Sport impacts on society, identity, passions and, for better or worse, even wardrobes. Sport allows people to express where they are from, what matters to them and how they have fun and photographing the weird side of sport is what Sol Neelman loves. Over the past five years, he has travelled the world seeking out the weird and wacky in sport where imagination has no boundaries. Whether it's urban golf, cardboard tube fighting, Godzilla wrestling, lingerie football, Segway polo or drag queen softball, this body of work documents events that are very weird!

With hundreds of books dedicated to conventional sports and activities, this encyclopedia on the weirdest and wackiest games offers a fresh and entertaining read for any audience. Weird Sports and Wacky Games around the World: From Buzkashi to Zorbing focuses on what many would consider abnormal activities from across the globe. Spanning subjects that include individual games, team sports, games for men and women, and contests involving animal competitors, there is something for every reader. Whether researching a particular country or region's traditions or wanting an interesting read for pleasure, this book offers an array of uses and benefits. Though the book focuses on games and sporting activities, the examination of these topics gives readers insight into unfamiliar places and peoples through their recreation—an essential part of the human experience that occurs in all cultures. Such activities are not only embedded in everyday life but also indelibly interconnected with social customs, war, politics, commerce, education, and national identity, making the whimsical topic of the book an appealing gateway to insightful, highly relevant information.

Everything has its weird side-- even sports! Add wacky stats, facts, and stories to your arsenal of spots trivia with this new addition to the very popular Weird but True series!

Bog snorkelling, dwile flonking, wife carrying — these might sound like the newest entries in a dictionary of euphemisms, but they are in fact sports. Strange sports, yes, but actual sports nonetheless. And there are dozens more, as you'll discover in this fantastic, witty and oddly compelling round-up of the world's strangest events held in the glorious name of competition. How about Chess-Boxing? It features 11 alternating rounds of chess and boxing and you can win by either a knockout or a checkmate. Or what about the Afghani sport of Buzkashi? This translates as goat grabbing and is like a surreal version of rugby on horseback, with a 55kg goat carcass instead of a ball and up to 100 competitors who are allowed to whip other riders to get the carcass off them and into their own scoring circle. Then there is the very Australian annual Goanna Pulling Championships, held every June. The competitors are actually consenting adults, who put large leather collars around their necks, hitch the collars to a chain that runs between the two of them, lie down on their stomachs, facing each other, with chests lifted off the ground, and attempt to drag their opponent backwards across the winning line. There are 50 very weird but very real sports in the book and you will find yourself chuckling on every page as you learn about them.

By any standard of normal behavior, sports cannot escape the definition of weirdness. Sports achievements have the capacity to inspire and excite watchers, whether through athletic brilliance or magnificent team performance, but there are times when our athletes and teams go wacko on us, and the most peculiar things break out with no warning to provide wide-eyed astonishment or laugh-out-loud responses. Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs landed on the disabled list due to a back injury caused by sneezing too hard. Minnesota Vikings football stalwart Jim Marshall ran the wrong way with a recovered fumble. Former NBA player Dennis Rodman spearheaded American diplomacy with North Korea. The lyrics and music creators of “Take Me Out to The Ballgame” authored one of the most sung songs in American history without ever having seen a baseball game. And more! While those spontaneous combustions may result from someone rising from the weird side of the bed, they’re often the most memorable.

Think fast with A.J. and Andrea from My Weird School! Did you know that Antarctica’s largest land animal is an insect? Did you know that the smallest country in the world is only 0.2 square miles?! Learn more weird-but-true geography facts with A.J. and Andrea from Dan Gutman’s bestselling My Weird School series. This fun series of nonfiction books features hundreds of hysterical facts, plus lots of photos and illustrations. Whether you’re a kid who wants to learn more about geography or simply someone who wants to know if there’s really a town called Scratch Ankle, this is the book for you! With more than 30 million books sold, the My Weird School series really gets kids reading!

Sports Plays is a volume about sports in the theatre and what it means to stage sports. The chapters in this volume examine sports plays through a range of critical and theoretical approaches that highlight central concerns and questions both for sports and for theatre. The plays cut across boundaries and genres, from Broadway-style musicals to dramas to experimental and developmental work. The chapters examine and trouble the conventions of staging sports as they open possibilities for considering larger social and cultural issues and debates. This broad range of perspectives make the volume a compelling resource for students and scholars of sport, theatre, and performance studies whose interests span feminism, sexuality, politics, and race.