The Nine Most Unusual Popular Sports in the World

Thomas by Senior Writer Written on November 14, 2008
Extreme-ironing-05_feature
(Page 2 of 2)
 

5. Zorbing

zorb_battle by you.

http://www.zorb.co.nz/

Wanna feel like a hamster? Then zorbing is the perfect sport for you.

According to the official website of the Zorb Ball, “Zorb is the sport of rolling down a hill inside a giant inflatable ball and where New Zealand once again leads the world in stupid things to do while you’re on a vacation.” Sounds fun. I didn't realize that New Zealand was the world leader on stupid things to do while on vacation.

The zorbs can hold as many as three people, making it a great way to battle against rival families.

 

6. Buzkashi

buzkashi_80065345 by you.

http://www.afghan-web.com/sports/buzkashi.html

Buzkashi is so popular, that it's a national sport—for Afghanistan.

The aim is to seize a medium-sized decapitated animal (generally a goat, sheep, or calf), ride around a series of obstacles and deposit it in a circle. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it might not be once you have literally hundreds of guys on horses trying to do the same thing.

Did I mention there's only one decapitated animal? Horses, hundreds of men, a dead animal—sounds like a great time.

 

7. Cheese Rolling

CheeseRolling1 by you.

http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/

The rules are very simple: Someone throws a cheese wheel down the hill, and hundreds of people stampede after it. The first person who gets the cheese and crosses the finish line gets to keep the cheese. It's really just a Western version of buzkashi.

The biggest event is the annual The Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake held in England. I'm not too sure I want cheese that has been thrown down a hill though.

 

8. Catfish Grabbling

GGG2web5 by you.

http://www.catfishgrabblers.com/

According to the website, grabbling is "the art of fishing with hands." To get started, all you need is a swimsuit and the ability to wrestle in the water trying to get the catfish if possible.

Don't worry—most of the time they catch and release.

 

9. Cell Phone Toss

cellphone-throwing-competition by you.

"Why I hate this frik'n phone! Die Nokia!"

Have you ever just wanted to chuck your phone out of anger? I have. Chucking phones has a way of making you happy.

Every so often, people meet up and have chucking competitions. At the Seventh International Mobile Throwing World Championship, the winner chucked a phone 89 meters (or 97 yards).

That's a lot of frustration.

 

If you want to nominate any other unusual sport, let me know in a comment.

Vote Now! - Author Poll

Which unusual sport would you want to do?

  • extreme ironing
  • wife carrying
  • shin kicking
  • chess boxing
  • zorbing
  • buzkashi
  • cheese rolling
  • catfish grabbling
  • cell phone toss
vote to see results
Results - Author Poll

Which unusual sport would you want to do?

  • extreme ironing

    9.0%
  • wife carrying

    13.1%
  • shin kicking

    6.0%
  • chess boxing

    9.4%
  • zorbing

    35.1%
  • buzkashi

    5.8%
  • cheese rolling

    9.0%
  • catfish grabbling

    3.6%
  • cell phone toss

    8.8%
  • Total votes: 498
(5)
...
Share This  
Crop_45x45
or to post this comment

77 Comments

There are no comments yet. Get the conversation started by leaving the first comment

Loading more comments...
posted just now
  • Loading...
  • Nobody has liked this comment yet
Cancel

This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete

33,122
reads

77
comments

written on November 14, 2008 Humor


CBS Sports Official Partner
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Getty Images.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Getty Images is strictly prohibited.