Brianne Davis
The Communicator

When baseball and basketball just aren’t enough, people have taken their creativity to a new level with some strange, yet real sports.

Extreme Ironing, Rock paper scissors League and Brewskee-Ball are just some of the many sports in that category.

Extreme Ironing (EI) was invented in the summer of 1997 in the United Kingdom. According to the Extreme Ironing official web site, it was created when Phil Shaw (Known as “Steam” to the EI world) wanted to combine his hobby of rock climbing with his unwanted chores. From there it became an international phenomenon.

The rules state that the iron used must be a real working iron, and the ironing must take place outdoors. The site has gotten many pictures from people on their own ironing sessions, ranging from ice climbing in Canada to underwater ironing in Madagascar.

When it comes to EI contests, it doesn’t really matter about how neat the collar of your shirt is.

“There are occasions where the danger and thrill of extreme ironing are more exciting than the actual ironing,” Shaw said.

While EI is still fairly underground, the Rock Paper scissors league has drawn in corporate sponsorship for its events.

RPS league events and championships have brought in sponsorship from beer companies to publicity from being broadcast on ESPN channels. There’s even a $50,000 prize offered to the champion each year.

The rules of RPS in league play remain the same as if it was being used to determine whose turn it was to buy a round at the

Pub, but there are more chances to succeed. The official RPS web site (www.usarps.com) has information about how to get into tournaments, as well as a glossary of terms to know during competition.

Like the RPS, Brewskee-Ball is sponsored by beer companies, but there is actual sporting equipment involved in it.

Brewskee-Ball came into existence by its founders, Evan Tobias and Eric Harris Pavony as a joke. It started out as a skee-ball league in Coney Island, NY, but not everyone could make the trip. By taking it upon themselves to bring skee-ball machines to Manhattan bars, the combination of beer and skee-ball transformed into the sport of Brewskee-Ball.

The league has since expanded to several major US cities, including San Francisco, CA, and Charlotte, NC.

More information on Brewskee-Ball can be found at www.brewskeeball.com.

You can contact the writer at staffwriter@spokanefalls.edu