College students need plenty of ways to vent frustrations, and stay sane under the pressures of papers and projects. Goofball sports can help. Here are some prime examples of collegiate silliness. Please note, that these are in no particular order.
Penn State Ultimate Frisbee
Although no longer considered weird, the 1970s aficionados of what used to be called Ultimate Frisbee occupied the fringe of athletic normality.
The sport, invented (the word seems odd when applied to something so apparently straightforward – throwing, catching, what more?) in a northern New Jersey exurb, spread regionally to the colleges these young people attended. The situation at Penn was typical.
By the late 70’s, a rabidly enthusiastic bunch of fans had convinced the bemused authorities to accord intramural or club status to the PennUltimate Frisbee team. Consonant with its name, its players were noted more for intellect than athleticism. They also included graduate students, staff and faculty.
Alan Rachlin, a super-smart Wharton/Penn Law double-threat, was one potent promoter. He recruited everywhere he went, from eateries to the Law Library. However, only a charitable observer could have inferred such fierce playing from the team’s distinctly un-buff appearance.
Today the game, played intramurally, intercollegiately, and internationally, now avoids the Frisbee moniker to avert copyright challenge. Players today wear protective gear and perform airborne saves fit for soccer.
What remains unchanged is a certain anti-snobbism and frequent self-officiation. Team names such as the Oberlin Praying Manti and Flying HorseCows indicate the self-deprecatory, nose-thumbing attitude of team members.
Mattress Sports
No dirty thoughts – this is athletics!
Boston College Mattress Jousting
Students at this otherwise respectable college de-stress during exams by racing towards a standing figure with mattresses upright in their arms. The static target is, in the vernacular, generally ‘creamed’, and the opposing ‘knights’ usually end in a heap as well.
Toccoa Falls College Mattress Surfing
As a variant, some students place one slippery, plastic-encased mattress on top of another, take a running start, and try to travel as far as possible as the top mattress slides over the bottom one. 
Some female practitioners at this small Georgia institution achieve quite an impressive distance once they hop on.
This is not an official sport, at least not yet!
United States Naval Academy ‘Aircraft Carrier Landing’
In a variant on these two previous pastimes, Plebes combine surfing with jousting to create a sport dangerous enough to require helmets.
The two combatants lay their mattresses on a dorm hallway floor some distance apart, and then sprint towards each other, jumping belly first onto the mattresses with maximum forward momentum.
The mattresses careen into each other, helmets crash, and the law of inertia is decisively demonstrated. The future pride of the US fleet is resourceful enough to pre-lubricate the hallway with Pam, water, and soapy solution to decrease friction, and well-behaved enough to towel it clean afterwards. One wonders whether Academy upperclassmen would discipline such Plebe nonsense.
Barnard College Greek Games
Barnard College has held suitably intellectual Greek Games for decades.
The April 2010 iteration of this beloved event expanded upon the traditional scarf dance, hurdling, chariot race (with a team of human ‘horses’), and hoop rolling.
Barnard assembled an entire day of athletic activities such as the opening Torch Race, Yoga in a Toga, Stilting, Discus Throwing, Relay Races, Plato’s Pilates, Tug-of-War, and Capture-the-Flag.
Greek costume and, as with the original games, poetry and performance, form a part of the day’s events. Some wonderful archival 1920’s footage you can find here.
University of Virginia Inner-Tube Water Polo
This goofball method of wasting time and cooling off is now a recognized sport at UVA, boasting several pages of rules and warnings to consult one’s physician.
Here is a sample: “Players may not hold, push, hit, splash, dunk, or tackle any other players with or without the ball.” This seriousness belies the complete silliness of attempting a goal while floating in a large rubber ring.
UVA also offers Wallyball, a combination of volleyball and wallball, played in a racquetball court, and Pickleball, combining table tennis and badminton, played with a paddle and a wiffle ball. Thomas Jefferson would be so proud!
Western Illinois University – Battleship Canoe Swamping
Three teams, equipped with canoe and bucket, compete to sink the others and stay afloat themselves in the college pool.
The strategic choice is between bailing one’s own canoe, and dumping water into the other team’s.
This is one of the activities offered on WIU’s Dad’s Weekend, in March. While this seems like a chilly season for getting this wet, it sounds like a suitably goofy way to celebrate fathers.
These are only a few of the peculiar activities that students at various colleges have adopted as their stress-relievers. Check this spot for more collegiate nonsense soon.
