Findings

Reflection

Readers,

Thank you so much for sticking with me through the blog process thus far. I am excited to see where the blog will go in the future as well as what conversation will spark from previous posts.

Overall, I have learned a ton from this blog project and I would like to take some time to share these findings with you. First of all, Social Media is prevalent in any and all countries. It is one thing we have in common that can teach us in a modern and creative way about other cultures, yet still binds us. Never play off Facebook or Wikipedia as just fun, because they are important learning tools that cannot be underestimated.

Second of all, I have learned that there is a huge world of sports outside of American Sports. For us Americans, often times it is hard to follow a sport beyond the large 4 (Hockey, Football, Baseball, Basketball) in our country, let alone the sports of other countries. It would be amazing to see some of these sports adapted in America so we could make our melting pot of a country feel more appreciate and at home.

If you have any suggestions for future posts please let me know and I look forward to exploring your suggestions! Have a great day and look for future posts coming soon!

- Thomas Julian

Gurning

Gurning

A Man Gurning

It seems as if our favorite country to visit is England, as for the second week in a row we will be visiting for a local fad they call Gurning. Gurning is an English sport based around who can make the weirdest alteration of their face. While there are no leagues, the World Gurning Championship has been held annually since 1267 when King Henry began it at the Egremont Crab Fair. Both have become large contributions into English culture and history. 

Want to learn more? Check out some of these links:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurn

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gurning/248045315238025

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Vf9QMROCQ

BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3670504.stm

Egremont Crab Fair: http://www.egremontcrabfair.com/

Cheese Rolling

Cheese Rolling

Once again, we visit the beautiful country of England to look at one of their most obscure sports ever! A sport that is growing in popularity every year called Cheese Rolling! 

The sport adds up to one single event, the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake! This event is the championship of cheese rolling where around 500 people show up and pay the 20 Pound entry fee to run down a hill at a block of Double Gloucester Cheese. The Cheese can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour! Essentially it turns into who can finish first since noone has ever successfully gotten the cheese. 

Want to learn more? Check out these links!

Website: http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/the_event.htm

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper's_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOyQBSMeIhM

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheese-Rolling/114921108520350

Twitter

Twitter

Global Obscure Sports is now on Twitter! Check us out by visiting https://twitter.com/#!/GlobalObscureSp or following @GlobalObscureSp!

Top 25 Obscure Sports

List 25

List25 is a cool American social media site created by two University of Florida Students! We found a post that focuses on the top 25 obscure sports (according to them) in all countries and a small bit on their social media. While our first two features are on this list, we hadn't seen it until after! Check it out!

http://list25.com/the-25-most-obscure-sports-in-the-world/

Pesapallo - Finland

Pesapallo - Finnish Baseball

Players Celebrating a big Pesapallo win

As opening day is today, we here at Global Obscure Sports are getting into the mood of baseball! However, not all countries play baseball the same, especially Finland. The national sport of Finland, Pesapallo, is an interesting derivative of baseball with several interest changes.

Pesapallo was first played in the 1920's by Lauri Pikhala, a Finnish Native, who attempted to popularize the sport in Finland. The sport has not quite reached popular status throughout the world, but has a huge cult following within Finland. There are over 15,000 registered players in Finland alone!

A Diagram of a Pesapallo Field

The rules are very similar to baseball, however with several huge differences. According to pesapello.net (an English version of the official website) here are the major differences between Pesapallo and Baseball:

• Because battling is easer, there's a back line on the field, if a fly ball crosses the line before hitting the ground counts as a foul ball.
• A batter's box is removed and the home plate serves as a pitching plate, which is round with a diameter of 60 cm.
• Pitches are lifted straight upwards from above the pitching plate, and the batter hits the ball when it drops down. There is no catcher; the ball hitting the pitching plate is a miss.
• The strike zone is rather different, the ball is good if it was lifted at least one meter above the heads and it hits the pitching plate.
• Walking requires fewer invalid pitches.
• Catching a ball in flight is not an automatic out, but forces all runners not on a base to return to home base. To put a runner out the ball must be thrown to base before runner gets there.
• The batter is not required to run after hitting the ball on his first or second strike.
• The bases are not in a diamond shape, players have to 'zig zag' the court.
• The distance between bases vay, the shortest is the distance between home base and first base, the longest is between third base and home base.

Want to read more about this interesting sport? Check out these links! We looked into Finland's #1 domestic Social Media Site titled IRC-galleria.com however were not able to find specific Pespallo blogs. Here are some other social media links:

Official Site: http://www.pesis.fi/pesapalloliitto/international_site/

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yAwTUy104I&feature=player_embedded

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pes%C3%A4pallo

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pes%C3%A4pallo/105855952780593?sk=info

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/pesapallo

Check back soon for more exciting updates!

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