Hails and Greetings!

Welcome to Gladiators of The Absurd, a guide to all the alternative sports leagues that the fair city of New York has to offer.

With the annual county-wide mega-event that is the Superbowl looming on the horizon, some of us may start to look around at the piles of pizza boxes and soda cans we've accumulated on the couch and wonder if we'll ever achieve the heights of athleticism that appear on screen every year. Has the chance to become a champion passed us by? If you're over the age of 20 and have still never thrown a perfect spiral pass, then yes, probably.

Fear not! Hope still remains for couch potatoes and the highly allergenic alike. They say you can find anything in New York and they weren't lying. This endless metropolis offers up a bevy of sports that don't necessarily require Popeye arms, the vertical jump of a kangaroo or the steady consumption of performance enhancers.

For the agoraphobics there is Foosball. Requiring only a dingy bar corner and sturdy wrists, this table-top variation of soccer is one of the more popular nerd sports world-wide. Not worth your time, you say? Perhaps the U.S. team's last two consecutive championship titles at the World Cup of Table Soccer in Nantes, France, might pique your interest.

Want something a little more active? Then maybe you should try Double Dutch, the classic schoolyard jump rope challenge. This oldie got a big boost in profile in 2008 thanks to it's wise inclusion on the list of New York City schools' 35 varsity sports.

Sticking with the (old)schoolyard vibe is Four Square or Box Ball. Since starting in playgrounds across America, the sport has become popular once more, only this time on city streets and fused with some of the more extreme body movements and intensity usually reserved for other urban pass times like hackey sack.

These are just a few of the many sports in the City's growing street sport community, each with their own unique culture and values. I hope you choose to stay with me and find the urban sport that's right for you.

Play Ball!!