George Barris’s Bob Hope Golf Cart

Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 23, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Motor Vehicles, Sports, Outsider Art, Surrealism, 1960s, Head

Unfair Falsies

From June 1970:

Baltimore Evening Sun - Jun 19, 1970

See Valerie Peat in competition:

Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 21, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Sports, 1970s

Where’s Huddles?

Sure, why not transplant THE FLINTSTONES into a contemporary NFL setting? That'll be a hit, for sure!

Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 04, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Sports, Television, Cartoons, 1970s

Skiing Mt. Everest

May 6, 1970: Japanese extreme skier Yuichiro Miura became the first person to ski on Mt. Everest. And amazingly, he didn't die. The stunt was filmed and was the subject of a 1975 documentary, The Man Who Skied Down Everest. Check out the clip below.

Miura later became the oldest person to reach the summit of Everest, climbing it at the age of 70 and again when he was 80.

Burlington Free Press - May 12, 1970

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 21, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Sports, 1970s

Endurance Bowling

Back in 1930, George Kinder of Milwaukee set a record for endurance bowling. He bowled for 50 hours 20 mins, rolling 362 ½ games. He had to quit because "his thumb was badly split, blistered and torn, and he couldn't grasp the ball."

Courier News - Jan 13, 1930

41 years later, Richard Dewey of Kansas City set a new endurance record. He bowled for 98 hrs 45 mins, rolling 1220 games. But Dewey also had to quit because of injuries:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - May 26, 1971

More recently, in 2010, Stephen Shanabrook of Plano, Texas set a new record, bowling for 134 hrs 57 min. However, he completed only 643 games, which is only about half the number Dewey rolled in less time. Nevertheless, according to Guinness, Shanabrook is the current record holder.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 19, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Sports, World Records

Psychic Baseball Game

No supernatural abilities actually required.


Original ad here.

Further information here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 10, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Games, Sports, 1920s, 1930s

Hunting Licenses for the Blind

It sounds like it should be a joke, but apparently in the past various states have debated whether they should issue hunting licenses for the blind. And today some states appear to issue such licenses. For instance, on the website of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game a "Resident Hunting License for the Blind" is listed as costing $45.00.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Dec 2, 1953

I think the clipping below explains these licenses. They allow blind people to go out hunting with their friends. Someone else (who can see) has to do the actual shooting, but the blind person can claim one of the game animals as their own kill.

Tallahassee Democrat - Apr 15, 1959

A separate issue is whether a blind person can purchase a regular hunting license. I don't know what the current laws are, but in 1963 in Washington state there was nothing to prevent them from doing so, as demonstrated by the stunt below in which blind attorney Arnold Sadler purchased a hunting license for himself.

Staunton News Leader - Jan 31, 1963

Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 04, 2017 - Comments (6)
Category: Guns, Sports, Regulations, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical

Conehead Sumo Wrestlers

1994: The Japan Sumo Association finally got around to banning the practice, apparently quite common among young sumo wrestlers, of implanting lumps of silicone beneath their scalp in order to meet the minimum height requirement of 5 feet 8 inches. The Association probably wouldn't have done anything if they hadn't become embarrassed by media reports of conehead wrestlers.

Before the silicone technique became popular, some wrestlers used to hit themselves on top of their head to raise large bumps before being measured.

Morristown Daily Record - July 13, 1994

Sumo wrestler Mainoumi, before and after scalp implant

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 27, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Sports, Wrestling, 1990s

Nose Billiards

Prof. Henry Lewis — a trick billiardist whose specialty was playing with his nose. He was also a champion at finger billiards. He spent his retirement years, when he was in his 70s and 80s, touring the country doing exhibition matches of nose billiards. As far as I can tell, he's the only person ever to have made a career out of doing this.

Oakland Tribune - June 8, 1919

The News Herald - Oct 22, 1925

Posted By: Alex - Sat May 27, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Sports

Thrashin’

Wikipedia entry here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 08, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Antisocial Activites, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Sports, 1980s