Strangest match up yet!

Strangest match up yet!

I wonder whether it will be the first shut-out too.

DragonSlayer - Always fucking the Status Quo

Basketball for my friend who's gone to Chicago to play b-ball.

Ballin' is one of my favourite sports to watch and play.. BBall without a doubt.

Did anyone else watch this PPV?

Old man power for the win, man. Randy not only defeated Gonzaga, but made him look like an amateur in the process. Did kind of think Gonzaga was overhyped because he KO'd Cro-Cop after whomping him on the ground with elbows for 4 minutes, but, eh.

Awesome show, some great fights, and it had Josh Koscheck getting his foot shoved in his mouth almost literally. Always a good thing. 

And another TUF fighter got thumped in Kendall Grove. Never really cared about him all that much, and Patrick Cote of all people to expose his suspect chin with a punch that weak looking? Good god.

So, with Randy's win .. who should he face next? Personally, I want to see him fight Fedor Emelianenko as soon as possible. Screw a rematch with Sylvia, and as much as I like Nogueira, he didn't look in top form. So, if Cro-Cop beats Kongo .. it'll be Cro-Cop versus Nogueira. Leaving Randy open for .. well, if they manage to get him, Fedor Emelianenko in a Heavyweight unification bout. I want to see Randy vs the tio PRIDE Heavyweights so badly now.

boot binding interface

Tennis is a monster of a sport. Badminton is laughable

snowboarding is all about COOL POSE.

Ski, now that's something. It is classy.

Snowboarding is infinitely more fun to watch.

Schoolwork is a sport.  Warcraft III is a sport. Drinking games are sports. Pissing contests are sports. Vying for a spot in the latest science journal is a sport.  A trial is a sport (and that makes attorneys atheletes).

This is an incredibly loose and useless definition of sport.

Schoolwork is not "governed by a set of rules or customs" and is not engaged in competitively.

Warcraft III is a sport these days, like Starcraft is. Drinking games and pissing contests can be classed as sports, albeit not very good ones. Vying for a spot in the latest science journal, and a trial, are not sports. You're being pedantic.

If it's a competitive game, it's a sport. You only believe that's a loose definition because you're comparing it to your definition of it being a very physical activity.

All games are not sports.  A certain physical prowess and skill is a requirement for me to think of an activity as a sport, in addition to some direct competition.  Everything else is just games, hobbies or just plain ol' competitions.  Moving a mouse or laying cards on a table do not qualify.  American Idol is not a sport.

And, have you never gone to school?  I'm sorry for being pendantic, but I was pointing out how that loose definition of sport encompasses pretty much everything.

Wow.  Did we actually have a tie?

The next person to vote by posting a reply will break the tie. (This person cannot be someone who already voted in the poll however.)

Which sport will hang 10 and which one will be stuffed?

For the round of 16, instead of briefly describing the sport as in the first round, I will post a little info about an item that is crucial for each sport. In this case, it will be the surfboard and the volleyball (ball).

Surfboard:

Surfboards are long, buoyant decks used in the activity of surfing. They are relatively light, but strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding a breaking wave. Like the sport itself, they were invented in Hawaii, where they were known as Papa he‘e nalu in the Hawaiian language, and usually made of wood from local trees, such as koa, and were often over 15 feet in length and extremely heavy[1] [2]. The major advances over the years were the addition of one or more fins on the bottom rear of the board to improve directional stability and a change of materials and shapes.

Modern surfboards are made of polyurethane or polystyrene foam covered with layers of fiberglass cloth and polyester or epoxy resin.The end result is a light and strong surfboard that is buoyant and maneuverable. Since 1995 a new breed of shapers inclucing Paul Jensen, Tom Wegener and Roy Stewart have re-invented hollow wooden surfboards. A few specialty surfboards are made out of hollow carbon fiber or aluminum for added lightness. Most modern surfboards can be divided into two main categories: longboards and shortboards. Longboards as the name suggests are longer (often eight or more feet), and are also thicker and wider with a more rounded nose than a shortboard. Shortboards are shorter (5–7ft), thinner, and have a more pointed nose. They are not as wide as longboards and are typically more maneuverable. Other variants include guns, fun-boards, fish, eggs, tow-boards, and hydrofoils.

Volleyball:

There are three types of volleyballs:

   1. Standard indoor volleyball
   2. Youth indoor volleyball
   3. Beach volleyball

All volleyball types are completely round and consist of six panels of leather (synthetic or genuine) wrapped around a bladder. Each panel consists of three sections or rows. A standard (adult, indoor) volleyball may be solid white or a combination of three different easily distinguishable colors, of which a limited amount are officially allowed. A youth indoor volleyball is slightly smaller than a standard volleyball to accommodate children's use. A beach volleyball is slightly softer (lower internal pressure) and a bit larger than an indoor volleyball, and is brightly colored.

Which sport will tackle its way onward and which one will be forced to sweep for the victor?

Rugby ball:

Richard Lindon and William Gilbert started making balls for Rugby school out of hand stitched, four-panel, leather casings and pigs’ bladders. The rugby ball's distinctive shape is supposedly due to the pig’s bladder though early balls were more plum shaped than oval. The balls varied in size in the beginning depending upon how large the pig’s bladder was.

Until 1870 rugby was played with a spherical ball with an inner-tube made of a pigs' bladder. In 1870 Richard Lindon introduced rubber inner-tubes and because of the pliability of rubber the shape gradually changed from a sphere to an egg. In 1892 the RFU endorsed ovalness as the compulsory shape. The gradual flattening of the ball continued over the years.

Rugby league is played with a prolate spheroid shaped football. Traditionally made of brown leather, modern footballs are synthetic and manufactured in a variety of colors and patterns. The football used in rugby league is known as "international size" or "size 5" and is approximately 27 cm long and 60 cm in circumference at its widest point. Smaller-sized balls are used for Mini and Mod versions of the game. A full size ball weighs between 383 and 440 grams. Rugby league footballs are slightly more pointed than rugby union footballs and larger than American footballs.

The Australian National Rugby League uses balls made by Steeden. Steeden is also sometimes used as a noun to describe the ball itself.

The ball used in rugby union is a prolate spheroid essentially elliptical in profile. Traditionally made of brown leather, modern footballs are manufactured in a variety of colors and patterns. A regulation football is 28–30 cm (11–11.8 inches) long and 58–62 cm (22.8–24.4 inches) in circumference at its widest point. It weighs 410–460 grams (14.5–16.2 ounces) and is inflated to 65.71–68.75 kPa (or 9.5–10 psi).

In 1980, leather-encased balls, which were prone to water-logging, were replaced with balls encased in synthetic waterproof materials. The Gilbert Synergie is the match ball of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Curling stone:

The curling stone, or rock, weighs a maximum of 44 lbs. (19.96 kg). It has a maximum allowable circumference of 36 inches (0.9144 m). A stone may be a maximum of 4.5 inches (11.43 cm) in height not including the handle. The handle is attached to the stone by means of a bolt, which runs vertically through a hole in the center of the stone. The handle allows the rock to be gripped and rotated upon release. When the rock is thrown with the right hand, clockwise rotation is referred to as an in-turn. Counter-clockwise rotation is referred to as an out-turn. The opposites are true if the rock is thrown with the left hand. The handles are coloured to differentiate the rocks belonging to each team. Two popular colours in major tournaments are red and yellow. However, the most common club rock colours are red and blue, although often they will be the "club colours." Rocks have been known to also be green, black or white in addition to blue yellow and red. The handle may be of the 'Eye on the hog' variety for detecting hog line violations.

The bottom of a curling stone is concave. The surface in contact with the ice, known as the running surface, is a circle ¼ to ½ inch (6 to 12 mm) thick. This narrow running surface is where the ice and the stone interact. On properly prepared ice, the rock's path will bend (curl) in the direction the front edge of the rock is turning, especially toward the end of its motion. The degree of curl depends on several factors, including the preparation of the ice and the flattening of common paths to the house during the game. Ice on which the rocks curl well is said to be swingy.

The Scots in particular believe that the best quality curling stones are made from a specific type of granite called "Ailsite", found on the Ailsa Craig, an island off the Ayrshire coast. According to the Scottish Curling Stone Company, Ailsite has very low water absorption which prevents the action of freezing and melting water from eroding the stone. In the past, most curling stones were made from this granite. However, the island is now a wildlife reserve, and is no longer used for quarrying. Because of the particular rarity of Ailsite, costs for curling stones can reach as much as $1500 (USD) for the best stones. Many curling clubs use a lower grade stone that can be upwards of $500. There are also stones which use a disc of ailsite attached to another type of granite to provide the running surface. Very informal neighbourhood curling clubs with limited resources may make cylindrical "curling stones" out of concrete-filled cans. The curling stones used at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino were provided by the Garn For granite quarry at the Yr Eifl mountain on the Llŷn Peninsula in North-West Wales.