So the International Olympic Committee has recognized Frisbee as
an official Olympic event.
Why not?
It's a popular pastime with many people and I personally know a
few aging hippies who do not go anywhere without a Frisbee.
Kind of makes you wonder what the drug tests will find.
Doctor: “Hmmm, it seems you have multiple recreational drugs in
your system, but no performance-enhancing drugs.”
Aging hippie Olympian: “What, man. Hey, are you going to eat
that doughnut.”
All kidding aside, there some very amazing Frisbee players out
there. By the way, Frisbee is the name of the company that invented
the flying disc, but it has become synonymous with the activity so
people just call it frisbee. Like Bandaid, a brand name, but so
common people call anything that covers a wound a bandaid.
But I'm sure you already knew all that so I will move on.
Anyway, there are some incredible flying disc players out there
and I spent many an hour in my youth throwing a small, round piece of
plastic back and forth with my friends.
No comment on what else we were doing at the time.
Beer is not a performance-enhancing drug anyway so it's all good.
Frisbee can join a variety of interesting Olympic events that have
come and gone over the years, such as solo synchronized swimming.
Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't that just be called
swimming, or fancy swimming, or dance swimming or whatever. How can
it be synchronized if you are by yourself?
The solo synchro event
lasted only a couple of Olympics. Gee, I wonder why.
The 1908 Olympics featured tug-o-war as an official event. That
was also the year they had the dreaded Red Rover, Red Rover Come on
Over competition and the gruelling egg toss.
In the 1900s, live pigeon shooting was actually an Olympic event.
It only lasted a single Olympics (for good reason) and 300 live
pigeons were blasted with shotguns.
I am not sure who won the gold in that event, but I heard is last
name was Palmer and his great grandson went on to be a dentist.
Probably not true, but it would make sense.
The 1900 Olympics were an odd year with some very odd sports.
Along with massacring pigeons, athletes competed in the underwater
swimming competition. The rules were simple: points were awarded for
the longest distance and the most time spent under water.
Not a great spectator sport and it was dropped after just one
outing. Motorboating was held in 1908 where 'athletes' simply drove
their motorized boats around a course. The fastest boat won, simple
as that.
I am not sure how much athletic prowess it takes to sit in a boat
and drive around in circles, but based on the many rednecks I have
seen doing the same thing on mountain lakes, the hardest part would
be not spilling your beer in the corners.
Rope climbing was dropped from the official Olympic line up in
1932. But according to a news feature I just read, professional rope
climbers are keeping the sport alive.
First of all, I did not even know there was such a thing as
professional rope climbers. How does someone become a professional
rope climber in the first place?
Can't skate? Can't dribble a ball? Too clumsy for soccer? Perhaps
rope climbing is your call in life.
So why not add flying disc throwing to the Olympics? It is
something a lot of people can do or have done in the past, it is
visual and it will give all those old hippies something to do.
Copyright 2015, Darren Handschuh
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