November 5, 2024 • 52 mins
Regardless of everyone's differences in this wide, wide world, it's safe to say every culture loves some kind of sport. Often these sports can seem strange to outsiders -- but before we cast proverbial stones, let's remember almost every sport looks bizarre to people who don't know the rules! In the first episode of this continuing series, Ben, Noel and Max explore Buzkashī, the national sport of Afghanistan.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much
for tuning in. Let's hear it for the Man, the Myth,
the Legend. Super producer, mister Max Williams.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Huzzah, you good child.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
You would pick to do a sports episode when I
was six. I think this is intense. My breath, I'm
going to talk too much.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Oh, I thought it was raucous applause heard from a distance. Oh,
as I was also just doing a breath check. Do
I have coffee breath? I should? I probably do.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh, that's the best thing about us recording remotely. We
can't smell our mutual coffee breath shut out by the
way to our other super producer, all of the coffee.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Indeed, I'm out of oat milk though today, guys, so
I'm not at my best. I know it's just doesn't
add anything to the kick of the coffee, but it's
just something about the balance of the flavor. It doesn't right,
but it's still pretty good. I went ice today. How
about you, Ben? What kind of coffee beverage are you Rockins?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You're an old brown. I'm Ben Bullen. We're all fans
of coffee. I drink my coffee straight, probably to a
dangerous degree.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Ud jar. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Max is actually getting pretty big into the coffee business.
We were talking off air a while back, and Max
has a system of coffee creation, a cold brew coffee
creation that is on the level of becoming a sport Ben.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I like your demonstration of transitional prowess here. We're gonna
talk about other kinds of prowess today. Sports. I'm not
really much of a sporte like that.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I mean, you like the vibe much a vibe at
a live event.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I'm a vibe based human being, that is true. If
the vibe is right, then I'm there for it. I'm
trying to think when the last time I went to
a live sporting event was. It's been many years. Does
Monster Truck Rally count as a sporting event? Definitely? Okay,
well I went to that with both of you and
Max actually, as it were, even convinced my girlfriend to
(02:24):
go with us. And my kid, who has let's just
say some potential to be overstimulated, did not have a
good time at the Monster Truck Rally.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Dude, It's funny because when you bring up monster truck rallies.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It reminds me.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That that must look so strange. If you traveled from
ancient meso America to the modern day and you saw
a monster truck rally, you would feel like you had
discovered a new religion.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Or the hell had opened up and the demons are
now on earth in the form of giant car eating
fire breathing machines, and.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
That would be your religion. That's a weirdly specific thing.
I can't wait till we do time travel.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
But I'm your God now right right, truck Asaurus, all
hail bow down before.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
What we're talking about in something that may become a
series today is weird sports, by which we mean sports
we consider incredibly odd for one reason or another.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Can we also just take this moment to take back
the word weird, Like I more or less appreciate what
the the lefties are doing and trying to, you know,
co opt that word as an insult. But you know what,
I'm over it. Weird is cool. We're wonderfully weird here
on ridiculous history. Yeah, keep Austin weird.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Also, weird was a good Minnesota level insult.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I guess right, I guess that was the basis, because
old what is it, Chris Christoph Waltz, that's funny. So
we're weird.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
We are talking about these sports that may not be
familiar to a lot of people. Now, look, if you
live in the United States, really, regardless of where you
live or whether or not you care for sports, when
you think of the term or the concept, you immediately
conjure images of your favorite athletes, the most memorable game
(04:25):
you have played or watched.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Shout out to Dodgers fans, by the way, good on y'all.
Your team won the World Series, right, And he says
he does it no sports.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I got to sit over her and think of an
excuse to say they didn't actually win the World Series,
like how they won in twenty twenty. Everyone's like, well,
that was a fake World Series, But congratulations Rogers.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
You sound a little bitter, Max.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Well, I heard any Atlanta and LA have been the
two best teams and all for like the last five
years or so, so it's just been kind of robberly.
But you know, I love a tany, I love Muki Batts,
and I love Freddy Freeman obviously the rest of them.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I love anybody named Muki or Freddie.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And you'll probably think of the logos of your favorite teams.
You might think of some of the world's most popular sports,
like soccer or football as it's called in the rest
of the world, or American football, right right, basketball or baseball.
And we had a long discourse in our research here
(05:25):
when we were having what Corporate America would call a
healthy conversation about how you should not call baseball a
World Series. If none of the teams from the Caribbean,
South America or East Asia can participate, the World Series
is just the US and Canada, right.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I never thought of that. That is a little bit
of a misnomer.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Counter being the way of a Champions League, which is
like the club soccer equivalent to the World Cup. That's
kind of what the World.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Cup is like.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Is the best Japanese players in the world, the best
Caribbean players, the best South American players, they all play. Honestly,
the highest level ones play in America. This is the
highest circuit. It's the same way. Look how the English
Premier League and a number of other European leagues are
the highest soccer ones. But now they have the World
Baseball Classic, which if you do not know the United
(06:19):
States has never won, all right, they lost to Japan.
So that's my counter there.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, that's telling you what the United States is definitely
known for him is curling. Ah, yes, if you heard
if I was being.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Fasious, it worked if you are Max. Of course, when
you hear the word sports, you probably just thought of curling.
To Mill's point, and please check out our not one episode,
but our multi episode series on Curly.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It was never going to not be a multi part
it was never not going to be. But in today's episode,
we're going to cut through kind of the basics, you know,
the obvious candidates for for sporting leisure activities, and we're
going to delve into some much lesser known feats of
strength and physical prowess games that are were or are
insanely popular in their region or also time and seem to,
(07:14):
at least outside observers, to be a little bit odd.
But we know that that term is a little bit loaded,
because you know, one person's odd is another person's normal.
So you know, let's let's dive in. I'm hoping I'm
saying it right, is it? It's not to be confused
(07:36):
with another naughty or word it's Bouzkashi.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Oh you got it, You got it, And I applaud
you for keeping our family show VIV going.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I didn't even give you the ammunition needed to google
the other words. So that's right.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
And since we mentioned Japan earlier, technically that word is
a food dish.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, so we will not take our minds out of
the gutter. I do appreciate that idea about perspective there,
because one person's crazy is another person's normal. Think about,
for instance, like when you hear us discuss this stuff.
However strange it may sound, please remember that you probably
(08:22):
have some things in your life that sound very strange
to outsiders. I always love the example of neckties.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Were it a tie, it's weird? What's it for? What
does it do? Yeah? It holds your tie pin collection,
that's yeah. You know what would set off my three
piece suit? A useless scarf, A thing that looks like
a scarf but doesn't do it anyway. Sorry, we digress.
We should do We should do a history of neckties.
(08:52):
We should because its yeah, the policy wonks rock and
the bow tie. We also have we have a short
brain stuff video on it where we figure out. No,
no spoilers, nobody look that up. Why does of Islam
guys all wear bow ties? Where did that come from?
So many questions that we will explore in a future
(09:13):
episode on the history of ties.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And while we're working on that, oh, we cannot wait
to introduce you to, as Noel said, Buzkashi, which is
best stereotyped as the dead goat sport of Afghanistand.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Okay, I'm on board. Tell me Mark, all right, yeah,
you're interested. All right.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So this is a traditional, very old sport in the area,
actually in Central Asia overall that involves horse riding, teamwork
and the skillful control of a dead goat or calf carcass. Okay,
(09:55):
so it's like carcass polo.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yes, nailed it. But you use your hand instead of
a stick.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Depends on where you're at. Yeah, yeah, you do use
your hands. It's rugby on a horse. It's tough with
a carcass.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
What is this thing in the middle they're all flopping into.
It's like a giant dog dish that they sort of
bail out into. What the heck? Yeah? Wow? Is that
how you score? Oh? It is that's the goal. You
deposit the carcass into the dog dish, but sometimes you
go with it with your whole body. We're watching a
YouTube video. This is nuts. So we're watching YouTube video. Folks.
(10:32):
You should watch it like sports now. Yeah, it's it
is a wild ride. I actually ran late to recording.
I think I told you guys. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I'm in this rabbit hole of Buzkashi videos Like, Noel,
could you describe what you're seeing?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Oh? I think I already did, but I'll gladly do
it again. It's literally like all of these dudes on
horses smacking each other's horses on the butt like it
seems like it's a no hole's barred type situation. They're right,
and these tight packs, and I guess they're vying for
control of this literal like dead goat looking thing, which
(11:09):
I will get into in a little bit about like
what's the modern you know, substitute for actual dead goat carcass.
But yeah, they deposit it into this giant like it
looks like a mound kind of or really a dog dish,
I think is the best way to describe it. But
sometimes they'll just dive in along with it, and people
are diving after them to try to I guess, knock
(11:31):
it out of the goal. They use these riding crops.
It is they're wearing furry hats. Yes, yes, and also
I we have to do it. We're going to play
just a brief clip of the audio that I would
argue does not match for this so very reserved. It's
(11:52):
actually it's like no commentary, no shade to.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Our past, our past endeavors. But it reminds me of
some of the best stock music we would use in
brain stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Got it, okay, golds Bob in his head, got a
littlettention in it? Okay, all right, okay, ah ah right, okay,
that's what we need.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
We need an ad lib on that. Yeah. Anyway, so
we we invite you to this rabbit hole of clips
that are just as nol described, clearly expert equestrians, horsemen
who are passing around this literal dead body in rugby
(12:39):
style like they're going for it. They're getting it. This
is believed to have been played as early as the
tenth century. Oh and bluskashi means goat grabbing.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
That's accurate. That's accurate description of what I'm seeing here.
I just paused it on a frame and it's just
like melee there on top of each other on these
with these horses, And like I said, the riding crops,
it seems more designed for smacking the other person's horse
to get them to like giddy up in the wrong
direction or something. I don't know. I wanted to.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Get knocked off their horses into the dish.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Is there a professional association of this sport with codified rules?
It seems just like I said, every every player for
themselves to answer that question. No one is sure how
buzkashi or goat grabbing in Dari, the version of Persian
language has spoken in a lot of Afghanistan, where it
originated on the steps of Central Asia. But one possible
(13:36):
theory involves the evolution of the sports centuries ago as
a battle exercise for Mongol raiders, which I could see
that makes sense as like running a running a simulation
of what it might be like to have to like
do battle a top horse pack.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, and for everybody asking, we'll get into the rules.
But first thing you should know you don't get points
for getting knocked off your horse. And these guys are
getting smacked off their horses left and right pursuing this goat.
It's kind of it's it's like rugby, it's like hockey,
but as you said, on a horse, uh yeah, yeah yeah.
(14:14):
And these days it's played across Eurasia. Depending on which
of the stands you're in, you might see different rules
because as you mentioned, there are they're not really specific
codified rules for how to play this game. Like in
Kizikhstan and Kazakhstan they have a team format and you
(14:38):
throw the calf, carcass or the goat into those raised goals.
And I love your description. It does look like a
big dog dish, like a dish for Clifford the giant
red dog. And you mentioned something else. Nowadays, because this
sport is still extremely popular nowadays, they're not necessarily using
(15:02):
actual carcasses. They're using like fake faux carcasses for carcass.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, like like like the fake first, so you don't
get paint dumped on you. But problem there is if
they look too real, you're still going to get the paint.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And in parts of western China, like I think to
Xinyang and stuff like that, the mounts, the people are
riding yaks instead of horses, And I get to be
honest with you, guys, I don't know the difference between
the ground speed of a yak versus the ground speed
of a horse. I always problem it feels like it
(15:38):
like I always pictured horses as the faster ones.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
But I don't know. Yaks have always struck me as
being a little on the weedy side. You know, they
got thin little legs. I just don't feel like they'd
have the stamina that a horse would have. Maybe that's
just what they've got laying around. You know, they got
more ya so you know, you know what, Ben, We're
looking up some pictures of yaks right now, and they're
not the animals that I was quite picturing. I don't know,
(16:03):
I was weird thinking al Paka or so Lama maybe,
but I was pictured maybe a cartoon yaks, or like
an emaciated yak from Ren and Stimpy. Weren't there weird yaks?
And there was yaks in Ren and Stimpy. They had
like the Yaks Club or the the like an Elks
lodge thing, but it was with yaks, and they were
always real diseased and weedy looking. But these boys are
(16:23):
furry and beefy. They're like a buffalo, Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Buffalo, like the younger, smaller cousin of a bison. But
to be quite honest, they don't look like they can
run as quickly as a horse.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Deck is sure, buck though. Yeah they got the horns,
twenty horns. That seems like I would add a level
of danger to an already quite dangerous sport. So let's
go back. That's a great point.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Let's go back to that theory, uh, that this was
a training exercise for Mongol forces. Right, we know that
part of the reason the Connates existed and got all
the way to Hungary is because the cavalry was amazing.
They had they had horsemanship that was unprecedented at their time.
(17:13):
So perhaps these nomadic tribes gamified their practice, right, they
honed their riding and hunting skills, and then over time
it becomes a popular sport in the region. And it
you know, what it reminds me of is all the
sports that require a lot of equipment. Like a lot
(17:34):
of kids in the US never play American football because
you have to buy so much stuff just to get
on the field.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
The pads, the helmet, the mean football is expensive. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
No pigskin, right right, right, yeah, the old pigskin. So
we got to be careful not to judge these people,
isn't that right?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Is American football just another form of throwing around a
faux carcass.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Without even the horses. So you can't really play this
game unless you have a worse And this, again from
a cultural standpoint, seems like a fascinating thing to be
good at. You can tell their pro buskashi players. However,
the fun Police came in to Afghanistan.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Damn it, fun police. I hate it when they show
up bus kills.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, I got the name wrong one time. I thought
the fun Police were pro fun.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
No, no, sir, Yes, they're here to police your fun,
shut it down, they say when they come upon a
child's birthday party.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Or like that movie Footloose is nothing for some reason.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Band it's a bit of a puritanical kind of mindset,
that's true. And in this case, the ultra conservative Taliban
are these, said fun police. We've heard of them. They
banned a buskashi and many other forms of entertainment, citing
them as being immoral, but of course, like many things
that are attempted to be suppressed, they continue to thrive. Mmmm.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah, the ultra conservative Taliban.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
You know them, You know you know, you do know,
you do know they're in the news. Yeah, they're around.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
And during their rule they bands, like you said, this
sport because they found it somehow contra you know, they
fund policed it. And with the larger fall of the Taliban,
the sport became popular again. Their international tournaments across Eurasia
(19:39):
and the Afghan government, which is not the world's most
perfect government, promotes bouskashi as a symbol of national identity.
They want you to go watch a buskasi game.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
So with that in mind, maybe we should, you know,
talk about how the sport is played. Uh, because as
an American myself, I'm still a bit hazy on the
rules of American football. There's something to do with downs
and running in directions and then count the quarters of
the game, I believe.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
And you it's called football, but you only run it
with your hands. There's a little bit of kicking one.
There's a special moment.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
There's a special time that the special boy gets to
kick the special ball, the special boy the Golden foot.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Shout out to Nate Bargates as well for his amazing
Saturday Night Live stuff. We got his George Washington sketch
in particular, Max, the spirit has moved you.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Well, So the best way to think about downs and
football is how many trench warfare?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Trench warfares? Right warfare? Okay, Okay, Basically you get.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Like four tries to move the line and then once
you move the line to make a new line and
something like that, it's trench warfare.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Okay. Hey, you know what, Max, I'm sorry I was
poopooing you there. That is actually the best description of
it in a way that I can understand from a
historical level. Being you know, history podcast.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Nerds, I try to bridge the gap between being a
history nerd and a sports nerd with a plumb. I
have the benefit of having a lot of non sport
hosts in my family and my friend group.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Thank you Max for you brought the porto. Yeah, I
said it first. Now I said brought it back. I said,
brought it back to sporto. I think that's a British
thing and maybe even Australia, because they'll even say if
someone's a news reporter, they'll call them news oh's, and
if someone is a musician, they call them muso's. And
if someone goes to McDonald's they call it Macca's that's
(21:41):
weird now, I think you're talking about Paul McCartney. There
is that what they call them, They just call them macca.
People call Paul McCartney macca. It's a thing. You gotta
put syr on it. Though Australia, you're part of the
common one. What's some respect on this? Oh? Speaking of which,
sorry to interrupt this, but did you see that King
Charles recently did a diplomatic visit to Australia and an
(22:03):
indigenous member of the Australian whatever equivalent of Congress protested
it very loudly and said, you know, Colonizer, give us
back what you stole and all this stuff we don't
And she's I can't remember her name. I love this
person because she even said, you know, they have to
take an oath to the king, to the royal family,
and she said, I did not swear fealty to the
(22:25):
Queen's heirs. When I said the oath, I said her hairs.
Oh yes, I did read about it, freaking absolutely also
a ninja level.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I didn't know the name. Yeah, it's up with throwing
a shoe at an American politician to.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Claim that you are not beholden to your oath because
you said hairs instead of airs. So the Indigenous senator
was Lydia or is Lydia Thorpe th h Orpe?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
That this one. I read the headline, but I did
not know the name. And with that your your point
about hair's h A I R S versus h E
I R S.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I don't think that's the parkour we're looking for. No,
not today. But you gotta admit though, with an Australian accent,
you could very easily kind of blur the line between
as and has. You know, I'm just saying you could
shout out Robin Thick indeed in the thick of it.
So yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to derailist. I think
it was. Let's talk about what what what? What makes?
(23:28):
What does a Boo's Kashi team make?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, we want to hip you to this because we
don't want you to be stuck like some of us
out in Ireland watching a game of cricket and having
no idea what's going on?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Is that? What's happening with you right now? Ben? It
looks like you're in your home. I guess I could
just be a do you only stay in hotels in
Ireland that look exactly like your living room.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I only stay in places that look exactly like Dexter's
kill room. Got with this with the plastic sheets on No,
I'm under I'm doing human stuff. I get a poster
of our other show on.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
The back here I'm doing human today. Right. So, so
you got ten ten to a team? Right? Or is
that a hard and fast number.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Or depends on where you go. So it's a it's
a large field. There are two teams. Each team has
ten humans and therefore ten horses. And usually you're gonna
have a carcass.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Go or a calf. Often there is a carcass right right.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Or you know, some sort of symbolic representation, right, some
kind of pig skin.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Perhaps, have you ever been Naikea? Or they have those
fake like cow rugs. You know, I don't think they're
actually made of cow, but they look at You could
probably rock one of those in a good old friendly
game of buzkashi.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
A good friendly game of Buzkashi.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I love it. Just sew it up.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Here's the gross part or the other growth spart just
for practicality, the head and the limbs of this carcass
are removed. The object of the game, like you said earlier,
NOL is for a horseman to pick up the carcass
from the ground and carry it to the opposing team's goal.
(25:18):
It's like the old capture of the flag game.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yeah. I've spent very little time on horseback, but just
looking at it, I mean it is quite a distance
from the top of the horse to the ground, depending
on the size of the horse. You have to be good.
There's a certain skill level required, there's a learning curve.
And they're not strapped in or anything. They're leaning down
(25:42):
and just scooping this thing up off the ground, all
while being pursued heavily and aggressively by other horsemen.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, who are hitting you and hitting your horse And
there's not really a fourth down here. And I want
to co sign you and cosign Max Max. That was
an excellent explanation of US football, especially given the science
of how they make the line appear on US football,
(26:11):
it's I don't want to get too house.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Stuff works, you not.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
But did you hear that they this season in the
NFL they plan to get rid of the chains like
you know? Yes I did, And did you hear they
didn't do it. They're still there. No, I have looked
into it. They're still there. They still use them, of.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Course they still do. Come on, man, Vegas has too
much riding on this.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
It's a multi billion dollar sport. And then they rely
on two dudes jogging somewhat correctly and lines over and
they can't put a camera angle over the goal one
or anything.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
It's terrible.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
It's also it's also uh oh gosh, it is this
sport that is most riddled with commercials during during playtime.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Ooh, I wish you guys could see Max's face right there. Well,
I mean, it's sort of that one thing I do
understand about the nature of the way the game is played.
It is played in little spurts, and it is conducive
to being interrupted by advertising.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
And then now they're putting advertisements in like thirty second spots.
I personally not the biggest football guy at this point
in my life. I watched just NFL Red Zone, which
is no commercials at all.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yeah, just give me the compilations of what actually happened.
That may be I'd never have the compilations of the commercials,
you know. I feel like we should do a history
of the halftime show.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Oh boy, should we ever? I don't even know when
the first one was we did. We were coming on
with so many ideas on the flight tip and just.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I know we're going further down's rabbit hole. One big
difference between the Super Bowl and just regular NFL is
super Bowl is all brand new ads almost always, Like
these companies are really going all out for normal football.
It is the same like twenty ads the entire.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Uh sucking season.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Leap yourself there, except for in college football where it's
the same twenty ads for five years.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
And they give all those dollars to the players there
in college football. Right they're starting to, They are starting to.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
They are starting to also. I think you earned it, Max,
with the facts.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
That seeking in the phone and peaceful in knowledge. It's
just for you right now, with the fact yeah, give
it to them.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So for a live audience member of Buskashi, you'll see
it's a long event. The game is generally divided into
two forty five minute periods. There's a fifteen minute break
in between. And to your earlier question, Noel, there are
no codified rules about how the game is played. It
(28:47):
can be pretty rough. We described how the players are
hitting each other, pushing each other.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
You can't have a weapon, you know what I mean.
You can't just stab some guys. I know, but they
do have these writing crops, but they are absolutely spanking
the other players. Okay, well, how kind of a weapon.
Hockey players have hockey sticks, that's true. This thing is
more like a blackjack though, or like what do they
call it in the UK? A truncheon, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
And the witty tea, of course, is the one that
gets the most goals.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
You get to take the carcass home. Is that is
that part of your winnings. It depends on where you're playing. Okay,
fair and you know.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I guess it's a tenderized corpse at that point.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Uh, it's more than a sport, Like we said, it's
a symbol of national identity. You play it during important
holidays celebrations. It's uh, it's considered a tradition, kind of
the way that baseball is considered an American tradition. Right,
we all love going to the ballgame.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It's as Afghanistani as a severed headed goat carcass, right right?
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Or or also Afghan cuisine is pretty good. I wonder
what their equivalent of apple pie is.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, probably goat pie. Okay, I don't know. I would
eat that, by the way, and I love goat The
only issue. Have you ever had Caribbean food that has.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Ghosts and they'll bone them?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Very well? No, you can do better. I mean sorry,
Maybe it's just tradition, but I have often found like
deadly shards of bone and Caribbean goat dishes not so.
And like Indian goat dishes or Bangladesh she goat dishes,
they clean it much more precisely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, and this another point. Maybe this ends up being
part one of part one, but another point on what
is American culture. When you hear the phrase American is
apple pie, people, please remember apples come from Kazakhstan. We're
(30:52):
fun at parties, but apple pie ben comes from America.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I feel like someone figured out pie first. I think
I saw an episode of one of those Gordon Ramsay
shows where he humiliates people with terrible restaurants or hotels.
He went to the inn that was failing. Of course,
that was supposedly the place where apple pie was invented.
Really yeah, sort of like the Caesar Sally was invented
by in Mexico City. I want to say, by a
(31:20):
chef at a particular hotel.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, unrelated to the Greco Ruman.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah. It took me years to realize that unrelated. Always
assumed it was Julius's favorite salad. I think he got
I don't think that guy even invented getting stabbed by
a bunch of your friends. I've been stabbing for generations
before Julius came along.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yeah, we could do a history of apples. I think
a history of stabbing is.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
The apple pie originated in England.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
The apple pie apple, but the apples are from Kazakhstown
to the idea.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Of making it a pie made it all the way
from It was developed from culinary influences from France. It is,
of course, is French pastry and the Netherlands and even
the Automan Empire. It's not American at all.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Oh my gosh. This is like when you see a
T shirt. This has made in the USA with materials
from Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Oh I haven't seen that that. I'm sorry. So how
I feel about truck nuts? Who are we to judge?
Are we to judge? All right? All right?
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Well this is also Buskashi is a way for the
public to judge off gonen men. All the buskashi players
are our male This is a way for them to
judge bravery, horsemanship, physical prowess, as we mentioned at the beginning.
And a lot of kids, you know, like in that
(32:45):
movie bend At, like Beckham, a lot of kids in
the area grow up dreaming of becoming notable buskashi players.
And it is not uncommon for families to put a
lot of money into, you know, editing the right equipment,
finding the best horse, finding the best buskashi mentor for
(33:06):
our child.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
As we know, many, no, at least the degenerate gamblers
among us know, a big part about knowing how to
bet on horse races is knowing the abilities, the weaknesses,
the vulnerabilities, how long a particular horse has been racing.
All of that stuff really matters. So yeah, that would
honestly be just as if not more important than the
physicality of the player.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, one hundred percent agreed, because the horses are kind
of doing the real work, right.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
But I mean, you know, there is physicality involved in
the players, you know, much more so than horse racing
or I would say, I mean Polo's you know, certainly
revolves some precision, but they are bending down, putting their
lives at risk to be to be having their faces
trampled to whip this rug the off the dirt.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
You know, we're so into this right now that we
know there are a lot of problems with buskashi, but
it is fascinating, and together we found quite a few
parallels to other sports, so much so that I think
we might have to save well, what do you think.
I think we have to save our next one for
(34:14):
a future episode, for a part two of part one,
Poka talk the ballgame.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
It's true, and I agree with you, Ben. I think
Muzkashi captured all three of our imaginations and we went
on a little bit more about it than we expected,
And we do have another kind of deeper dive into
that other sport that you mentioned, Ben, But for now,
let's just rattle through a few fun candice and trivia
on some other bizarre sports that are a little more nugget.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Like oh yeah, okay, fight sized, yes, yes, purposeful two parter.
Oh man, I'm so excited that we're talking about this
on air finally. I feel like you and I have
mentioned this on previous shows, but to go down together,
we learned. I think the same video went viral and
we both saw it or something, but we learned there
(35:04):
is another kind of equestrian sport called hobby horsing.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
I'm pretending to ride a horse, Daddy, look at me,
Look at me, leap. It's basically just jumping over hurdles
carrying a stuffed animal.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
But they're they're you know, they ride it like a
broom or I guess a horse like the bluz Kashi.
There are no limbs attached.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
There's a stick that goes betwixt the legs, so you
are sort of mounting something. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Yeah, yeah, it's riding a hobby horse, which I don't
think is our hobby horse is still a popular toy.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
I would say not popular. They are more of the
vintage variety. You think about them as like the kind
of president of kid in the eighteen hundreds would get
like Tiddley Winks or something. I can't remember when Tittley
Winks came around. Man, don't malign Tittley Winks. Tittley Wings
at the precursor to POGs, remembers. Yeah. Sure, yeah, I'm
(36:06):
still bullish on POGs. Heavily invested, heavily invested.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
This sounds like a sketch you would see it.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
I think you should leave to getting out of crypto
and putting everything into POGs baby.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Right, so we are describing this accurately. Hobby horsing involves
riding the imaginary horse over obstacles.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Do you have to bang coconuts together? While you're doing
you had somebody following behind you, perhaps your vale.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Yeah, I guess we shouldn't detegrate it too hard. We're
outsiders from that culture, but we can't say it does
take physical prowess.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
For sure, but it is more just like basically hurdles,
Like it's sort of a triathl a track and field
thing whilst clutching this weird toy between your legs. And
I will say, you know, we're mocking in a little bit.
But if you watch the video that Ben you linked to,
everyone's kind of smiling and laughing in the audience, it
does appear that there is a wink wink knowingness to
(37:06):
how goofy this whole thing comes off.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, and it's wholesome. You see it in Scandinavia. Right,
Nobody is being hateful, and I'm glad we're pointing out
that we're not necessarily disparaging the sport. We get why,
we get why it's a grin worthy thing, but let's
(37:29):
also be honest. A lot of us listening tonight could
not do the same obstacle course as the hobby horsers.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
It's tough. Is that the right word? Hobby horsers? Hobby
horse Yeah, hobby equestrians. You know what I don't now.
I think a questrian requires a live animal. I don't
think we should reserve that term for sentient beings. There's
a line.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
You and I have been to England at some point,
but we've never gone as a group. Have you ever
heard of this next thing? I'm on the fence about
whether this should be a sport, and i'd love our
sport expert maxed way into after you explain what this is.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Cover your shins, boys, shin kicking. That's what it is.
It's exactly what it sounds like. Started in the seventeenth
century in England. Simply involves two grown men kicking each
other in the shins until one of them falls to
the ground in pain.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Is it like something that started at a bar? The
way the Guinness Book of World Records?
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Have you guys heard the controversy around this, these professional
slap fighting events. Yes, people are getting like brain bleeds
and stuff. I mean it is gnarly. Have you ever
seen this? Guys are ridiculous historians out there as well.
It is a uf the Esque kind of sport that's
covered in that same way, with that same level of
(39:04):
extreme intensity, where there are two opponents face off against
each other and open handedly slap each other in the
face on the face with an open palm until one
of them falls out. So I would say shin kicking.
Got it? You ever been ever? They call it barking
your shins. Yes, it hurts.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
It's because the bone is so close to the skids.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
One hundred percent. This would suck. What psychotic Sato Massac
has came up with this nonsense? You know how people get?
They suck? People suck. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
I'm bullish on people. I see them as the POGs
of evolution.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
I'm taking all my crypto and investing in people. Right.
I think they already tried that. I think it got canceled.
So okay, So uh, there were there were probably the
history is unclear, but there were probably a couple of
guys who got into clog fighting or purring as it's called.
(40:05):
Uh sometimes, yeah, I have a pr off.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
There was probably some guy who barked his shin as
you say, and some other dude was like, oh, you
got weak shins, and he said.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
I don't have weak shins. I guess you. You go
the week sheds. I'll prove it kicking shds. You get
saw now, yeah I would Australia there. Sorry, the next thing,
you know, it's a shin kicker off. You know, it's
just back and forth. It never ends when the violent
guy comes up and watches.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Yeah, okay, so we have to go to Max. Max
is shin kicking a sport? Or should it be considered such?
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Is it even cool?
Speaker 3 (40:46):
So all I'm thinking about is the movie Dodgeball, which
is an all time banger.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
It's a fun movie.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Most of his age fine, some of it has aged poorly.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Say, but those South Park guys were always equal opportunity offenders,
so I bet you it's within their wheelhouse. But maybe
is it worse.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
There's some stuff that's bad and there's just this one
particular line which it's like, oh my god, that was
not fine when they said that, and it's so much
worse now. Anyways, to digress, I mean that movie is
just a hilarious, NonStop amount of ridiculousness. And the best
thing is, like the best joke of all time is
ESPN The O Show. It was like ESPN eight where
(41:25):
played all the obscure stuff and it's a super cut
of stuff beforehand. And one of those sports they show
that's on the show is two dudes just whipping each other.
And that's what this feels like. So yeah, it's ESPN
The Show level stuff. So yeah, it's a sport. Nascar
is a sport, Poker's a sport. We can call shin
kicking a sport, all right, Okay, that's the word would
(41:46):
probably argue. It's not around on a professional level.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
I am so glad you asked, because in twenty twenty four,
shin Kicking the World shin Kicking Championships returned to the
Cotswold Olympics spelled O L I M P I c K.
We have Olympics at home, kids, right, So it's pretty brutal.
(42:13):
It reminds me of the key and Peel slaphand. Yeah
ye sketch. So this is this is pretty insane. These
people are hurting their legs. If you are they allowed
to wear shin guards, surely not. I think at some
point there was straw padding. Yeah, you have to wear
(42:34):
soft shoes now. People used to wear steel toed boots
which probably broke some legs, and you have to stuff
the legs of your trousers with straw.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
So it's sort of meant to be a throwback the
old timey, sort of traditional type sports, right it would
seem if they're employing woolens and straw.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
You know, there's so many rules, right, Like you you
obviously can't hit someone in the face. You have to
just hit their shins, and I imagine you have to
just because it's in the name. You can only kick
their shins.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
And then then of course there's a sister sport, ass
kicking right right as you know, you got some built
in padding there, or you can just shove a phone
book down your pantaloons. Yeah, we've all been there. We
also haven't been to. Oh.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
I think it was Halloween being on our minds recently
that because we are spoiler, this is coming out after Halloween,
but we're recording it on October thirty first. Oh, yeah, yes,
giants pumpkin kayaking.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Okay, see I didn't look into this one yet, so
I'm going to go ahead. Is it literally a giant
pumpkin that has hollowed out and turned into a sea
faring vessel? I? Oh, water resistant vessel? Oh? I see.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yeah, this is a recent one since nineteen ninety nine
in Windsor, Nova, Scotia, people get giant pumpkins and they
joined the Windsor Pumpkin Regatta. And this is more, This
is more like British baking show, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
They're all really nice and kind to each other and
help each other out when they're punkins spring a leak.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yeah, they're they're having a ball, you know what I mean.
They're not throwing around a dead carcass.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
They're not kicking. They're doing the pumpkin version of shin kicking.
It's it's a wholesome one.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
And I think maybe that's where we end, unless you
want to mention one more pumpkin sport, which will be
very familiar to longtime fans of all our shows.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
You mean punkin chunkin? I do, yeah, punkin chugging. Yes, yes,
I only heard about this recently, and I didn't even
really bother following up on what it was. I just
heard there's punkin Chunking going on. I'm like, that seems
delightfully seasonal. I don't think I know, is it literally?
Just like? Is it like? What's that game Cornhole? But
with pumpkins? Well? Have you ever thought I should build
(44:58):
a trebuche only every day when I wake up in
the morning. Then that's what keeps you going, right, do I?
And the fact that I never do it is the
only thing that keeps me going. I'm aspiring to it.
Once I accomplish it, my work is done. So punkin
Chunkin is this idea? Yeah, you don't need a you
don't need a tribute necessarily. It's chucking though, it's not chunking,
(45:22):
it's it's chucking.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Yeah, And the idea is creating your own device, a catapult,
a slingshot, a tribute to shoot or chuck a pumpkin
as far as you can. And way back in the day,
too many years ago now, we were owned by a
company called Discovery, and Discovery.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
They're having a bit of trouble these days.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
Yeah, and they had a show called punkin Chunkin. I
think we can say this now enough time has passed.
Every podcast that was around at the time had to
do an episode about punkin Chunkin.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
That must have been where I heard about it for
the first time. Pumpkin chucking chucking. Yeah, but like you know,
colloquially they do sometimes refer to it as punkin junkin.
So but then, you know, this reminds me of It's
almost like the Pinewood Derby, you know where it is.
It's a technological challenge. I guess it showcases the pumpkins,
and you probably want a big fatty that splats real nice.
(46:21):
But basically you're being judged on your ability to engineer
a thing that throws another thing as far as possible,
which is engineering. Did you ever do Pinewood Derby? I did,
I did, and I don't think I did very well.
And all I remember from those days is like I
can't remember. Maybe you can answer this, is it illegal
to put coins to put weights? Well, because I know
(46:44):
people did it and I may have done it. But
now thinking back on and I'm like asking myself, was
that against the regulations? Well, it's kind of like are
you playing Muzkashi in Kyrghistan or in Kazakhstan. You know,
this was in Georgia, Oka the state. Just to be.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Uh, it's a because it's a cub Scout thing, right,
it was a cub Scout thing.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
So when I was playing this, I knew that some
places would let you do weight and then some other
places would say no, it is entirely on how you
whittle the block. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
It does say here in Scout Life magazine that you
can also use fishing weights or coins to additional weight too, Okay,
so I hear that's the official it's a dot org ben,
it's a dot org okay, hot org. It's gotta be legit. Yeah,
it'll just give those to anybody. You gotta be an org.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
The world record for pumpkin chucking stands at uh I
think five thousand, five hundred and forty five zero point
four to three feet. So for the rest of the world,
for everybody, is that Yeah, everybody outside of the US
and Namibia. I think that's one thousand and six one
(48:00):
hundred and ninety and a quarter meters.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
And that's hot takeaway, hot take from you here. What's
your perspective, what's your opinion on the metric system for
it or against it? Oh? For it? Yes? What are we?
What are we on about here in America? I don't
get it. It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Well yards in football, you know about the point though,
there's no rhyme or reason to it.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
We just sort of use it as I don't know.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
We should make up our own thing at this point,
Noel notches. There you go, Ben bounds, Matt Max. We
got to give max one max.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
Well, a max could be a weight. It's like a stone,
you know, one max, I weigh fifteen max.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Max is nodding in approval. I know the weather's on
top of you.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
Man.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Did you ever play Pinewood Derby or participated?
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (48:54):
God, so many? I think until recently my dad had
a Pinewood Derby trail in his attic. We yeah, no,
we were big, big proponents of it. But yeah, you
could put weight on it, but it had to weigh
a specific weight. And then I think, like, you know,
they roll it on the track thing, make sure it
had the correct clearance clearance exactly.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
Yeah, but I remember, do you using quarters and hot glue?
But guys, do you think there's like anybody that has
like some sort of like secret like Dad's club or
whatever parents club where they bet on the Pinewood Derby.
If there's a thing be it, yes, and I imagine
we didn't talk about it. It probably could be an episode.
(49:36):
You know what we should do it? History of betting? Yeah,
a history of gambling. How have we not done? That's amazing.
We have come up with literally three rock solid ideas.
But yeah, I bet sports betting on Buskashi is a thing.
Oh you bet you bet? Yeah? All right, quid, I'll
bet you a quid. I'll bet you one nol knuckle
(50:00):
one Max.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
All right, all right, all right, with that we have
we have some hot action, as they say on the strip.
So we are going to call it a day. Thank
you so much for tuning in, folks. We cannot wait
to explore more. Let's say, ridiculous lesser known sports.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
You gotta change the name of the show. Yeah, right,
slightly unusual history. There we go.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Oh geez, well, big big thanks to our super producer,
our resident sporto, mister Max Williams. Big big thanks to
our number one Buskashi carcass, Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
Indeed huge thanks to Christopher Hasiotis and he's Jeff Coates
here in spirit, Alex Williams, who composed our theme, and
also to AJ Bahamas Jacobs The Puzzler.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
Oh, who just won an award by Yeah it's like
the potties for his podcast The Puzzler, you can check
out you can check out various episodes where we're hanging
with Aj just the nicest guy and what a sacker
jack rider and big big thanks of course, as well
(51:21):
to Rachel Big Spinach, Lance the Gay Bluesier, to our
pals at Ridiculous Crime and all the rude dudes over there.
One odd sport we didn't put in toe wrestling?
Speaker 2 (51:35):
Do you know that's the thing. Yeah, I don't know, man,
that's a little inappropriate for that feels like something a
creep made up, right exactly. It's like this is an
excuse to get free feed picks. Yeah, don't get Tarantino. Folks.
Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time, folks.
(51:57):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio Apple Podcasts
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much
for tuning in. Let's hear it for the Man, the Myth,
the Legend. Super producer, mister Max Williams.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Huzzah, you good child.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
You would pick to do a sports episode when I
was six. I think this is intense. My breath, I'm
going to talk too much.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Oh, I thought it was raucous applause heard from a distance. Oh,
as I was also just doing a breath check. Do
I have coffee breath? I should? I probably do.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh, that's the best thing about us recording remotely. We
can't smell our mutual coffee breath shut out by the
way to our other super producer, all of the coffee.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Indeed, I'm out of oat milk though today, guys, so
I'm not at my best. I know it's just doesn't
add anything to the kick of the coffee, but it's
just something about the balance of the flavor. It doesn't right,
but it's still pretty good. I went ice today. How
about you, Ben? What kind of coffee beverage are you Rockins?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You're an old brown. I'm Ben Bullen. We're all fans
of coffee. I drink my coffee straight, probably to a
dangerous degree.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Ud jar. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Max is actually getting pretty big into the coffee business.
We were talking off air a while back, and Max
has a system of coffee creation, a cold brew coffee
creation that is on the level of becoming a sport Ben.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I like your demonstration of transitional prowess here. We're gonna
talk about other kinds of prowess today. Sports. I'm not
really much of a sporte like that.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I mean, you like the vibe much a vibe at
a live event.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I'm a vibe based human being, that is true. If
the vibe is right, then I'm there for it. I'm
trying to think when the last time I went to
a live sporting event was. It's been many years. Does
Monster Truck Rally count as a sporting event? Definitely? Okay,
well I went to that with both of you and
Max actually, as it were, even convinced my girlfriend to
(02:24):
go with us. And my kid, who has let's just
say some potential to be overstimulated, did not have a
good time at the Monster Truck Rally.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Dude, It's funny because when you bring up monster truck rallies.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It reminds me.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That that must look so strange. If you traveled from
ancient meso America to the modern day and you saw
a monster truck rally, you would feel like you had
discovered a new religion.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Or the hell had opened up and the demons are
now on earth in the form of giant car eating
fire breathing machines, and.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
That would be your religion. That's a weirdly specific thing.
I can't wait till we do time travel.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
But I'm your God now right right, truck Asaurus, all
hail bow down before.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
What we're talking about in something that may become a
series today is weird sports, by which we mean sports
we consider incredibly odd for one reason or another.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Can we also just take this moment to take back
the word weird, Like I more or less appreciate what
the the lefties are doing and trying to, you know,
co opt that word as an insult. But you know what,
I'm over it. Weird is cool. We're wonderfully weird here
on ridiculous history. Yeah, keep Austin weird.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Also, weird was a good Minnesota level insult.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I guess right, I guess that was the basis, because
old what is it, Chris Christoph Waltz, that's funny. So
we're weird.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
We are talking about these sports that may not be
familiar to a lot of people. Now, look, if you
live in the United States, really, regardless of where you
live or whether or not you care for sports, when
you think of the term or the concept, you immediately
conjure images of your favorite athletes, the most memorable game
(04:25):
you have played or watched.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Shout out to Dodgers fans, by the way, good on y'all.
Your team won the World Series, right, And he says
he does it no sports.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I got to sit over her and think of an
excuse to say they didn't actually win the World Series,
like how they won in twenty twenty. Everyone's like, well,
that was a fake World Series, But congratulations Rogers.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
You sound a little bitter, Max.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Well, I heard any Atlanta and LA have been the
two best teams and all for like the last five
years or so, so it's just been kind of robberly.
But you know, I love a tany, I love Muki Batts,
and I love Freddy Freeman obviously the rest of them.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I love anybody named Muki or Freddie.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And you'll probably think of the logos of your favorite teams.
You might think of some of the world's most popular sports,
like soccer or football as it's called in the rest
of the world, or American football, right right, basketball or baseball.
And we had a long discourse in our research here
(05:25):
when we were having what Corporate America would call a
healthy conversation about how you should not call baseball a
World Series. If none of the teams from the Caribbean,
South America or East Asia can participate, the World Series
is just the US and Canada, right.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I never thought of that. That is a little bit
of a misnomer.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Counter being the way of a Champions League, which is
like the club soccer equivalent to the World Cup. That's
kind of what the World.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Cup is like.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Is the best Japanese players in the world, the best
Caribbean players, the best South American players, they all play. Honestly,
the highest level ones play in America. This is the
highest circuit. It's the same way. Look how the English
Premier League and a number of other European leagues are
the highest soccer ones. But now they have the World
Baseball Classic, which if you do not know the United
(06:19):
States has never won, all right, they lost to Japan.
So that's my counter there.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, that's telling you what the United States is definitely
known for him is curling. Ah, yes, if you heard
if I was being.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Fasious, it worked if you are Max. Of course, when
you hear the word sports, you probably just thought of curling.
To Mill's point, and please check out our not one episode,
but our multi episode series on Curly.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It was never going to not be a multi part
it was never not going to be. But in today's episode,
we're going to cut through kind of the basics, you know,
the obvious candidates for for sporting leisure activities, and we're
going to delve into some much lesser known feats of
strength and physical prowess games that are were or are
insanely popular in their region or also time and seem to,
(07:14):
at least outside observers, to be a little bit odd.
But we know that that term is a little bit loaded,
because you know, one person's odd is another person's normal.
So you know, let's let's dive in. I'm hoping I'm
saying it right, is it? It's not to be confused
(07:36):
with another naughty or word it's Bouzkashi.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Oh you got it, You got it, And I applaud
you for keeping our family show VIV going.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I didn't even give you the ammunition needed to google
the other words. So that's right.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
And since we mentioned Japan earlier, technically that word is
a food dish.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, so we will not take our minds out of
the gutter. I do appreciate that idea about perspective there,
because one person's crazy is another person's normal. Think about,
for instance, like when you hear us discuss this stuff.
However strange it may sound, please remember that you probably
(08:22):
have some things in your life that sound very strange
to outsiders. I always love the example of neckties.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Were it a tie, it's weird? What's it for? What
does it do? Yeah? It holds your tie pin collection,
that's yeah. You know what would set off my three
piece suit? A useless scarf, A thing that looks like
a scarf but doesn't do it anyway. Sorry, we digress.
We should do We should do a history of neckties.
(08:52):
We should because its yeah, the policy wonks rock and
the bow tie. We also have we have a short
brain stuff video on it where we figure out. No,
no spoilers, nobody look that up. Why does of Islam
guys all wear bow ties? Where did that come from?
So many questions that we will explore in a future
(09:13):
episode on the history of ties.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And while we're working on that, oh, we cannot wait
to introduce you to, as Noel said, Buzkashi, which is
best stereotyped as the dead goat sport of Afghanistand.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Okay, I'm on board. Tell me Mark, all right, yeah,
you're interested. All right.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So this is a traditional, very old sport in the area,
actually in Central Asia overall that involves horse riding, teamwork
and the skillful control of a dead goat or calf carcass. Okay,
(09:55):
so it's like carcass polo.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yes, nailed it. But you use your hand instead of
a stick.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Depends on where you're at. Yeah, yeah, you do use
your hands. It's rugby on a horse. It's tough with
a carcass.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
What is this thing in the middle they're all flopping into.
It's like a giant dog dish that they sort of
bail out into. What the heck? Yeah? Wow? Is that
how you score? Oh? It is that's the goal. You
deposit the carcass into the dog dish, but sometimes you
go with it with your whole body. We're watching a
YouTube video. This is nuts. So we're watching YouTube video. Folks.
(10:32):
You should watch it like sports now. Yeah, it's it
is a wild ride. I actually ran late to recording.
I think I told you guys. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I'm in this rabbit hole of Buzkashi videos Like, Noel,
could you describe what you're seeing?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Oh? I think I already did, but I'll gladly do
it again. It's literally like all of these dudes on
horses smacking each other's horses on the butt like it
seems like it's a no hole's barred type situation. They're right,
and these tight packs, and I guess they're vying for
control of this literal like dead goat looking thing, which
(11:09):
I will get into in a little bit about like
what's the modern you know, substitute for actual dead goat carcass.
But yeah, they deposit it into this giant like it
looks like a mound kind of or really a dog dish,
I think is the best way to describe it. But
sometimes they'll just dive in along with it, and people
are diving after them to try to I guess, knock
(11:31):
it out of the goal. They use these riding crops.
It is they're wearing furry hats. Yes, yes, and also
I we have to do it. We're going to play
just a brief clip of the audio that I would
argue does not match for this so very reserved. It's
(11:52):
actually it's like no commentary, no shade to.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Our past, our past endeavors. But it reminds me of
some of the best stock music we would use in
brain stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Got it, okay, golds Bob in his head, got a
littlettention in it? Okay, all right, okay, ah ah right, okay,
that's what we need.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
We need an ad lib on that. Yeah. Anyway, so
we we invite you to this rabbit hole of clips
that are just as nol described, clearly expert equestrians, horsemen
who are passing around this literal dead body in rugby
(12:39):
style like they're going for it. They're getting it. This
is believed to have been played as early as the
tenth century. Oh and bluskashi means goat grabbing.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
That's accurate. That's accurate description of what I'm seeing here.
I just paused it on a frame and it's just
like melee there on top of each other on these
with these horses, And like I said, the riding crops,
it seems more designed for smacking the other person's horse
to get them to like giddy up in the wrong
direction or something. I don't know. I wanted to.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Get knocked off their horses into the dish.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Is there a professional association of this sport with codified rules?
It seems just like I said, every every player for
themselves to answer that question. No one is sure how
buzkashi or goat grabbing in Dari, the version of Persian
language has spoken in a lot of Afghanistan, where it
originated on the steps of Central Asia. But one possible
(13:36):
theory involves the evolution of the sports centuries ago as
a battle exercise for Mongol raiders, which I could see
that makes sense as like running a running a simulation
of what it might be like to have to like
do battle a top horse pack.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, and for everybody asking, we'll get into the rules.
But first thing you should know you don't get points
for getting knocked off your horse. And these guys are
getting smacked off their horses left and right pursuing this goat.
It's kind of it's it's like rugby, it's like hockey,
but as you said, on a horse, uh yeah, yeah yeah.
(14:14):
And these days it's played across Eurasia. Depending on which
of the stands you're in, you might see different rules
because as you mentioned, there are they're not really specific
codified rules for how to play this game. Like in
Kizikhstan and Kazakhstan they have a team format and you
(14:38):
throw the calf, carcass or the goat into those raised goals.
And I love your description. It does look like a
big dog dish, like a dish for Clifford the giant
red dog. And you mentioned something else. Nowadays, because this
sport is still extremely popular nowadays, they're not necessarily using
(15:02):
actual carcasses. They're using like fake faux carcasses for carcass.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, like like like the fake first, so you don't
get paint dumped on you. But problem there is if
they look too real, you're still going to get the paint.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And in parts of western China, like I think to
Xinyang and stuff like that, the mounts, the people are
riding yaks instead of horses, And I get to be
honest with you, guys, I don't know the difference between
the ground speed of a yak versus the ground speed
of a horse. I always problem it feels like it
(15:38):
like I always pictured horses as the faster ones.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
But I don't know. Yaks have always struck me as
being a little on the weedy side. You know, they
got thin little legs. I just don't feel like they'd
have the stamina that a horse would have. Maybe that's
just what they've got laying around. You know, they got
more ya so you know, you know what, Ben, We're
looking up some pictures of yaks right now, and they're
not the animals that I was quite picturing. I don't know,
(16:03):
I was weird thinking al Paka or so Lama maybe,
but I was pictured maybe a cartoon yaks, or like
an emaciated yak from Ren and Stimpy. Weren't there weird yaks?
And there was yaks in Ren and Stimpy. They had
like the Yaks Club or the the like an Elks
lodge thing, but it was with yaks, and they were
always real diseased and weedy looking. But these boys are
(16:23):
furry and beefy. They're like a buffalo, Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Buffalo, like the younger, smaller cousin of a bison. But
to be quite honest, they don't look like they can
run as quickly as a horse.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Deck is sure, buck though. Yeah they got the horns,
twenty horns. That seems like I would add a level
of danger to an already quite dangerous sport. So let's
go back. That's a great point.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Let's go back to that theory, uh, that this was
a training exercise for Mongol forces. Right, we know that
part of the reason the Connates existed and got all
the way to Hungary is because the cavalry was amazing.
They had they had horsemanship that was unprecedented at their time.
(17:13):
So perhaps these nomadic tribes gamified their practice, right, they
honed their riding and hunting skills, and then over time
it becomes a popular sport in the region. And it
you know, what it reminds me of is all the
sports that require a lot of equipment. Like a lot
(17:34):
of kids in the US never play American football because
you have to buy so much stuff just to get
on the field.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
The pads, the helmet, the mean football is expensive. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
No pigskin, right right, right, yeah, the old pigskin. So
we got to be careful not to judge these people,
isn't that right?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Is American football just another form of throwing around a
faux carcass.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Without even the horses. So you can't really play this
game unless you have a worse And this, again from
a cultural standpoint, seems like a fascinating thing to be
good at. You can tell their pro buskashi players. However,
the fun Police came in to Afghanistan.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Damn it, fun police. I hate it when they show
up bus kills.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, I got the name wrong one time. I thought
the fun Police were pro fun.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
No, no, sir, Yes, they're here to police your fun,
shut it down, they say when they come upon a
child's birthday party.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Or like that movie Footloose is nothing for some reason.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Band it's a bit of a puritanical kind of mindset,
that's true. And in this case, the ultra conservative Taliban
are these, said fun police. We've heard of them. They
banned a buskashi and many other forms of entertainment, citing
them as being immoral, but of course, like many things
that are attempted to be suppressed, they continue to thrive. Mmmm.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah, the ultra conservative Taliban.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
You know them, You know you know, you do know,
you do know they're in the news. Yeah, they're around.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
And during their rule they bands, like you said, this
sport because they found it somehow contra you know, they
fund policed it. And with the larger fall of the Taliban,
the sport became popular again. Their international tournaments across Eurasia
(19:39):
and the Afghan government, which is not the world's most
perfect government, promotes bouskashi as a symbol of national identity.
They want you to go watch a buskasi game.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
So with that in mind, maybe we should, you know,
talk about how the sport is played. Uh, because as
an American myself, I'm still a bit hazy on the
rules of American football. There's something to do with downs
and running in directions and then count the quarters of
the game, I believe.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
And you it's called football, but you only run it
with your hands. There's a little bit of kicking one.
There's a special moment.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
There's a special time that the special boy gets to
kick the special ball, the special boy the Golden foot.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Shout out to Nate Bargates as well for his amazing
Saturday Night Live stuff. We got his George Washington sketch
in particular, Max, the spirit has moved you.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Well, So the best way to think about downs and
football is how many trench warfare?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Trench warfares? Right warfare? Okay, Okay, Basically you get.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Like four tries to move the line and then once
you move the line to make a new line and
something like that, it's trench warfare.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Okay. Hey, you know what, Max, I'm sorry I was
poopooing you there. That is actually the best description of
it in a way that I can understand from a
historical level. Being you know, history podcast.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Nerds, I try to bridge the gap between being a
history nerd and a sports nerd with a plumb. I
have the benefit of having a lot of non sport
hosts in my family and my friend group.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Thank you Max for you brought the porto. Yeah, I
said it first. Now I said brought it back. I said,
brought it back to sporto. I think that's a British
thing and maybe even Australia, because they'll even say if
someone's a news reporter, they'll call them news oh's, and
if someone is a musician, they call them muso's. And
if someone goes to McDonald's they call it Macca's that's
(21:41):
weird now, I think you're talking about Paul McCartney. There
is that what they call them, They just call them macca.
People call Paul McCartney macca. It's a thing. You gotta
put syr on it. Though Australia, you're part of the
common one. What's some respect on this? Oh? Speaking of which,
sorry to interrupt this, but did you see that King
Charles recently did a diplomatic visit to Australia and an
(22:03):
indigenous member of the Australian whatever equivalent of Congress protested
it very loudly and said, you know, Colonizer, give us
back what you stole and all this stuff we don't
And she's I can't remember her name. I love this
person because she even said, you know, they have to
take an oath to the king, to the royal family,
and she said, I did not swear fealty to the
(22:25):
Queen's heirs. When I said the oath, I said her hairs.
Oh yes, I did read about it, freaking absolutely also
a ninja level.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I didn't know the name. Yeah, it's up with throwing
a shoe at an American politician to.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Claim that you are not beholden to your oath because
you said hairs instead of airs. So the Indigenous senator
was Lydia or is Lydia Thorpe th h Orpe?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
That this one. I read the headline, but I did
not know the name. And with that your your point
about hair's h A I R S versus h E
I R S.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I don't think that's the parkour we're looking for. No,
not today. But you gotta admit though, with an Australian accent,
you could very easily kind of blur the line between
as and has. You know, I'm just saying you could
shout out Robin Thick indeed in the thick of it.
So yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to derailist. I think
it was. Let's talk about what what what? What makes?
(23:28):
What does a Boo's Kashi team make?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, we want to hip you to this because we
don't want you to be stuck like some of us
out in Ireland watching a game of cricket and having
no idea what's going on?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Is that? What's happening with you right now? Ben? It
looks like you're in your home. I guess I could
just be a do you only stay in hotels in
Ireland that look exactly like your living room.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I only stay in places that look exactly like Dexter's
kill room. Got with this with the plastic sheets on No,
I'm under I'm doing human stuff. I get a poster
of our other show on.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
The back here I'm doing human today. Right. So, so
you got ten ten to a team? Right? Or is
that a hard and fast number.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Or depends on where you go. So it's a it's
a large field. There are two teams. Each team has
ten humans and therefore ten horses. And usually you're gonna
have a carcass.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Go or a calf. Often there is a carcass right right.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Or you know, some sort of symbolic representation, right, some
kind of pig skin.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Perhaps, have you ever been Naikea? Or they have those
fake like cow rugs. You know, I don't think they're
actually made of cow, but they look at You could
probably rock one of those in a good old friendly
game of buzkashi.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
A good friendly game of Buzkashi.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I love it. Just sew it up.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Here's the gross part or the other growth spart just
for practicality, the head and the limbs of this carcass
are removed. The object of the game, like you said earlier,
NOL is for a horseman to pick up the carcass
from the ground and carry it to the opposing team's goal.
(25:18):
It's like the old capture of the flag game.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yeah. I've spent very little time on horseback, but just
looking at it, I mean it is quite a distance
from the top of the horse to the ground, depending
on the size of the horse. You have to be good.
There's a certain skill level required, there's a learning curve.
And they're not strapped in or anything. They're leaning down
(25:42):
and just scooping this thing up off the ground, all
while being pursued heavily and aggressively by other horsemen.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, who are hitting you and hitting your horse And
there's not really a fourth down here. And I want
to co sign you and cosign Max Max. That was
an excellent explanation of US football, especially given the science
of how they make the line appear on US football,
(26:11):
it's I don't want to get too house.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Stuff works, you not.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
But did you hear that they this season in the
NFL they plan to get rid of the chains like
you know? Yes I did, And did you hear they
didn't do it. They're still there. No, I have looked
into it. They're still there. They still use them, of.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Course they still do. Come on, man, Vegas has too
much riding on this.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
It's a multi billion dollar sport. And then they rely
on two dudes jogging somewhat correctly and lines over and
they can't put a camera angle over the goal one
or anything.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
It's terrible.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
It's also it's also uh oh gosh, it is this
sport that is most riddled with commercials during during playtime.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Ooh, I wish you guys could see Max's face right there. Well,
I mean, it's sort of that one thing I do
understand about the nature of the way the game is played.
It is played in little spurts, and it is conducive
to being interrupted by advertising.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
And then now they're putting advertisements in like thirty second spots.
I personally not the biggest football guy at this point
in my life. I watched just NFL Red Zone, which
is no commercials at all.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yeah, just give me the compilations of what actually happened.
That may be I'd never have the compilations of the commercials,
you know. I feel like we should do a history
of the halftime show.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Oh boy, should we ever? I don't even know when
the first one was we did. We were coming on
with so many ideas on the flight tip and just.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I know we're going further down's rabbit hole. One big
difference between the Super Bowl and just regular NFL is
super Bowl is all brand new ads almost always, Like
these companies are really going all out for normal football.
It is the same like twenty ads the entire.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Uh sucking season.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Leap yourself there, except for in college football where it's
the same twenty ads for five years.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
And they give all those dollars to the players there
in college football. Right they're starting to, They are starting to.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
They are starting to also. I think you earned it, Max,
with the facts.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
That seeking in the phone and peaceful in knowledge. It's
just for you right now, with the fact yeah, give
it to them.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So for a live audience member of Buskashi, you'll see
it's a long event. The game is generally divided into
two forty five minute periods. There's a fifteen minute break
in between. And to your earlier question, Noel, there are
no codified rules about how the game is played. It
(28:47):
can be pretty rough. We described how the players are
hitting each other, pushing each other.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
You can't have a weapon, you know what I mean.
You can't just stab some guys. I know, but they
do have these writing crops, but they are absolutely spanking
the other players. Okay, well, how kind of a weapon.
Hockey players have hockey sticks, that's true. This thing is
more like a blackjack though, or like what do they
call it in the UK? A truncheon, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
And the witty tea, of course, is the one that
gets the most goals.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
You get to take the carcass home. Is that is
that part of your winnings. It depends on where you're playing. Okay,
fair and you know.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I guess it's a tenderized corpse at that point.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Uh, it's more than a sport, Like we said, it's
a symbol of national identity. You play it during important
holidays celebrations. It's uh, it's considered a tradition, kind of
the way that baseball is considered an American tradition. Right,
we all love going to the ballgame.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It's as Afghanistani as a severed headed goat carcass, right right?
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Or or also Afghan cuisine is pretty good. I wonder
what their equivalent of apple pie is.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, probably goat pie. Okay, I don't know. I would
eat that, by the way, and I love goat The
only issue. Have you ever had Caribbean food that has.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Ghosts and they'll bone them?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Very well? No, you can do better. I mean sorry,
Maybe it's just tradition, but I have often found like
deadly shards of bone and Caribbean goat dishes not so.
And like Indian goat dishes or Bangladesh she goat dishes,
they clean it much more precisely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, and this another point. Maybe this ends up being
part one of part one, but another point on what
is American culture. When you hear the phrase American is
apple pie, people, please remember apples come from Kazakhstan. We're
(30:52):
fun at parties, but apple pie ben comes from America.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I feel like someone figured out pie first. I think
I saw an episode of one of those Gordon Ramsay
shows where he humiliates people with terrible restaurants or hotels.
He went to the inn that was failing. Of course,
that was supposedly the place where apple pie was invented.
Really yeah, sort of like the Caesar Sally was invented
by in Mexico City. I want to say, by a
(31:20):
chef at a particular hotel.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, unrelated to the Greco Ruman.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah. It took me years to realize that unrelated. Always
assumed it was Julius's favorite salad. I think he got
I don't think that guy even invented getting stabbed by
a bunch of your friends. I've been stabbing for generations
before Julius came along.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yeah, we could do a history of apples. I think
a history of stabbing is.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
The apple pie originated in England.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
The apple pie apple, but the apples are from Kazakhstown
to the idea.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Of making it a pie made it all the way
from It was developed from culinary influences from France. It is,
of course, is French pastry and the Netherlands and even
the Automan Empire. It's not American at all.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Oh my gosh. This is like when you see a
T shirt. This has made in the USA with materials
from Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Oh I haven't seen that that. I'm sorry. So how
I feel about truck nuts? Who are we to judge?
Are we to judge? All right? All right?
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Well this is also Buskashi is a way for the
public to judge off gonen men. All the buskashi players
are our male This is a way for them to
judge bravery, horsemanship, physical prowess, as we mentioned at the beginning.
And a lot of kids, you know, like in that
(32:45):
movie bend At, like Beckham, a lot of kids in
the area grow up dreaming of becoming notable buskashi players.
And it is not uncommon for families to put a
lot of money into, you know, editing the right equipment,
finding the best horse, finding the best buskashi mentor for
(33:06):
our child.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
As we know, many, no, at least the degenerate gamblers
among us know, a big part about knowing how to
bet on horse races is knowing the abilities, the weaknesses,
the vulnerabilities, how long a particular horse has been racing.
All of that stuff really matters. So yeah, that would
honestly be just as if not more important than the
physicality of the player.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, one hundred percent agreed, because the horses are kind
of doing the real work, right.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
But I mean, you know, there is physicality involved in
the players, you know, much more so than horse racing
or I would say, I mean Polo's you know, certainly
revolves some precision, but they are bending down, putting their
lives at risk to be to be having their faces
trampled to whip this rug the off the dirt.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
You know, we're so into this right now that we
know there are a lot of problems with buskashi, but
it is fascinating, and together we found quite a few
parallels to other sports, so much so that I think
we might have to save well, what do you think.
I think we have to save our next one for
(34:14):
a future episode, for a part two of part one,
Poka talk the ballgame.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
It's true, and I agree with you, Ben. I think
Muzkashi captured all three of our imaginations and we went
on a little bit more about it than we expected,
And we do have another kind of deeper dive into
that other sport that you mentioned, Ben, But for now,
let's just rattle through a few fun candice and trivia
on some other bizarre sports that are a little more nugget.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Like oh yeah, okay, fight sized, yes, yes, purposeful two parter.
Oh man, I'm so excited that we're talking about this
on air finally. I feel like you and I have
mentioned this on previous shows, but to go down together,
we learned. I think the same video went viral and
we both saw it or something, but we learned there
(35:04):
is another kind of equestrian sport called hobby horsing.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
I'm pretending to ride a horse, Daddy, look at me,
Look at me, leap. It's basically just jumping over hurdles
carrying a stuffed animal.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
But they're they're you know, they ride it like a
broom or I guess a horse like the bluz Kashi.
There are no limbs attached.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
There's a stick that goes betwixt the legs, so you
are sort of mounting something. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Yeah, yeah, it's riding a hobby horse, which I don't
think is our hobby horse is still a popular toy.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
I would say not popular. They are more of the
vintage variety. You think about them as like the kind
of president of kid in the eighteen hundreds would get
like Tiddley Winks or something. I can't remember when Tittley
Winks came around. Man, don't malign Tittley Winks. Tittley Wings
at the precursor to POGs, remembers. Yeah. Sure, yeah, I'm
(36:06):
still bullish on POGs. Heavily invested, heavily invested.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
This sounds like a sketch you would see it.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
I think you should leave to getting out of crypto
and putting everything into POGs baby.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Right, so we are describing this accurately. Hobby horsing involves
riding the imaginary horse over obstacles.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Do you have to bang coconuts together? While you're doing
you had somebody following behind you, perhaps your vale.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Yeah, I guess we shouldn't detegrate it too hard. We're
outsiders from that culture, but we can't say it does
take physical prowess.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
For sure, but it is more just like basically hurdles,
Like it's sort of a triathl a track and field
thing whilst clutching this weird toy between your legs. And
I will say, you know, we're mocking in a little bit.
But if you watch the video that Ben you linked to,
everyone's kind of smiling and laughing in the audience, it
does appear that there is a wink wink knowingness to
(37:06):
how goofy this whole thing comes off.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, and it's wholesome. You see it in Scandinavia. Right,
Nobody is being hateful, and I'm glad we're pointing out
that we're not necessarily disparaging the sport. We get why,
we get why it's a grin worthy thing, but let's
(37:29):
also be honest. A lot of us listening tonight could
not do the same obstacle course as the hobby horsers.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
It's tough. Is that the right word? Hobby horsers? Hobby
horse Yeah, hobby equestrians. You know what I don't now.
I think a questrian requires a live animal. I don't
think we should reserve that term for sentient beings. There's
a line.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
You and I have been to England at some point,
but we've never gone as a group. Have you ever
heard of this next thing? I'm on the fence about
whether this should be a sport, and i'd love our
sport expert maxed way into after you explain what this is.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Cover your shins, boys, shin kicking. That's what it is.
It's exactly what it sounds like. Started in the seventeenth
century in England. Simply involves two grown men kicking each
other in the shins until one of them falls to
the ground in pain.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Is it like something that started at a bar? The
way the Guinness Book of World Records?
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Have you guys heard the controversy around this, these professional
slap fighting events. Yes, people are getting like brain bleeds
and stuff. I mean it is gnarly. Have you ever
seen this? Guys are ridiculous historians out there as well.
It is a uf the Esque kind of sport that's
covered in that same way, with that same level of
(39:04):
extreme intensity, where there are two opponents face off against
each other and open handedly slap each other in the
face on the face with an open palm until one
of them falls out. So I would say shin kicking.
Got it? You ever been ever? They call it barking
your shins. Yes, it hurts.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
It's because the bone is so close to the skids.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
One hundred percent. This would suck. What psychotic Sato Massac
has came up with this nonsense? You know how people get?
They suck? People suck. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
I'm bullish on people. I see them as the POGs
of evolution.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
I'm taking all my crypto and investing in people. Right.
I think they already tried that. I think it got canceled.
So okay, So uh, there were there were probably the
history is unclear, but there were probably a couple of
guys who got into clog fighting or purring as it's called.
(40:05):
Uh sometimes, yeah, I have a pr off.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
There was probably some guy who barked his shin as
you say, and some other dude was like, oh, you
got weak shins, and he said.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
I don't have weak shins. I guess you. You go
the week sheds. I'll prove it kicking shds. You get
saw now, yeah I would Australia there. Sorry, the next thing,
you know, it's a shin kicker off. You know, it's
just back and forth. It never ends when the violent
guy comes up and watches.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Yeah, okay, so we have to go to Max. Max
is shin kicking a sport? Or should it be considered such?
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Is it even cool?
Speaker 3 (40:46):
So all I'm thinking about is the movie Dodgeball, which
is an all time banger.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
It's a fun movie.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Most of his age fine, some of it has aged poorly.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Say, but those South Park guys were always equal opportunity offenders,
so I bet you it's within their wheelhouse. But maybe
is it worse.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
There's some stuff that's bad and there's just this one
particular line which it's like, oh my god, that was
not fine when they said that, and it's so much
worse now. Anyways, to digress, I mean that movie is
just a hilarious, NonStop amount of ridiculousness. And the best
thing is, like the best joke of all time is
ESPN The O Show. It was like ESPN eight where
(41:25):
played all the obscure stuff and it's a super cut
of stuff beforehand. And one of those sports they show
that's on the show is two dudes just whipping each other.
And that's what this feels like. So yeah, it's ESPN
The Show level stuff. So yeah, it's a sport. Nascar
is a sport, Poker's a sport. We can call shin
kicking a sport, all right, Okay, that's the word would
(41:46):
probably argue. It's not around on a professional level.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
I am so glad you asked, because in twenty twenty four,
shin Kicking the World shin Kicking Championships returned to the
Cotswold Olympics spelled O L I M P I c K.
We have Olympics at home, kids, right, So it's pretty brutal.
(42:13):
It reminds me of the key and Peel slaphand. Yeah
ye sketch. So this is this is pretty insane. These
people are hurting their legs. If you are they allowed
to wear shin guards, surely not. I think at some
point there was straw padding. Yeah, you have to wear
(42:34):
soft shoes now. People used to wear steel toed boots
which probably broke some legs, and you have to stuff
the legs of your trousers with straw.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
So it's sort of meant to be a throwback the
old timey, sort of traditional type sports, right it would
seem if they're employing woolens and straw.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
You know, there's so many rules, right, Like you you
obviously can't hit someone in the face. You have to
just hit their shins, and I imagine you have to
just because it's in the name. You can only kick
their shins.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
And then then of course there's a sister sport, ass
kicking right right as you know, you got some built
in padding there, or you can just shove a phone
book down your pantaloons. Yeah, we've all been there. We
also haven't been to. Oh.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
I think it was Halloween being on our minds recently
that because we are spoiler, this is coming out after Halloween,
but we're recording it on October thirty first. Oh, yeah, yes,
giants pumpkin kayaking.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Okay, see I didn't look into this one yet, so
I'm going to go ahead. Is it literally a giant
pumpkin that has hollowed out and turned into a sea
faring vessel? I? Oh, water resistant vessel? Oh? I see.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yeah, this is a recent one since nineteen ninety nine
in Windsor, Nova, Scotia, people get giant pumpkins and they
joined the Windsor Pumpkin Regatta. And this is more, This
is more like British baking show, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
They're all really nice and kind to each other and
help each other out when they're punkins spring a leak.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yeah, they're they're having a ball, you know what I mean.
They're not throwing around a dead carcass.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
They're not kicking. They're doing the pumpkin version of shin kicking.
It's it's a wholesome one.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
And I think maybe that's where we end, unless you
want to mention one more pumpkin sport, which will be
very familiar to longtime fans of all our shows.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
You mean punkin chunkin? I do, yeah, punkin chugging. Yes, yes,
I only heard about this recently, and I didn't even
really bother following up on what it was. I just
heard there's punkin Chunking going on. I'm like, that seems
delightfully seasonal. I don't think I know, is it literally?
Just like? Is it like? What's that game Cornhole? But
with pumpkins? Well? Have you ever thought I should build
(44:58):
a trebuche only every day when I wake up in
the morning. Then that's what keeps you going, right, do I?
And the fact that I never do it is the
only thing that keeps me going. I'm aspiring to it.
Once I accomplish it, my work is done. So punkin
Chunkin is this idea? Yeah, you don't need a you
don't need a tribute necessarily. It's chucking though, it's not chunking,
(45:22):
it's it's chucking.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Yeah, And the idea is creating your own device, a catapult,
a slingshot, a tribute to shoot or chuck a pumpkin
as far as you can. And way back in the day,
too many years ago now, we were owned by a
company called Discovery, and Discovery.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
They're having a bit of trouble these days.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
Yeah, and they had a show called punkin Chunkin. I
think we can say this now enough time has passed.
Every podcast that was around at the time had to
do an episode about punkin Chunkin.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
That must have been where I heard about it for
the first time. Pumpkin chucking chucking. Yeah, but like you know,
colloquially they do sometimes refer to it as punkin junkin.
So but then, you know, this reminds me of It's
almost like the Pinewood Derby, you know where it is.
It's a technological challenge. I guess it showcases the pumpkins,
and you probably want a big fatty that splats real nice.
(46:21):
But basically you're being judged on your ability to engineer
a thing that throws another thing as far as possible,
which is engineering. Did you ever do Pinewood Derby? I did,
I did, and I don't think I did very well.
And all I remember from those days is like I
can't remember. Maybe you can answer this, is it illegal
to put coins to put weights? Well, because I know
(46:44):
people did it and I may have done it. But
now thinking back on and I'm like asking myself, was
that against the regulations? Well, it's kind of like are
you playing Muzkashi in Kyrghistan or in Kazakhstan. You know,
this was in Georgia, Oka the state. Just to be.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Uh, it's a because it's a cub Scout thing, right,
it was a cub Scout thing.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
So when I was playing this, I knew that some
places would let you do weight and then some other
places would say no, it is entirely on how you
whittle the block. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
It does say here in Scout Life magazine that you
can also use fishing weights or coins to additional weight too, Okay,
so I hear that's the official it's a dot org ben,
it's a dot org okay, hot org. It's gotta be legit. Yeah,
it'll just give those to anybody. You gotta be an org.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
The world record for pumpkin chucking stands at uh I
think five thousand, five hundred and forty five zero point
four to three feet. So for the rest of the world,
for everybody, is that Yeah, everybody outside of the US
and Namibia. I think that's one thousand and six one
(48:00):
hundred and ninety and a quarter meters.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
And that's hot takeaway, hot take from you here. What's
your perspective, what's your opinion on the metric system for
it or against it? Oh? For it? Yes? What are we?
What are we on about here in America? I don't
get it. It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Well yards in football, you know about the point though,
there's no rhyme or reason to it.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
We just sort of use it as I don't know.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
We should make up our own thing at this point,
Noel notches. There you go, Ben bounds, Matt Max. We
got to give max one max.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
Well, a max could be a weight. It's like a stone,
you know, one max, I weigh fifteen max.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Max is nodding in approval. I know the weather's on
top of you.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
Man.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Did you ever play Pinewood Derby or participated?
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (48:54):
God, so many? I think until recently my dad had
a Pinewood Derby trail in his attic. We yeah, no,
we were big, big proponents of it. But yeah, you
could put weight on it, but it had to weigh
a specific weight. And then I think, like, you know,
they roll it on the track thing, make sure it
had the correct clearance clearance exactly.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
Yeah, but I remember, do you using quarters and hot glue?
But guys, do you think there's like anybody that has
like some sort of like secret like Dad's club or
whatever parents club where they bet on the Pinewood Derby.
If there's a thing be it, yes, and I imagine
we didn't talk about it. It probably could be an episode.
(49:36):
You know what we should do it? History of betting? Yeah,
a history of gambling. How have we not done? That's amazing.
We have come up with literally three rock solid ideas.
But yeah, I bet sports betting on Buskashi is a thing.
Oh you bet you bet? Yeah? All right, quid, I'll
bet you a quid. I'll bet you one nol knuckle
(50:00):
one Max.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
All right, all right, all right, with that we have
we have some hot action, as they say on the strip.
So we are going to call it a day. Thank
you so much for tuning in, folks. We cannot wait
to explore more. Let's say, ridiculous lesser known sports.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
You gotta change the name of the show. Yeah, right,
slightly unusual history. There we go.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Oh geez, well, big big thanks to our super producer,
our resident sporto, mister Max Williams. Big big thanks to
our number one Buskashi carcass, Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
Indeed huge thanks to Christopher Hasiotis and he's Jeff Coates
here in spirit, Alex Williams, who composed our theme, and
also to AJ Bahamas Jacobs The Puzzler.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
Oh, who just won an award by Yeah it's like
the potties for his podcast The Puzzler, you can check
out you can check out various episodes where we're hanging
with Aj just the nicest guy and what a sacker
jack rider and big big thanks of course, as well
(51:21):
to Rachel Big Spinach, Lance the Gay Bluesier, to our
pals at Ridiculous Crime and all the rude dudes over there.
One odd sport we didn't put in toe wrestling?
Speaker 2 (51:35):
Do you know that's the thing. Yeah, I don't know, man,
that's a little inappropriate for that feels like something a
creep made up, right exactly. It's like this is an
excuse to get free feed picks. Yeah, don't get Tarantino. Folks.
Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time, folks.
(51:57):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio Apple Podcasts
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Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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