Summer Sports reminds us how weird sports are

by JC Fletcher { Apr 6th 2008 at 2:00PM }

Badminton: it's like tennis, except the racquet is smaller and the ball doesn't work. What is the deal with badminton? Who decided that a racquetball would be better with a tail?

Horseshoes is an equally bizarre game. At some point in history, someone saw a pile of metal things made to nailed to horses' hooves and thought "Hey, I bet it would be fun to throw those at a pole!" Now, specialized horseshoes are made specifically for being thrown at a pole.

Summer Sports includes both of these freaky pastimes. A video of the horseshoes game in action follows.

Tags: badminton, destineer, horseshoes, sports, summer-sports

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

sn1per @ Apr 6th 2008 3:18PM

Badminton is an awesome game. Don't badmouth it.

Shmil (Brawl Code 2621-2310-1994) @ Apr 6th 2008 11:39PM

heheh shuttlecock

vidGuy @ Apr 6th 2008 3:52PM

Apparently you haven't played competitive badminton. You can get that shuttlecock whipping around pretty fast and in a regulation size court a single player gets a good workout chasing it down. I'd know, I was in a night league a year back and went 19-6. Good times.

Horseshoes is another matter. It originated as quoits, which even the Greeks and Romans played. Players in the American west stopped bending the shoes into rings and the modern game was born. See, I knew that History of Sports class wasn't a complete waste of time.

Ghen @ Apr 6th 2008 4:22PM

you said cock.

GatorSax2010 @ Apr 7th 2008 1:23AM

Ahh, quoits, the forgotten predecessor to horseshoes. I had never heard of it until I moved to New Jersey, and now I'm one of maybe four people in Florida who knows what it is.

Ghen @ Apr 6th 2008 4:22PM

I desperately need a rusty nail right now. the larger the better. It only needs to be just rusty enough to cause damage, I don't want it to fall apart as I try to shove it in my skull.

ALH @ Apr 6th 2008 9:04PM

do they really think changing the name of the game and the shape of the ball will make people think that summer sports: badminton is anything but a poor rip of wiisports:tennis?

David Kearns @ Apr 6th 2008 9:26PM

This is the deal with badminton: http://tinyurl.com/6qu4dh

Peter S @ Apr 6th 2008 10:58PM

Actually, the pacing of this looked like something that we might enjoy. Of course, that does depend on how expensive it is. The only thing that struck me as a little odd was lawn darts. Didn't they stop selling those in the US because it was too easy to impale someone's foot (or worse) by hurling one of those the wrong way?

I kind of like the mini-golf idea - more my speed than regular golf. As for the others - I'll just have to see.

Daniel @ Apr 7th 2008 9:42AM

Badminton is awesome, one of my favorite games ever! Deca Sports looks great but another wii game with badminton? Count me in!

Jeremy @ Apr 7th 2008 9:53AM

I'd rather mow my lawn than play this game. I think I'll just get off my sofa and go outside if I want to play a summer game. I mean really who is going to spend the summer indoors playing games that can easily be played in their backyard. Don't get me wrong I love gaming as much as the next fanboy but you could buy multiple outdoor games for the price of a new Wii game.

SoshiKitai @ Apr 7th 2008 11:23AM

With the price of a new Wiigame, you can toss Lawn Darts at birds and be praised, rather than arrested. :D

... I'll probably just wait for Deca Sports though. Badminton is great and all, but this game just has an "iffy" feel to it.

...and is there such a thing as a "goodminton"?