My Favorite Obscure Sports

As Americans we're very familiar with the Big Three of the sporting word; football, basketball, and baseball. They're huge in terms of participation, exposure, and also in the world of economics. But they're not the end all and be all of sports, contrary to what the majority of the media think. People who know me know that I've always been one to appreciate the lesser sports and today I have decided to make a list of my top five favorite obscure sports.

Some rules for my list are as follows:
-The sport only has to be obscure in the United States
-It can appear in the Olympics and still be considered totally obscure
-The fewer people who have actually seen it played, the better

5. Rugby- A sport I have stayed up many nights to watch at 3am on Fox Sports World. I even figured out most of the rules after I rented an EA Sports Rugby game for the Playstation2. This sport is big in Europe, South Africa, and some of the Oceanic nations (paricularly New Zealand and Australia). Here in America a number of colleges and a few high schools have rugby club teams and some states have larger leagues or federations. For the most part though we are way behind the rest of the world in this great game. While our national team has won a few international games this year (most importantly a 20-19 squeaker over our Canadian brethren) against a higher opponent, The Welsh national team, we were cut down 3-77.

4. Cricket- Now this is a sport that I've only seen clips of on TV. I have littler or no understanding of how the game is actually played beyond the bowler throwing a ball at a hitter who is defending a wicket, or something like that. I tried playing once with some British folks, really didn't do very well. I'm not even sure if the U.S. has a team...ok, yes we do, but I can't even decipher what the scores mean. But I did find out that we beat Canada by 6 wickets, which unfortunately don't really understand, but we still won and therefore the U.S. Cricket team meets the only standard of success by which obscure American sports can be defined, beating Canada.

3. Water Polo- This is a great sport, somewhat more common in American schools, but it still can't get on TV. Water Polo is possibly the toughest sport ever. Imagine having to swim for an entire match while trying to execute offensive and defensive strategy as your defender tries to drown you. I had a little trouble finding actual international results, but once again the United States finished higher than the Canadians in 2003; USA in 6th, the Canucks 13th, that makes 3 for 3 so far. I also happen to know the name of one of the better players in USA Water Polo, Tom Acevedo, so that increases its prestige as an obscure sport.

2. Rowing- Another Sport that I totally wish I could participate in. I went as far as contacing the Dallas Rowing Club when I thought I was going to move there and for the record they were very open to new participants and even had classes for beginners. Crew is a very popular sport in American colleges, especially now that women's teams are being added for the sake of Title IX. That being said its just not that popular in America and most high schools don't have it. Its very expensive to get into (some shells costing more than $20000, and even the least expensive are a few thousand), and that limits anyone who would want to start on their own. Some places, such as San Antonio, TX don't even have a body of water that can support a club team. Nonetheless, this is an awesome team sport. It is so team focused that no one knows who the best rowers are, because they better they are, the less they stand out. In the 2004 Olympics the United States beat the Canadians in the Men's Final 8's competition, making the U.S. 4 for 4 against the hockey lovers.

1. Team Handball- A largely European sport that has aspects of soccer, hockey, basketball, rugby, and football. This game is not only unpopular in America, but almost nonexistent. A few large cities and schools have club teams and Atlanta has a club league. But many of these teams are filled with foriegn players. Some Americans do play, and for anyone that is interested the Houston Team Handball Club is a wonderful resource to learn more about the game, where you can play and links to other organizations. I was, for a short time, a representative member of the Houston Club, and I will admit that it is a top class organization. The sport can seem daunting at first but it is easy to pick up with hard work. I think some of the things that hold the sport back are the odd dimensions of an official handball court and goal which make it difficult to find somewhere to play, difficulty gaining proper instruction and equipment, and most importantly the lack of marketable success by our National Team, though hopefully that will change with the efforts made by American clubs like the one in Houston. Unfortunately at the 2004 NORCECA the U.S. National Team finished 2nd to the hated Canadians, and in the Pan Am Games we finished 6th to their 3rd, losing the head to head game 18-26. Ending our unbeaten streak against the Canadians. So we hope the National Team picks it up and beats the Canadians next year, after that its all gravy.

There you have it, that is my list. Anyone who reads this should go out and try one of these sports, they need the participants and they're all very enjoyable, though cricket might not be I really have no idea.