Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Skyscrapers and Sports

Tejo:

Today I learned of the national pastime of Columbia, a game in which players throw a metal disc 60' towards a slope of mud in the middle of which is a ring lined with explosives.  The game is called tejo (Pronounced "tey-ho", remember that "j" becomes "h" in Spanish) and apparently is played by virtually everyone that lives in Columbia.  The goal of game is to throw the metal disc and hit the tejo, which are triangles of paper lined with a bit of gunpowder.  Players score points for successfully hitting a tejo and getting the gunpowder inside to explode.  Additional points are awarded to players who manage to land their disc inside of the ring after causing the tejo to explode.

Any competition that involves exploding gunpowder sounds fun to me

Here is a link to a good video on tejo produced by the Washington Post, which, sadly, I can't easily embed here.

Here is another good video on tejo from the people at Lonely Planet:

¡Me Gusta!

Much like bowling, bocce, or horseshoes, the game itself is often little more than an excuse for the players to drink beer.  There are also plenty of YouTube videos out there that show that the official rules are often thrown out the window as players move just a few steps away from the target to increase the chances of their throws resulting in the satisfying pop of exploding gunpowder.  Still, the basic elements of the game remain the same: people throw metal discs at a slope of mud in the hope of setting off a small amount of explosives.  Sounds fun. 

Torre Bicentenario:

Continuing the south of the border theme, I came across a description of the Torre Bicentenario today.  The tower, a quartz clad skyscraper 984' tall built to celebrate the bicentennial of Mexico, would be the tallest building in all of Mexico, if the builders ever get around to finishing the thing.

Fancy

30 comments:

  1. that was really interesting, I would most likely get frustrated trying to play the game as I'd never be able to hit the explosives. and that building looks like it is about to fall over.

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  2. this is my new favorite sport. thanks. :D

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  3. Whaat that sounds amazing, I need to start my own Tejo league here in LA.

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  4. No thanks. I would stick to my spider solitaire and ocassional volleyball. Gunpowder?! blewwwww

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  5. Pretty epic. I could see the hollywood bastardization version with barrels of explosives. Every point you get you have to walk away in slow motion while putting on your sunglasses

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  6. Ooo! I wanna play tejo, it sounds like fun. Not pro, anything with gunpowder and beer is a good idea!

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  7. I honestly thought you were kidding until I saw the video.

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  8. The Torre was officially canceled (though it could end up being built still). It's a shame because I really like it's architecture.

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  9. nice...
    I like that building in the end too.

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  10. any sport that has explosions is a good sport

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  11. sounds really cool but that's got to be awfully dangerous to set up

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  12. that building looks incredible

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  13. You are sure its not about the drinking with the tejo being just an excuse?

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  14. That tower has an awesome design.

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  15. that game sounds amazing. colombia just got like.... 15 points in my book. i want canadas national passtime to be covered in explosives !

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  16. I really want to try this someday. Sounds like a, dare I say it, blast.

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  17. That is a pretty sleek lookin' skyscraper; wanna try out that Colombian past-time activity too :>

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  18. Mercury gun powder and beer.

    Bring it.

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  19. Tejo sounds more interesting than it looks to be honest.

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  20. I'm so starting my own league here and hoping that the cops don't come ruining our fun!

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  21. @Sub-Radar-Mike
    I wanna start one just south of you in San Diego!

    @Kyran
    Long before tejo makes it to the silver screen, we have to get a decent movie about rowing, rugby and lacrosse. And no, neither The Skulls nor How High count for the rowing category imo.

    @A
    Sadly, I read the same thing about the building being canceled. I hope they get their act together and finish the thing.

    @HARRYGOATS
    Thank you for your generic yearbook comment. Stay hairy.

    @Sasha
    My former softball league advertised itself as a drinking league with a softball problem so I understand where you're coming from.

    @Divebot
    First, I think hockey would certainly benefit from more explosives.

    Second, I suggest you look into possessive apostrophes. Of course, I understand if you're only commenting quickly without care for your grammar. I know I'm guilty of doing the same.

    @Matt Newman
    Joke if you will about a pro league but there is really a national team featured in the first video.

    @PryON
    Did I miss the mercury somewhere?

    @Alphabeta
    I agree that the game is probably more fun to play than it is to watch. I'll bet that being the person that throws a piece of metal and makes an explosion when it lands is a lot of fun. I'll also bet that being drunk at the time that this happens makes it even more fun.

    @Shockgrubz
    Good for you. I have been seriously thinking about how to start my own league in SoCal since learning about Tejo. I imagine the police intervention would go like this:

    Me: "Officer, I don't understand why anyone would call you to this park to interrupt our fun. People do this in Columbia all the time and it isn't a problem"

    Kindly Police Officer Just Doing His Job: "The same can be said of cocaine but we really do frown upon it here."

    Me: (Dead silence because I don't have an answer)

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  22. it amazing! thanks for posting this
    +follow

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