Sports- the exhilarating rush of adrenaline, the exciting cheers of the crowd, the manly smell of sweat, and the smell of someone else’s toes….wait, what? That’s right. Toe wrestling is officially a competitive sport. At least in the UK it is. Derbyshire, UK, that’s where it all started. Locals thought it would be fun to try out and apparently, it was. They made rules and applied to make the sport competitive and it was approved. In 1997, they applied to make it an official sport in the Olympics. However, unfortunately, it was not approved.

You think toe wrestling is wacky? Try Slamball. Imagine basketball, two hoops, and one ball. Now imagine four trampolines. That’s right. Slamball is like basketball on steroids. There are about four players on each team. The goal is to outscore the opposing team. You can pass the ball to the person who is going to make the shot. However, to score, the person shooting must actually jump onto the trampoline and dunk the basketball into the hoop, all the while trying to avoid the onslaught of oncoming tackles from the opposing team. That’s right, in Slamball, tackling is allowed. It’s a full contact sport. In fact, it’s so rigorous that you can’t just be a basketball player to be part of a Slamball team. You have to also be adequate in gymnastics as well as be physically strong.

Another crazy sport is Quidditch. Now, Quidditch has been around since the first Harry Potter books. This sport, although having started in fiction, has gained so much popularity that there is actually now a Quidditch World Cup. Although seemingly silly at first, this game is actually rigorous. One must run around with a broomstick between their legs and while trying to run around, try to score a ball into a hoop.

Another sport is wife carrying. For all you brave men out there, wife carrying is an official sport in Finland. To complete the task, the wife has to be hanging from the man’s back with her legs around his neck. And if this isn’t hard enough, you have to complete an obstacle course as long as two miles. This obstacle course includes mud pits, mountains, and overall rough terrain. The rules? Drop your wife and you lose.

Now, everyone knows about snorkeling- clear water and pretty fishes. However, in Wales, they have something called bog snorkeling. That’s right, a bog. Imagine muddy water about waist high full of unsanitary grime and other unknown nightmares. The player has to put on a snorkeling mask, put his face in the water and trudge through the bog using only their flippers and not any other traditional swimming techniques.

In Australia, there is a game called Octopush, or underwater hockey. Much like traditional hockey, Octopush is played with a puck. The catch? It’s underwater. The players play with shortened hockey sticks while they hold their breath. There are four to six players on each team and one must wear flippers, gloves, a mouthguard, and a hat with earguards. Most players also wear special swimwear.

Although there are some crazy sports out there, in the end, sports are still, just sports.