Picked the wrong sport again... Cycleball

Wired strikes again showing the alternative sports I should have picked (after missing out on Quidditch). This time it's cycleball...and it looks cool, yet crazy.

Hockey combined with bikes and soccer makes for some strange play. I've seen links to bicycle polo before and other bike like sports, but I'm all for cycleball. It's got a catchy name and makes me think of Tron like events. They just need some black lights and LEDs to get this game to take off.

Honestly though, I would have never played this sport. Ultimate still reigns supreme in my books. I'll watch cycleball over Ultimate...

Note, if any of you are in the Toronto area during holidays, you're a student, and you want to play ultimate, take a look at the Torontula invitational.

Peter

Was Ultimate the Wrong Sport to Pick - Quidditch?

Harry Potter fever seems to be peeking again as we come closer to Christmas and the latest movie release. NPR this morning was talking about how people are using the pop-culture sensation to help convince people into community activism.

Well, that's not what I want to discuss. The real story is about the "Quidditch World Cup".

Many of you who might be familiar with my many years spent in the ranks of playing Ultimate. What shocks me (not really) is how fast Quidditch has climbed the casual sport ladder. Their link of sport with pop-culture means I won't be shocked when Quidditch surpasses Ultimate in terms of numbers, media coverage, and public acceptance. Take a look at how many teams are around and forming.

This all was capped by an article in Wired that appeared in in my media reads, and the sport is only in its 4th World Cup. Ultimate has never hit my casual reading radar unless I sought it out. Sure Ultimate can claim 2 or 3 appearances on ESPN for a total of 3 minutes. but it seems there's just no public appeal for the sport.

Just so you know, I didn't pick the wrong sport. Ultimate was and is awesome. It's just one of those things you have to be happy with living in anonymity. Keeps the participants cooler anyway.

Peter

The Asian BlockStack?

North America seems to be trailing in one category in terms of Ultimate development - the Ultimate vlog (video blogs). Thinkulti reminded me yesterday that I got an email for Asian Ultimate TV over the holidays on their recent efforts to build something along the lines of BlockStack in the UK.

I watched the sixth episode to get a feel for the show. Shane (can't decipher last name) runs and appears as the host on the show. The first part includes an interview with Manu Karan from India based Ultimate. The interview looks into the expansion of Ultimate in India. Interesting perspective on Ultimate expansion, if that's waht you're interested in.

The second half of the episode goes into highlights from a recent tournament in Taipei accompanied by some electronica music.

Overall, the quality of the footage is reasonable and the content is there for all of us who can't seem to consume enough Ultimate media. That leaves South America, Europe, and North America the remaining continents with strong Ultimate and no internet TV representation. I wonder who's going to step up next.

PJ