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Fort In Sport (Odd Sports & Sporting Incidents)

The recent (2022) competition is associated with the "Slap Fighting Championship" organization. A different SlapFIGHT organization had been staging such events starting in 2017.

The "SlapFIGHT Championship" league originated in 2017 in Branson, Missouri (United States). The CEO is JT Tilley.
SlapFIGHT Championship is home to many of the well known US slap fighters, including Wolverine, Darius, Frank The Tank and Da Crazy Hawaiian(previously).
Note: Confusingly, this SlapFIGHT Championship and the "Slap Fighting Championship" (rebranded from "PunchDown" in 2022) are unrelated.
https://slapfight.com/leagues/slapfight-championship
 
A South African boxer has died as the result of brain injury incurred during a fight.
Boxer Simiso Buthelezi Dies at Age 24 After Suffering Brain Injury During Fight

Boxer Simiso Buthelezi died on Tuesday at the age of 24 as the result of injuries suffered in a fight against Siphesihle Mntungwa on June 5.

Boxing South Africa and Buthelezi's family released a joint statement (h/t MMAFighting.com) announcing his death as the result of internal bleeding stemming from a brain injury.

"At the hospital Mr. Buthelezi was given the best care possible but he however succumbed to the injury last night as aforesaid," the statement said. "Boxing South Africa will conduct an independent medical review of the injury and will then make public the results of that medical review."

During the 10th round of the fight, Mntungwa fell through the ropes after being hit by Buthelezi.

After the referee gave Mntungwa time to stand up and compose himself to resume the bout, Buthelezi walked toward an empty corner of the ring and started throwing punches. ...

Dr. Buyi Mabaso-Dlamini, who was ringside for the fight, told Bongani Magasela of Sowetan Live on Tuesday that doctors "discovered that he bled on the brain and sadly his condition does not allow the doctors that are treating to operate at the moment due to the condition." ...
FULL STORY: https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-24-after-suffering-brain-injury-during-fight
 
Good idea!

A group of 13 Peruvian shamans have got behind their country's men's football team by performing spiritual rituals to help them in a 2022 World Cup play-off against Australia.

Peru face the Socceroos on Monday for a place at Qatar and the shaman conducted the ceremony on a hillside in Lima around a portrait of their country's team.

They also had a picture of the Australia team and poked that with swords as one of the indigenous shaman blew a traditional wind instrument known as a pututo or caracola.

"We have carried out a Peruvian victory ceremony. We have summoned all the shamans at a national level," said shaman Walter Alarcon. There are 13 shamans because Peru plays Australia on the 13 June, and we have foreseen Peru passing to the next round. Peru will be in Qatar for the World Cup because we have seen people's joy, after taking ayahuasca plants."

Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic brew that has been used by shamans, or healers, in the Amazon for centuries for medicinal and spiritual purposes.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/61769343
 
If you spliced their genes you might get a good centaur.

A runner has won the man v horse event for only the third time since the competition began in 1980.

Runner Ricky Lightfoot received £3,500 after beating the first horse by more than two minutes on a 22.5 mile (36km) course in Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys. He came out on top of 1,000 runners and 50 horses with a time of 2:22:23.

Race director Mike Thomas said Mr Lightfoot, a member of Cumbria running club Ellenborough AC, beat the horses "quite comfortably" on Saturday. The last time a human beat a horse in the race was in 2007 and the first time was in 2004.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-61773202
 
If you spliced their genes you might get a good centaur.

A runner has won the man v horse event for only the third time since the competition began in 1980.

Runner Ricky Lightfoot received £3,500 after beating the first horse by more than two minutes on a 22.5 mile (36km) course in Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys. He came out on top of 1,000 runners and 50 horses with a time of 2:22:23.

Race director Mike Thomas said Mr Lightfoot, a member of Cumbria running club Ellenborough AC, beat the horses "quite comfortably" on Saturday. The last time a human beat a horse in the race was in 2007 and the first time was in 2004.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-61773202
Lightfoot! And he is 'light of foot'.
 
Sounds a tad Monty Pythonish..

An Argentinian soccer player was struck in the face by a fish thrown by a rival fan during a Primera Division match Monday in Buenos Aires.

A video of the bizarre incident went viral on social media. The player, Independiente forward Leandro Fernandez, fell to the ground and was checked by a medical team before returning to play.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/soccer-player-felled-by-fish_n_62d75afae4b03dbb9911cc1d
 
Police head off bigfoot thiebes.

He stands 7ft tall, has a giant yellow face and has become a huge breakout star at the World Athletics Championships with his crowd-pleasing antics.

But there were few smiles to be seen at Hayward Field on Monday evening when police were called after the head of Legend the Bigfoot, the official mascot in Eugene, was stolen by an accredited photographer.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...htman-in-dreamland-after-emulating-crams-gold
It came just hours after Bigfoot had spent hours going through his repertoire of tricks that included forward rolling down 30 stairs, bathing in the steeplechase water in a rubber dinghy and dancing and high-fiving the crowd.

Shortly after the theft videos emerged on social media showing unidentified men joking as they played around with Bigfoot’s yellow head. However, they were no longer laughing when police tracked down the culprit with the help of CCTV and another photographer.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...d-solved-police-world-athletics-championships
 
While much of the Northern Hemisphere is wilting in an unusually hot summer, they're skiing and snowboarding in southern Africa's mountain kingdom of Lesotho at the only African ski resort south of the equator.
Tiny African kingdom has skiing as Europe sweats summer heat

... Don’t worry. This isn’t another sign of climate change but rather the fascinating anomaly of Lesotho, a tiny mountain kingdom completely surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho has an obscure geographical claim to fame: It’s the only country on Earth where every inch of its territory sits more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above sea level. ...

That gives Lesotho snow in the southern hemiphere’s winters. And while cold winters aren’t rare in southern Africa, snow is and ski resorts are even rarer. At an altitude of 3,000 meters (9,842 feet), Afriski in Lesotho’s Maluti Mountains is Africa’s only operating ski resort south of the equator.

“I’ve never seen snow in my life,” said Kafi Mojapelo, who traveled the short distance from South Africa for a skiing vacation she never thought she’d take. “So, this is a great experience.” ...

Bafana Nadida, who comes from the sprawling urban township of Soweto in Johannesburg, was delighted with putting ski boots on for the first time. He planned a day of ski lessons, taking pictures and just playing about in the snow. ...
FULL STORY (With Many Photos): https://apnews.com/article/oddities-sports-africa-f0c0c1ae332cc790b22e8723bcd31611
 
Aaaaaaaaand ... They're off!!
The annual T-Rex race at Emerald Downs racetrack in Washington state was held this past July. ...
I laughed myself silly at the video.

The 2019 T-Rex Race was suspended after the 2019 event. The race event has been reborn with a running this past Sunday, in which over 150 participants competed. BTW - this year's video is as funny as the 2019 one ...
Dinosaurs hit the racetrack for Washington's T-Rex Race

More than 150 people donned dinosaur costumes at a Washington racetrack and ran a 1/16-mile race to find the fastest T-Rex in the pack.

Emerald Downs in Auburn hosted its first T-Rex Race since 2019, when photos and videos of the event made a viral splash online. ...

Sunday's race featured more than 150 participants, a new record for the event, which was sponsored by TriGuard Pest Control. ...
FULL STORY (With Video): https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/08/22/T-Rex-Race-Emerald-Downs-Auburn-Washington/6321661200232/
 
this was the plot of a Ripping Yarns style TV film, it involved Wales and Rugby Union.

A schoolboy footballer who scored a controversial equaliser in a derby 50 years ago has said replaying the match "has put a lot of demons to rest".

Graeme Jones bundled the ball and the opposition goalkeeper into the net to level for Gayton Primary against St Peter's CofE Primary in Wirral in 1972. He said he decided a replay was needed in the first Covid lockdown and spent a year finding his former teammates.

The rematch saw St Peter's CofE gain their revenge, running out 6-2 winners.

Mr Jones said he was spurred into action when he came across a local newspaper cutting about the game, which he shared on Facebook.

He said he "thought nothing more of it", but his neighbour Craig Allen, who scored St Peter's goal in 1972, then commented that "everyone remembers your dodgy goal".

Mr Jones said he "always knew it was a foul".

"The keeper jumped to catch the ball from a corner and I decided [he] and the ball were all going over the line," he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-62721578
 
In case you've wondered what soccer playing would be like in zero gravity ... Last month a group of soccer players played soccer on a parabolic ("Vomit Comet" - style) flight.


Zero gravity soccer game breaks world record at 20,230 feet

Portuguese soccer legend Luis Figo and a team of international players put their skills to the test in zero gravity to break a Guinness World Record for a high altitude game of soccer.

The Guinness World Record attempt, organized by Mastercard, saw Figo and a team of players from around the world boarded a plane specially outfitted with an on-board soccer field and the flight took a parabolic path to simulate zero gravity for the game at 20,230 feet. ...

The game officially broke the Guinness World Record for highest altitude game of football (soccer) on a parabolic flight. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/0...s-zer-gravity-soccer-Luis-Figo/4211664388397/
 
Toe Wrestling

Yes it’s a thing.

The World Toe Wrestling Championships, which were created in the 1970s, take place annually in Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

Seventeen-time world champion toe wrestler, Alan "Nasty" Nash, has revealed the reasons why he is stepping down from the sport.
1665313481337.png
 
World Conker Championships rocked by cheating allegations after it emerged the winner is related to one of the judges.

Presumably you win a match by knocking your opponents conker off its string. No anal beads were used as far as we know..
Fee Aylmore, 49, won the ladies tournament in front of thousands of people in Southwick, Northamptonshire, on Sunday.

But her victory has been marred by cries of a ‘fix’ after it was revealed her father, David Jakins, 80 – dubbed the ‘King Conker’ – handled and prepared the conkers in the final.

Ms Aylmore also maintains her innocence, saying her victory was down to her incredible skills alone.

‘Competitors pick conkers from a black bag, but there were anonymous accusations the best conker had been selected through a sequence of marks on the string. Our investigation found no evidence of this.

‘The bags the winner selected her conkers from has also been examined, with no signs of tampering found.

‘The winner’s conkers were looked at closely, with no signs of being hardened by being pickled in vinegar, baked in the oven or filled with resin.’
 
I wasn't sure where to post this.

I'm off this week so today i watched the first 3 matches in the football World Cup. Watching Poland v Mexico, Polish star player Lewandowski took a penalty. As he stepped up, i thought to myself, he's going to miss. Indeed his penalty was saved.

I'm just curious about what am I picking up on in situations like this, subtle body cues, facial expression or what? After the game, Rio Ferdinand also said that he thought he was going to miss. He said that 'something wasn't right'.
 
I wasn't sure where to post this.

I'm off this week so today i watched the first 3 matches in the football World Cup. Watching Poland v Mexico, Polish star player Lewandowski took a penalty. As he stepped up, i thought to myself, he's going to miss. Indeed his penalty was saved.

I'm just curious about what am I picking up on in situations like this, subtle body cues, facial expression or what? After the game, Rio Ferdinand also said that he thought he was going to miss. He said that 'something wasn't right'.
You maybe picked up on his body language. I have a reasonable amount of success in predicting whether a player will miss a penalty, just by watching the way they approach it. If they don't look confident there's a fair chance they will miss.

Or maybe you have the gift.
 
They didn't deserve to win - Mexico were the better side. They don't look like they've got many goals in them though.
 
You might not be amused, I think it;s fun dough.

Tony Gemignani started spinning pizza dough when he was 17. Crowds at his brother’s pizzeria in Castro Valley, Calif., would watch in awe as he tossed dough 15-feet in the air, before seamlessly sliding it through his legs, across his shoulders and around his back like a basketball. He never dropped it.

“I loved it, and customers loved it,” said Gemignani.

More than three decades later, Gemignani, now 49, has become an acclaimed pizza acrobat, with 13 world championship titles under his belt, seven of which are for acrobatics, and six for cooking. He has won several Guinness World Records, too, including “largest pizza base spun in [two] minutes.” (The pie was 33.2 inches wide.)

“Tricks that you see a Harlem Globetrotter do with a basketball, we do with a pizza,” he said.

Gemignani with members of the Harlem Globetrotters in 2018. He has performed with them many times. (Courtesy of Tony Gemignani)
Pizza acrobatics, sometimes called pizza freestyle or pizza tossing, has been around since the 1980s. The sport — it is actually considered a sport — involves tossing mounds of stretched pizza dough in the air, and performing jaw-dropping tricks with it. The dough seemingly defies gravity, launching straight in the air in perfect circular disks. Some acrobats can keep two pizzas twirling at a time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/03/01/pizza-acrobatics-tony-gemignani-champ/
 
Global Warming leading to more Home Runs?

Home runs are exhilarating – those lofting moments when everyone looks skyward, baseball players and fans alike, anxiously awaiting the outcome: run or out, win or loss, elation or despair.

Over the past several Major League Baseball seasons, home run numbers have climbed dramatically, including Aaron Judge's record-breaking 62 homers for the New York Yankees in 2022.

Baseball analysts have pointed to many different factors for this surge, from changes in baseball construction to advances in game analytics.

Our new study, published April 7, 2023, offers solid evidence for another cause – rising global temperatures.

The physics tell a simple and compelling story: Warm air is less dense than cool air. As air heats up and molecules move faster, the air expands, leaving more space between molecules. As a result, a batted ball should fly farther on a warmer day than it would on a cooler day owing to less air resistance.

This simple physical link has prompted speculation from the media about the connection between climate change and home runs.

But while scientists like Alan Nathan have shown that balls go farther in higher temperatures, no formal scientific investigation had been performed to prove that global warming is helping fuel baseball's home run spree – until now.

In our study, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in collaboration with anthropologists (and baseball fans) Nathaniel J. Dominy and Jeremy M. DeSilva, we used data from over 100,000 Major League Baseball games and 200,000 individual batted balls, alongside observed game day temperatures, to show that warming temperatures have, in fact, increased the number of home runs.

https://www.sciencealert.com/global-warming-is-having-an-unexpected-and-thrilling-impact-on-baseball
 
Global Warming leading to more Home Runs?

Home runs are exhilarating – those lofting moments when everyone looks skyward, baseball players and fans alike, anxiously awaiting the outcome: run or out, win or loss, elation or despair.

Over the past several Major League Baseball seasons, home run numbers have climbed dramatically, including Aaron Judge's record-breaking 62 homers for the New York Yankees in 2022.

Baseball analysts have pointed to many different factors for this surge, from changes in baseball construction to advances in game analytics.

Our new study, published April 7, 2023, offers solid evidence for another cause – rising global temperatures.

The physics tell a simple and compelling story: Warm air is less dense than cool air. As air heats up and molecules move faster, the air expands, leaving more space between molecules. As a result, a batted ball should fly farther on a warmer day than

In our study, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in collaboration with anthropologists (and baseball fans) Nathaniel J. Dominy and Jeremy M. DeSilva, we used data from over 100,000 Major League Baseball games and 200,000 individual batted balls, alongside observed game day temperatures, to show that warming temperatures have, in fact, increased the number of home runs.

https://www.sciencealert.com/global-warming-is-having-an-unexpected-and-thrilling-impact-on-baseball

I believe higher temperatures have only a minimal effect on home runs.

Far more important is increased player physical power.
Linked to average US male height and weight increase over the last century, sports science/training techniques, and Performance Ehancing Drugs.

Click the link for a Bleacher Report article with relevant data.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...odays-baseball-player-and-those-of-yesteryear
 
Huns Harass Ref.

A referee and his wife have received death threats after Saturday's Old Firm match, the BBC understands.

The Scottish Football Association said Kevin Clancy was targeted after his contact details were published online following the Celtic v Rangers game.

Abusive messages sent to Mr Clancy were also directed at his children.

The SFA has referred the matter to Police Scotland, but a force spokesman said it had yet to receive the correspondence.

During the Scottish Premiership match, which Celtic won 3-2, the referee disallowed a first half goal by Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-65234008
 
Playing against robots is good for you.

The human brain works much harder when playing sport against robots, scientists have found.

Researchers from the University of Florida analysed dozens of hours of table tennis matches where humans were pitted against machines and each other. Players wore electrode caps so their brain activity could be monitored during the games.

Scientists found that when playing against each other, the players’ brains worked in unison, “like they were all speaking the same language”.
Desynchronisation is an indication that the brain is doing a lot of calculations as opposed to sitting and idling

But when the players faced a ball-serving machine, the neurons – nerve cells – in their brains were not aligned in the same way, a phenomenon known as desynchronisation.

Daniel Ferris, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Florida, said: “If we have 100,000 people in a football stadium and they’re all cheering together, that’s like synchronisation in the brain, which is a sign the brain is relaxed. If we have those same 100,000 people but they’re all talking to their friends, they’re busy but they’re not in sync. In a lot of cases, that desynchronisation is an indication that the brain is doing a lot of calculations as opposed to sitting and idling.”

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-41113849.html
 
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