It being crop circle time in the UK coinciding with the Commonwealth Games, it occurs to me that crop circling could be introduced as an olympic sport.
Countries could be allocated fields of local crops in the country where the games are held and be given a period of time to "produce" the best crop circle. Points would be awarded by an international panel of judges. Obviously the teams would have to be anonymous and penalty points given if team members were actually spotted in the act of creating the shapes. Admittedly it wouldn't be much of a spectator sport as much of the action would be expected to take place at night without the aid of flood lights but the results would be worth seeing...
Some of you might be suspicious that this may be an attempt to gain medals for the UK as crop circling seems to predominate here. I am assured , however, that other nations are now partaking of this phenomenom and there could be several international entries. The only question that remains in my mind is: should aliens be allowed to enter?-- TwoSheds, Jul 29 2002 what starts as a TV programme - who knows?? http://www.qwertyui...ercolour_challenge/thumbs nose at DrCurry - no like this one better, bliss! [po, Jul 29 2002] I award a gold pastry which remains theoretical because I oppose any 'sport' where the winner is necessarily determined by a judge. Having said which, I like to watch ice-skating, and suspect that Crop-Circling could be organized in a similar way, with compulsory figures and so on.-- angel, Jul 29 2002 I'd just knock the whole field over and tell the judges my design was bigger than the area I had to work with.-- phoenix, Jul 29 2002 [bliss]: I meant that the competitors would have to make a number of standard designs which would be judged for their precision, as well as the 'free programme' where they can be totally imaginative.-- angel, Jul 29 2002 I believe there are rivalries between circle maker groups, who try to outdo each other.-- waugsqueke, Jul 29 2002 [phoenix]: methinks you are somewhat missing the olympic ethic. The rules would clearly state that the designs would have to be contained within the field perimeter (say 100m X 100m).
[bliss]: I wasn't thinking these would be MY Olympics - I'd like to see crop circling included in THE Olympics, so I'm sure the US would be there. Come to think of it the US could be at the Commonwealth Games if we'd hadn't had that little spot of bother over you'all paying taxes a few years ago...-- TwoSheds, Jul 29 2002 Given that crop circles are either works of art, hoaxes, or alien artifacts, depending on your point of view, I don't quite see how they qualfy as a sport, which is surely a pre-requisite for the Olympics. I mean, we have yet to see 10k oil painting.
[angel: many fine sports require judges and/or referees. Are you going to argue that boxing and wrestling are not sports?]-- DrCurry, Jul 29 2002 yet.........-- po, Jul 29 2002 If a team plays lawn tennis at midnight in the field, maybe the judges would like the sporty look.
Twosheds: Wasn't that another George, King George III, "a few years ago" who said, "Read my lips, no new taxes"?-- FarmerJohn, Jul 29 2002 [Farmer]: In terms of history (well at least recorded British history), 250 years isn't that long...
[DrCurry]: And synchronised swimming is? You need to look more broadband here, think galactically.-- TwoSheds, Jul 29 2002 [DrCurry]: The judges in wrestling (I'm talking about real wrestling, not the choreographed pantomime seen on TV) are simply to ensure that the rules are followed. (The adjudicators in Cornish wrestling are referred to as 'sticklers'.) I oppose points decisions in boxing. In ice-skating, high-diving, and many more, the winner is determined purely on the basis of the judges' opinions. I consider that, in a true sport, it must be possible to specify how one may win; in soccer, by scoring more goals than the opposition; in cricket, by hitting more runs; in athletics, by running more quickly, or throwing something further, than anyone else; cf in gymnastics, by performing some series of actions which the judges will (by some unspecified criteria) like.-- angel, Jul 30 2002 random, halfbakery