Canadians celebrated Canada Day last Friday; Americans celebrate Independence day today. Between those two days of celebration, Finland hosted the Wife Carrying World Championships in the town of Sonkajarvi located a couple hundred miles northeast of Helsinki. The race takes place on a 253-meter sand track with a water obstacle that is 1-meter deep. The male in the race has to carry the female – who does not have to be his wife – for the entire course. Thirty-five teams competed and the winner was a Russian team that finished in 1 minute and 2 seconds.
The rules for this competition require the female to be carried must be at least 17 years old and must weigh at least 49 kilograms (108 pounds). The rules also state that all of the contestants “must have fun”.
If you missed the opportunity to got to Sonkajarvi to take in this event – or to participate in it at your choosing – be advised that Finland will host another world championship event later this summer and you still have time to plan to go or to practice so you can participate. From 24 through 26 August in the town of Oulu, the 21st annual Air Guitar World Championships will take place. The guiding spirit for that event is summarized here:
“According to the ideology of the Air Guitar, wars would end, climate change stop and all bad things disappear, if all the people in the world played the Air Guitar. At the end of the competition, the whole universe is invited to play the Air Guitar for the world peace.”
Last night, the Marlins beat the Braves in a game played at Fort Bragg, NC. It is the first MLB game played in the state of North Carolina and it is the first MLB game played on a military base. This was one of the home games for the Braves and the crowd was clearly in favor of the Braves. That did not matter much as the Marlins won the game 5-2. From the crowd shots of the game, I believe those in attendance were all servicemen and their families and it certainly appeared as if everyone was having a good time. Obviously, this was a makeshift facility for an MLB game; there did not appear to be an empty seat in the house and the attendance was reported as 12,582. During the game, they interviewed Rob Manfred about the motivations for putting the game at Fort Bragg. Manfred said that MLB is committed to putting real baseball games in places where it has never been before and make it clear that he wanted to see things like this happen in the future. Based on the crowd response last night, it is probably worth replicating.
The Braves “lost” a home game by playing this game where they did. The Braves are clearly having attendance woes this year – in addition to their on-field woes. The team is about as bad on the field as most people thought they would be and fans are finding other things to do with their spare time instead of going out to the ballpark. The Braves are averaging only 22,724 fans per game – down 3,266 fans per game from last season. These are not “early numbers”; the Braves have already played 47 home games as of this morning which is over half of their season allotment of home games.
In an attempt to get more fans into the park, the Braves have come up with an interesting sales promotion. You can buy a monthly pass for $39. Each person can buy up to 4 of these passes but the catch is that you do not know where your seats will be. About 2 hours before game time, each monthly pass holder will get an e-mail informing them where they will be sitting for the game that day/night. The pass will automatically renew month-to-month unless the buyer cancels out of the deal prior to the arrival of the new month.
In July, the Braves will play 9 home games. If you thought you might want to see even 3 of them, the monthly pass is a pretty good deal because that would mean you would see a major-league game for $13 per game. Those are minor league prices… I think this is a good idea for a team that is struggling at the gate. For all of the details, here is a link…
There is a strange story out there concerning former Seahawks’ backup QB, Tarvaris Jackson. In June, Jackson was arrested for allegedly pulling a gun on his wife; he has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. There has been no trial or any pleading in the case so I am loath to fill in any details here. What is strange in this matter is that Jackson requested a public defender claiming that he is broke.
According to reports, Jackson said that he has no income and no savings or investments. He said that his assets are a car (worth $100K) and nothing else. Evidently, the judge was skeptical and denied Jackson’s request for a public defender. Jackson is correct in saying that he has no income; he is an unrestricted free agent and has not signed with any NFL team as of this moment. [Aside: This arrest and these charges will surely not make him any more attractive to NFL teams considering any addition to their QB rolls.] However, his assertion that he has no savings or investments is difficult to believe.
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In 2015, his contract with the Seahawks brought him $1.5M
In 2014, his contract with the Seahawks brought him $1.25M
In 2013, his contract with the Seahawks brought him $840K
Jackson was originally drafted in 2006; so, he has made a significant amount of money over the last 10 years. Obviously, he may indeed be destitute as he claimed; but I can understand why the judge was skeptical here.
Finally, here is an item I gleaned from Dwight Perry’s column, Sideline Chatter in the Seattle Times a while back:
“New York ended its holdout last week, becoming the final state to legalize MMA fights.
“The first bout will be at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 12 or the next time someone wears a Red Sox jersey into Yankee Stadium — whichever comes first.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………