus wrestling was too weird for us Americans. Or perhaps they figured that Americans don't read much, so we need a shorter title.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 17, 2015 - Comments (4)
Category: Sports, Books

No-Arms Golfer


Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 12, 2015 - Comments (3)
Category: Body Modifications, Human Marvels, Sports, Golf, 1930s

Rogue Cheerleaders

Continuing today's cheerleader theme. My latest about.com article:

Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 30, 2015 - Comments (7)
Category: Sports

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Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

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Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

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