Wait a second…I could have been training for this “professional sport” my entire life?
This is the type of stuff that you see on ESPN 2 and ESPN News (or ESPN “The Ocho”) during the dog days of summer, and to be honest, I’m perfectly okay with it. You’ll kind of get the gist of the sport when you watch the video below, but it’s basically the classic game of “don’t let the balloon hit the ground,” but on steroids.
The competition pits two players against one another in an electric battle to see who can keep the ballon up in the air the longest, or more importantly, who lets the ballon touch the ground and loses first.
And just as you would have probably played the game as a kid around a living room couch or kitchen table, the arena for what is possibly my new favorite sport is set up with all kinds of random furniture to get in the way of the competitors.
You may think that watching two grown men in helmets jump and run around couches, tables and cars in an effort to keep a ballon in the air would be boring, but let me assure you that it’s not.
Part of what makes this video that much more exciting is the Spanish commentary that is provided as a backdrop. I don’t think its a stretch to say that any sports broadcast that is in Spanish is generally full of more excitement when compared to the American call that most of us are accustomed to.
Things get almost too exciting at one point, as the two players are taking turns batting the balloon up in the air next to the car that is parked in the playing grounds. And in a shocking turn of events and possibly never before seen sportsmanship, it appears that the player in white is about to win the round (I think, I don’t really know) when the player in red loses the balloon.
Instead of letting the balloon fall to the ground, the player in white points at where the balloon is, and the red player is immediately back in the game. However, only seconds later, the red player bounces the balloon over the car to where the player in white can’t get to it, and the man that helped his opponent only moments before loses.
I typed that up with sheer excitement, so I hope you (the reader) aren’t rolling your eyes as you read about this sport that you’ve never heard of. You’ll have to watch it for yourself so you can really get the hype.
CBS Sports posted the video, with the caption:
“Major League ‘Keepy Uppy’ Goes Hard”
Absolute madness.
Most of the Instagram users who left comments were all about it, saying:
“If I’d have known there would be a world championship, I’d have taken this game much more seriously as a kid.”
“I was locked in, what the hell.”
“World Cup and he pointed at the balloon to help this opponent.”
“The commentary is what makes this interesting.”
“This is our sports entertainment for the summer, shaking my head…”
