Sports / sports The Weirdest Sporting Events How oddballs compete, from pole-sitting to goat polo By Michael Foreman, Newser Staff Posted Jul 29, 2008 2:00 PM CDT Copied US chess boxer David Depto, right, moves a piece with his taped hand during a chess boxing world championship in Berlin, Germany, November 15, 2007. Chess boxing combines the sports of chess and boxing in alternating rounds. (AP Photo, file) If curling strikes you as a strange sport, you've obviously never heard of wife carrying or bottle kicking. The London Times explores the weirdest pastimes from across the globe: Wife-carrying, Maine, USA: Wives hang on for dear life as husbands tote them through an obstacle course, upside-down. Winners receive the wife's weight in beer. Vertical Marathon, Bangkok: Masochists race up the stairs of a 61-floor hotel, then recharge with cocktails on the roof. The record to beat? Six minutes, 16 seconds. Goat polo, Kyrgyzstan: Polo ponies, yes; polo ball, no. Try a beheaded goat carcass. To see the top 10 list, click the link below. (More sports stories.) Report an error