Weird Sports sometimes have tragically short lifespans. They can be internationally viral one moment, virtually forgotten the next. Cardboard tube fighting comes to mind.
Cardboard tube fighting is exactly what you think it is. Fighting with cardboard tubes. We all did it as kids. It's a sport. Well, it was a sport, once upon a time.
Robert Easley is the genius behind the league, called, appropriately, the Cardboard Tube Fighting League. A social worker from the San Francisco Bay Area, he lived and worked for various periods of time in Seattle. While there, he read about the Emerald City's booming roller derby league (RCRG, holla!) and the Pillow Fight League in Toronto. That got the creative juices flowing.
"Everyone has some fun fighting with cardboard tubes," said Easley, who started the CTFL about five years ago with a goal of creating something fun for the masses. "Sometimes I get some crazy weird idea and just do it."
As he explains on the CTFL web site. "While training often takes place during childhood, the art is discarded by adults who are ignorant of its cultural value. The goal of the CTFL is to provide organized cardboard tube based events that help spread cardboard awareness."
The sport's tipping point came when The Stranger in Seattle ran a piece on it, drawing in more media and more fighters. I heard about it four years ago from a good friend at The Seattle Times, Erika Schultz, who shot a tournament for the paper. Next thing I knew, I was driving northbound on I-5 to witness the weirdness.
Like all great sports, the rules are simple:
- Don't break your tube. (Duh.) In a duel, the last person with an unbroken tube is declared the winner. In the event both participants break their tubes simultaneously, the match is a draw and both duelists are considered losers. (Ouch.) A tube is considered broken when the tip dangles more than 45 degrees.
- No blocking or swinging with your arms. No body slamming.
- No stabbing.
- Tubes must be held from one end or the other. No grabbing the middle.
- Try not to hit the face. (Note it says try.)
As for the tubes, they're generally 1.5 inches in diameter and 36 inches in length, with the cardboard just a bit under a half-millimeter thick. Only official tubes are allowed, and they're provided at the event. Speaking of events, there are two types: one-on-one tournaments and all-out battles.
Erika and I had each others' back as we descended into the battlefield at Gas Works Park, wielding nothing but our cameras. I've always said the hallmarks of a successful weird sport are laughter and smiles, two things every fighter, spectator and photographer had in spades. How can you not laugh at the surreal scene of screaming fighters wielding cardboard swords and shields waging an epic battle alongside unsuspecting sunbathers?
Pushing the scene even further over the top, we were within swinging distance of a newlywed couple's photo shoot. Naturally they tried their hand at dueling. Naturally, the bride won.
"I hope that didn't lead to marital strife on their first day of marriage," Easley said, adding that women seem to win more often than men. "Finesse is more important than any part of strength."
Sadly, cardboard tube fighting has lost most of its momentum here in the states, even if there are occasional battles in Seattle and San Francisco. But it lives on overseas, where there are leagues in Australia, Japan, Russia, Germany, Brazil and our neighbours to the great white north, eh.
"Somewhere in the world there's a cardboard tube league event still happening," Easley said. To which we say, "Thank God."
Easley is still playing games, though, working at Gamescape in San Francisco. "It's kind of an amazing job," he says. "I basically get paid to teach people how to play board games."
Occasionally he's approached by someone who read about tube fighting or saw a video somewhere. They'll invariably say, "You started the Cardboard Tube Fight League?" and he'll smile.
"That's my thing," he said. "My claim to glory."
