WEBVTT - Tug of War 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:14.400 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.320 and there's Charles W Chuck Bryant and Jerry's even here. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:21.680 Believe it or not, We're thrilled for that. And uh, 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:27.240 this is stuff you should know. Okay, stop asking, that's right. Uh. 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.960 I want to say this is part two of the 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:35.120 rudimentary games that there is seemingly more too than you 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:41.400 would think. Hm, starting with rochambo or almost a tick 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:43.440 tech toe again, what's my deal with that? I don't 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:48.120 know rock paper scissors, but I must admit there is 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:50.960 more to Rock paper Scissors than Tug of War. I 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.640 am very glad that I didn't have to get that 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.120 out of you. Yeah, I thought there would. I thought 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.400 there was more to it than this strategy wise, and 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:02.360 I think I was suckered at by Squid Game, which 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:06.199 we'll talk about a little bit later, uh, into thinking 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:10.959 that there could be some more depths to this. There's 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.960 not a whole lot. No. Apparently Squid Games like really 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.560 took something and and made something huge out of it, 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.720 because I mean it was even an Olympic support for 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.280 a little while in the Olympics were like, let's not 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:25.760 do that anymore. Yeah, although I have to say growing 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.560 up in this eighties and uh, there was it was 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.480 a lot more in the forefront because like Battle of 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:36.240 the Network Stars did it on TV. H do you 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:42.240 remember the Superstars? No, it was a sports competition show 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:47.119 on Sunday afternoons and it took, you know, prominent athletes 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.640 from all sports and pitted them against one another all 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.160 season long to to determine a champion. And there was 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:56.920 this great obstacle course it was. It was one of 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:00.240 the most sort of eighties you know, aside from uh 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:04.240 American American Gladiators kind of things that you could watch 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:09.000 and uh there was a tug of war, usually between 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.959 two teams comprised of like prominent football players versus prominent 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.320 baseball players, and that was always a big deal. In fact, 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.639 I just watched a a recap of the one hour 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:25.480 in fifteen minute epic battle from between members of the 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.480 Kansas City Royals and uh, I don't know who the 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:30.120 other side was. I think it was a football team. 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.200 Was George Brett on that team? Yet? You bet your 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:38.639 buddy was Was that his rookie year? No? Huh, But 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:43.480 it was right, no, no no, no Prebo Jackson yet, but 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:45.760 that was pretty epic. And on that one they were 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.359 I mean they were laying down in the sand and resting, 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:53.040 some guys taking their hands off at times. It was 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.000 you know, all the rules, you know. They tied the 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.679 rope around their waist, as did Louferrigno in Battle of 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.760 the Network Stars was the anchor all kinds of things 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.960 that you don't do, which we'll talk about in true 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.920 competition Tug of War, but it was just sort of 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:07.960 I feel like we saw Tug of War a lot 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.480 more in the eighties than we do now. Yeah. That 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:15.080 and running under a giant parachute that your classmates were 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.440 billowing up for you. It's a second reference. I've heard 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.160 of that in a week. Oh really, yeah, I never 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:25.080 did that, but oh chuck, we're going to we're gonna 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.680 get some stuff. You should know. Listeners together and do 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:29.919 that because you have to experience it at least once. 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.360 You're like, it is thrilling, I need to. It was 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.920 on the Threedom podcast, So Paula Tompkins and Ackerman and 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.480 Lauren Lapkins we're talking about that. It's a lot of fun. 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:39.880 We're gonna I'm gonna like that is going to happen 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:43.120 before you die, all right, and I gets run under 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.920 you run under before it catches you. That's the key. 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:47.920 So there's like a certain amount of tention to it. 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.400 What if he catches you, like touches you, Yes, that 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.600 silky goodness. Don't you want that touch on you know? 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:58.640 Or else you you dissolve? Okay? Uh But anyway, I 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:00.600 just you know, in the field day in the eighties, 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:02.320 like there was tug of war all over the place, 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:04.600 but you don't see it much anymore until squid Game 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:06.960 came around, and I think that did sort of reignite 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:11.440 some interest, including myself totally. And it's from what from 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:14.760 this research that we've done on this um your experience 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.520 and my experience too at that age where you know, 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:21.080 tug of war is like a big part of your life. 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.159 That's the most you can possibly experience or get out 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.279 of it. You got everything there was to get out 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.440 of it pretty much except for knowing that it was 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.200 an Olympic sport for twenty years, that's right. And squid 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:32.760 Games the TV show, by the way, and then we 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.120 often just talk about things, is that people know what 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.880 they are well. I mean, who hasn't heard of Squid Games? 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:43.279 Did you watch it? Yeah? Of course yes, me and 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.039 everybody else on the planet. That's why you just mistitled it. 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.200 I just was curious what I call it squid Games? 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.919 Is it suid squid Game? Yeah? Okay, yeah, I really, 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.400 I really fumble down. Well, it's better than Squid's game 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.120 because that's all the pressure that sounds like how Hodgeman 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:06.600 would pronounce it. So yeah, if you haven't seen Squid Game, um, like, 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.520 go check it out. It's amazing and it's on Netflix 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.440 and actually it alone is worth getting a month's subscription 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:14.880 to Netflix if you don't have it. Yeah, but we'll 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.720 talk about the strategy they use, which made for great television, 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.800 but apparently it's not a thing, disappointingly. Yeah, but if 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.200 you haven't seen some good games, don't listen to that part. 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.200 Just put your fingers in your ears and shout Mimi 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.279 Me at the top of your lungs and very high 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:32.440 pitched voice until we're done. So we're talking about Tug 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.599 of War, believe it or not, and um, I think 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.200 chuck just in the spirit of people who say stop 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.600 saying if you if unless you've been living under a rock. 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.200 You haven't heard of something we should explain with Tug 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:47.200 of war is okay, Yeah, let's do it. Okay. So, 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.080 in the modern sense of the word, tug of war 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.240 is a game that's played between It can be as 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.960 as few as two people. It can be as many 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:04.039 as your imagination can fit onto a rope. And um, 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:09.440 the people are on two sides. Uh, they're opposing sides, 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.240 and they're pulling in opposite directions on that rope. And 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.400 the point of the game is to pull your opponent 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:20.200 pass some line to where you've just won, or pull them, 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:22.599 knock them down, pull it until they let go of 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.120 the rope, or There's a few different ways to win, 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.160 but generally you're pulling your opponent past some line and 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:33.440 then you've won and you can run around shouting yes 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:36.839 and thrusting your fist in the air. That's right. I 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:40.280 think the most fun versions, especially on television, are when 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.560 there's a mud pit in the middle. Sure. Uh. In 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.320 the case of squid game, it is a battle to 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:51.039 the death, that's all we'll say. Uh. In elementary school, 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:54.640 it's usually on the gymnasium floor with some tape or 0:06:54.720 --> 0:07:00.240 like a ribbon hanging down from the rope, or maybe 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:04.000 if um the phizz ed teacher hadn't pre planned, it's 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:07.359 just their whistle and their lanyard forming a line on 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.240 the floor. Uh. In the case of Revenge of the Nerds, 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.240 the nerds have no chance. I guess I should say 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.880 spoiler alert. Oh, I remember what happens there. They let go. 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:21.800 They did. They won by losing, that's right, They let 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.120 go and the jocks fell into the dusty dirt, and 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:31.040 the nerds just said, congratulations, you won, and boy Ogre 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:36.680 was so mad. Ogre was so mad. So. Um, that's it. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:38.840 That's tug of war. And you've probably played it before, 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:40.640 and it is true, like I'm just giving you some 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.520 grief that like there's nothing more to it, there is 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.560 a surprising amount more to it, because it is a 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:51.040 ridiculously simple game. Um, but it's so simple. Chuck that 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:52.800 Ed who helped us out with this, makes a really 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.760 good point that basically, if you threw a dart at 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.400 any part of the globe, you would probably find some 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.800 his Doric tradition of some form of tug of war. 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:09.680 It's been it spans millennia, it um, it crosses geographic 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.680 and cultural boundaries. It's just been invented multiple times in 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:17.200 multiple places because it's just such a simple concept, and 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:19.440 yet at the same time it still gives you that 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:23.320 thrill that any game or struggle should give you when 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.600 you win. Do you want to hit some history? Do 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:27.640 you want to save that? I think we should hit 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:29.360 some history. It just makes sense to put it at 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.199 the beginning if you ask me, Yeah, so, yeah, you're right. 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:36.760 I mean we're talking, Uh, Vikings did it, the Nordic 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:42.280 sports did it across streams. Uh. There have been various 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.839 versions of like man versus beast at times, or a 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:51.719 machine versus machine. The British Navy INTI they used a 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.240 tug of war to settle a debate on whether a 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.520 propeller driven ship was better than the old paddle wheel. 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:01.520 Of course, the propeller one. Yeah, so it's it's been 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:05.120 a way to settle disputes at times. Yeah, and I 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:07.200 think it's still is. It's not quite as good at 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.320 settling a spew to say, rock paper scissors. It takes longer, 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.160 and there's there's you know, potential injuries we'll see, but yes, 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.640 you can settle this potential amputation which scissors. Will never 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.040 do in rock paper scissors. Now, try as hard as 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.959 you can, you just can't do it. Uh, what about 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:27.880 this the rasa Kashi? Yeah, so apparently India has a 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:32.040 long tradition of um tug of war like games, and 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.160 I guess their their version of tug of war is 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.160 called rassakashi. And you can still tune into game shows 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:39.920 today where like that's part of the game show is 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:43.200 like a tug of war and there's not you know, 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.280 normally when you watch a game show, there's like a 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.280 there's just a certain amount of peppiness and like lightness 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.560 to the whole thing. Now, the one I saw this 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.880 rasakashi um competition, it looks it looked like a game 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:00.000 show was indoors in a stage and like the whole 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.480 was wearing a suit or whatever. But they were dead 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:06.200 serious about this, like they took it really seriously. UM. 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:10.720 And that's apparently out of the Punjab region of of India. 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:14.440 There's UH in an entirely different part of India called 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:17.800 Konark there's a Sun temple there that was built in 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.560 the century and there's a depiction of tug of war 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.480 on the wall there. So it's been around in India 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:27.840 for quite some time, hundreds and hundreds of years at least. Yeah, 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.960 And of course when Europeans came to the America's and 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.000 this is sort of unclear whether or not they brought 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.719 it with them or whether or not it uh existed 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:42.440 previously to indigenous people of the America's, which is very 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:44.880 possible because they had all kinds of kind of folky 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.559 sports that they played in tug of war. You know, 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:49.600 I think what piqued my interest from the beginning was 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.839 the rudimentary nature of it, which is, like you said, 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:57.000 sometimes just one person on one side and one person 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:01.079 another and can you pull them? Can you out either 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.800 maybe out with them or usually just out muscle them 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.080 to do so. So perhaps Native American tribes did this 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:12.200 to begin with, but at any rate, they uh, you know, 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:16.520 the colonizers would would play these games sometimes including tug 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.200 of war, and Ed points out sometimes it was a 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:23.240 friendlier way to say I can dominate you rather than 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:27.520 just killing someone, right right, yes, um, And and and again 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.920 that's a way to settle disputes or tension as well. 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:34.760 It can be if we'll take these five thousand acres 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:37.680 because we want a tug of war as we pulled 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:42.880 you over the arbitrary line. Right. Um, there's there's tug 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.440 of war in China. Um, there's tug of war. There's 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:49.120 a long standing tug of war from that started in 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:55.480 the fourteenth century in Korea called the Jewel Darigi Festival. 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.880 I think he nailed it. They they have it uh 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:03.520 every year, and it's substantially different from most other tug 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.360 of war that you've ever seen, sorry tugs of war 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:12.160 that you've seen, and that the rope is enormous. Um. 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.160 Typically it's about two hundred meters long, the six hundred 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:19.880 feet for you American school kids a meter thick, weighing 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.319 forty tons, And you're like, well, how do you even 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.199 get your arms around a three ft circumference rope? Well 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.000 you don't. It has actual ropes, smaller ropes that you 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.360 can handle coming off of it, and hundreds of people 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:35.640 will participate in this and the whole town turns out 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:39.200 for it, and it's amazing to see UH. And I 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:41.640 was like, that certainly rings a bell because Humi has 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.280 told me many, many times that one of her fondest 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:48.640 childhood memories is the tug of war festival in Naha 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:52.040 and Okinawa, where she was born and raised. UM, and 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.720 they've been doing that since the seventeenth century, and it's 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.160 it bears such a striking resemblance to the one from 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.720 Korea that obviously the Koreans influenced them. But it's the 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.559 east of the town in the west of the town, 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.600 and they've their rope is even bigger and even more 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:10.280 people come. Apparently they set the world record. There were 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.880 two hundred and seventy thousand people in attendance and fifteen 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:18.600 thousand people participating on the east and the west side. Uh. 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.280 And I can't remember which one that year. It was 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:24.840 quite a party to see that video. And I imagine 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.560 the Japanese festival is much like the one in Korea, 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:31.240 where the tug of war itself is really not the fun. 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:35.080 The fun is getting together building this rope together. I 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.400 imagine there's a little bit of drinking that goes on. Yeah, 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.200 it had and uh, everyone just has a good time. 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:43.559 It's sort of been the spirit of uh, of friendship 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:47.120 rather than let me try and dominate you, right exactly, 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:48.600 because I mean they're all from the same time. It's 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:49.760 just the east side of the town. On the west 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.280 side of the town, but the so I asked you 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:54.360 me about that because I hadn't heard about the rope 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.960 being constructed. Apparently at the Korean festival they make the 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.920 rope every year, and I was like, did did they 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.280 construct the rope every year? And she's like, well, I 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.079 don't think so. And I said, well, where did they 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.640 store this forty three ton si ft long rope? And 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:14.400 she's like a hanger, know, So I need to get 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:16.600 to the bottom of that of whether they made the 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.160 rope themselves. But she was a kid. They would go 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.080 every year and she just it was like the biggest 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:24.320 deal every year in in Okinawa. So she was the anchor, 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.200 she was, she was cheering them on. I think she 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.120 did participate at least one year. Yeah, that's cute. You 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.720 just grab a rope, you know, and pull. Yeah, exactly. 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:36.920 I think it's Some people say that it was one 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.240 of the original ancient Olympic sports, but there's not a 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.440 ton to back this up is being true. It may 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.320 have been, um but as Ed points out, it you know, 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.000 it didn't. It didn't get a lot of press even 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.040 if it was, so it was never that highly regarded. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.200 Uh and when it was an official Olympic sport in 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.920 the modern Olympics, it was still in the early nineteen hundreds, 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:03.160 was still not super highly regarded in that you didn't field, 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:07.120 um like an American, an official American team. There were clubs, 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.480 teamed club teams that would show up and could uh 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:14.120 participate like multiple from one country, and then sometimes they 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.240 would just feel the team from people in other sports. 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.360 But if you were like a shot putter, I would say, 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.040 now go do the shot put Like, I know, you're 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.040 on the anchor for the team, but the schedules conflict 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:27.520 and you should do the shot. But because that's a 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:31.120 real event, yeah, for sure, which is sad. It is 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:33.160 sort of sad, especially if you were like the one 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:35.520 guy on the tug aboard team who like really took 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.800 it seriously and all of a sudden your team dissolved 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.040 because the shot put her to go shot putt and 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.800 so on. That's right. Um, you want to take a 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:44.680 break and then come back and talk a little more 0:15:44.720 --> 0:16:13.480 about the Olympic history of it. Yeah, let's do it. Okay, okay, Chuck, 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.840 so um, there's a lot of legend and laura around 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:22.200 this very short um period of Olympic history. Um, that 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.720 tug of war appeared in and a lot of it's wrong, 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.200 Like you were saying that it was an original, ancient 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.160 Games event and there's no real evidence of that. There's 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:34.960 also um a widely held fact that a guy named 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:40.680 Constantine Enriquez de Zubi Eira was the first black Olympic 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:42.960 athlete and that he won a silver and Tug of 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.520 War and gold and rugby in the nineteen Olympics. And 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:52.960 apparently that's partly true but not right. I think it 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:56.000 was a case of mistaken identity usually, which just one 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.440 of those Internet things where it keeps getting repeated anyway, 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:05.080 But there was a Lumbian name Francisco Enriquez the Siberia 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:07.840 that did win a silver medal for Tug of War, 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:14.360 but a Haitian Constantine Enriquez one rugby. Okay, So, so 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.879 Constantine Enriquez was the first black Olympic athlete. He just 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.080 had nothing to do with Tug of War. I think 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.600 that's the case. But I mean that's the kind of 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:25.960 depth that we have to get to to make Tug 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:31.320 of War interesting. Cases of mistaken identity. I wasn't even 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:35.600 going to mention it actually, but sure, okay, um so okay, 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.840 So there was a twenty year period from nine ninety 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:42.320 Olympics you could find tug of war unless your team 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.920 had gotten dissolved, and apparently that happened frequently enough that 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:49.560 I believe in the nineteen oh what Olympics was it 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.840 to where so many teams got dissolved that they only 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.920 gave out a golden a sil silver medal that year, 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:03.399 which means how many teams were there too. All the 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.200 other teams got dissolved and there were two teams left, 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.119 so you had a chance, I guess, of either coming 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.480 in silver or gold and a hundred percent chance of 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.080 medaling that year. Yeah, that's not bad at all. Uh. 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.760 In nine eight the there was a police team, the 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.480 Liverpool Police at the Olympics. Again you could field club 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.159 teams and that's what they did in England. They had 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.280 these big boots because, as we'll see later, one of 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.359 the biggest keys is the physics of feet on the 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:35.159 floor and having big heavy shoes. If you're uh, if 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.800 you're doing this on an outdoor like on the grass, 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.119 you can dig in with some big heavy boots. And 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:43.640 apparently the US team filed the protest because they wore 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.760 these big, giant doc Martins or something like that. I 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:51.920 guess right. So um that year actually the Liverpool Police 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:56.840 team medal, got a silver medal, and the the Brits 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:00.560 actually swept the podium. The City of London Police got gold, 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:04.400 Liverpool Police got silver and the Metropolitan Police K Division 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:08.239 got bronze. Here just like all these cops battling, all 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.720 these bobbies battling it out. It is and but the 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.040 reason why is apparently it was a big deal in Britain. 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.080 It was a big deal in um Ireland as well. 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.320 UM and your local police force probably had a tug 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:20.040 of war team because tug of war was part of 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:23.400 their training. And from what I saw, that actually originated 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:27.640 from the British Navy UM using Tug of Wars training 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.600 to kind of you know, hoist sales and all that stuff. 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:32.960 You've got to basically do that in real life, so 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:34.639 they would use tug of war and then the cops 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:36.760 kind of picked it up as police forces came into 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:41.080 existence in the UK. And then because with the Olympics 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.800 there weren't national teams, you could have club teams. That's 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:47.439 how you could have three different police force tug of 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.959 war teams sweeping the podium for Great Britain in in 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:55.679 the nineteen o eight Olympics and it it uh, I 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.080 mean they still, I think still use it in the 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:01.200 American military because not only is it a good workout, 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.720 but it's a morale builder. You get these divisions or 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.399 platoons against one another, and uh, you know, it's a 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:11.840 good it's a good group sport, especially in the military, 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.480 like sort of just a brute strength thing to try 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.560 and rally your battalion. And keeps saying all these different 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:25.040 words because I don't know what they call each other, platoons, battalions, groups, uh, teams, um, 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:29.399 book clubs, book clubs against one another. Uh. Nineteen twenty 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:32.320 was the last time it was at the Olympics because 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:34.720 they looked around in nineteen twenty and said, we have 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:38.080 way too many events and what gets cut. Of course, 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.199 Tug of War was one of those. And you know 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.960 there is I don't know about a ground swell, but uh, 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:47.040 certainly after Squid Game there were a few people wondering 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.399 if it should come back in the Olympics, and I 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.560 doubt it ever will, but you never know. There were 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:56.760 some things that happened though. Apparently back in the Tug 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.560 of War International Federation who we'll talk a little bit 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:03.800 more about later. Um, it was recognized by the International 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:08.520 Olympic Committee. Um that's something. Yeah, which that's a huge 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:11.879 first step to ending up with your sport in the Olympics. 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:15.560 But then just two years later or three years later, Um, 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:18.760 the IOC told the media, like, you know, the t 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:21.320 w i F is going to really have to get 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.840 a lot better funding and a lot more international participation 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:26.680 before it's going to end up in the Olympics. Has 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:28.840 a long way to go, if ever, it will show 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:32.600 up again. Yeah, And you know, I hate to say it. 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:35.160 Ed points it out. It's kind of true though it's 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:37.200 not the most exciting thing to watch when you watch 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:42.119 competition tug of war. Even watching that Superstars clip from 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:45.760 earlier in my childhood, it was an hour and fifteen 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:51.040 minutes long of these guys basically lying there in the sand, uh, 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:54.240 with an equal tautness on both sides of the rope, 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:57.800 like nothing was happening. They're exhausted that like I said, 0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:00.679 they're taking their hands off to like massad their hands 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:03.280 and and try and regain some bit of a grip. 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:05.520 But it ended in a draw. No one even one. 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.760 It was really I know it's there's not even a 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:11.440 great ending to the story, like with Luferrigno and he 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:16.439 beat Billy Crystal. Um Billy Crystal, well they were on teams, 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:18.560 but Billy Crystal was on one side. Lufrigno was on 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:21.439 the other. Battle the Network Stars, I guess it was 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.840 soap okay at the time, was most of the show 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:28.719 Billy Crystal represented. But um, at least you know, Luferrigno 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:32.679 and and Daisy Duke and his team one but no 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.040 one even one in the in the sand that day, 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:38.680 they just dig in lay there and eventually they said, 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:40.520 we got to stop this madness, so let's set a 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:42.720 time limit, like as they were going, they set the 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:45.399 time limit when it was clear nothing was going on. 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:48.040 It was terrible television. And so they said it in 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:50.800 an hour and fifteen and it stopped and nobody won. 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:53.120 And that was kind of it. And sometimes that's how 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:56.159