The Wide World of Weird Sports

The Wide World of Weird Sports

1 Kaiju Big Battel
A humorous cross between professional wrestling and Japanese anime, Kaiju Big Battel hosts "Big Ring" and "Danger Cage" matches between "maniacal villains, ominous alien beasts and gigantic, city-crushing monsters." In this match held in Brooklyn, N.Y., Steam Powered Tentacle Boulder is declared the winner after defeating French Toast in less than a minute.

2 Cardboard-Tube Dueling
Members of the Cardboard Tube Dueling League fight on the battlefield of Gas Works Park in Seattle. The individual winner receives a fancy, custom-made cardboard tube. Losers risk bruised egos and paper cuts.



3 Underwater Hockey
Also known as "octopush," underwater hockey involves pushing a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into goals. Above, teams compete at the 2006 world championships in Sheffield, England.




4 The Mud-Pit Belly Flop
Spectators get sprayed at the mud-pit belly flop, the highlight of the annual Summer Redneck Games in East Dublin, Ga. Other events include a hubcap-discus throw and bobbing for pigs' feet.



5 Bossaball
Similar to volleyball, the Belgian sport of bossaball also includes elements of soccer, gymnastics and capoeira. Each side of the court has an integrated trampoline, allowing players to bounce high enough to spike the ball.



6 Snow Polo
Aspen, Colo., hosts the World Snow Polo championships each year. A modified version of polo, the game is played on a snow-packed arena, using horses that are shod with special cleated shoes to give better traction.



7 Pig-N-Ford Racing
Held at the Tillamook, Ore., County Fair since 1925, pig-n-Ford racing traces its origins to a couple of locals who so enjoyed chasing down a runaway pig in their Model T they made it into a sport. The competition requires each participant to grab a 20-lb. pig, crank the engine on the car, jump into the driver's seat and drive around the track — without letting go of the pig. The first to successfully move three pigs around the track in this fashion is declared the winner.



8 Pillow Fight League
The all-female PFL stages matches between fighters with names like Olivia Neutron-Bomb, Carmen Monoxide and Ursula Anvil at their home base in Toronto and elsewhere — like at Exxxotica Miami, above, an annual erotic festival. On its website, the PFL boasts, "We are women who are proud of our strength and not afraid to let loose. We fight with pillows because it lets us be creative, do something different and go a little crazy."



9 Dog Surfing
The Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competition, held at Imperial Beach in San Diego, hosts three categories of competition: small dogs, large dogs and teams of humans and dogs surfing together. Above, Dude, a basset-beagle mix, and owner Barb Ayers took third place at this year's Category 3 event.




10 Pole Push
One of numerous events held at the Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, the pole push requires two teams of four to grasp opposite ends of a pole and try to push their opponents out of the ring, sumo-style.



11 Unicycle Polo
Organized by the Unicycle Bastards, a group of unicycle enthusiasts in Portland, Ore., the unicycle-polo world championships pits teams against one another in a double-elimination tournament. The rule book encourages "frequent and colorful swearing," the consumption of "one alcoholic beverage prior to every match" and "urination in approved restroom facilities."



12 Ultimate Firefighter Competition
Part of the World Police and Fire Games held in Vancouver, Canada, the Firefighter Competition challenges participants to take part in events like hauling a chainsaw and weight up and down the stairs of a five-story building and dragging a fire hose as quickly as possible across a specified distance.



13 Urban Golf
Athletes from more than a dozen countries participated in the World Urban Golf Day in Portland, Ore., teeing off at an 18-hole course laid out in an industrial area of the city. Using a set of ordinary golf clubs and tennis balls, the players negotiated hazards like storm drains, street furniture and unleashed dogs running off with the balls.



14 Blind Soccer
Teams in this internationally sanctioned sport consist of four blind athletes and one sighted or visually impaired goalkeeper. Additionally, teams have a guide who stands behind the opponent's goal to direct the players where to shoot. The field is surrounded by a wall, which means no throw-ins, so the action remains fairly intense through each 25-minute half. The match above, pitting Argentina against China, took place at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.



15 Toughguy Challenge
Held annually in Wolverhampton, England, Toughguy consists of a 6-mile run followed by a set of exceedingly difficult and dangerous obstacles, like electric wire, burning hay, underwater tunnels and the "Stalag Escape," above, which requires competitors to crawl beneath barbed wire 20 ft. through mud. The event draws entrants from all over the world, with the number of athletes capped at 4,000.




16 Giant Pumpkin Kayaking
At the fifth Annual West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta, held in Tualatin, Ore., locally grown pumpkins weighing up to 800 lb. are hollowed out and used as vessels in a race around the lake.



17 Segway Polo
Featuring teams from the U.S., Germany, Spain and New Zealand, among other nations, Segway polo boasts an annual world championship (teams vie for the Woz Challenge Cup) and an international governing body. In this photo, members of a Sunnyvale, Calif., team lap their mascot.



18 Jousting
Armored riders compete at the fifth annual jousting championships at the Renaissance Faire in Angels Camp, Calif.