ESPN the Magazine recently reported on the “oldest ongoing sporting event in the world”. It started in 1362 with two simple rules: no water breaks and no timeouts. Short matches? Quite the contrary . . . how about the Championship match that took 60 minutes and required that the loser be carried out by his friends?
Ping pong you say? Bocce? Curling? How about winning the hallowed golden belt as the bas pehlivan – the head wrestler in the ancestral sport that starts by slathering yourself with olive oil – it doesn’t have to be virgin olive oil, thank goodness –  wearing calf-length leather pants called kispets and being prepared for your opponent to reach where there is no olive oil  – Excuse me, what? – while you wrestle until someone concedes? One of the 42 different moves is called the paca kazik – in English, the super duper wedgie! The others? Go figure!
Would I make this up? Read about it here.