Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, I was lucky (?) enough to witness and participate in all sorts of strange games and contests. One contest that I remember vividly was the annual greased pig catching contest at our local town fair each summer. The premise is simple: The first person to catch a thoroughly greased oinker (they\u2019re hard enough to catch when they\u2019re \u201cclean\u201d), gets to keep the pig. I never won the contest, and now that I think about it, I\u2019m not really sure what I would have done with the pig if I did.<\/p>\n
Which leads me to today\u2019s entry. A friend of mine who, I think, loves watermelon almost as much as I do but isn\u2019t ready to admit it, sent me a link to instructions for playing a summertime game called \u201cgreased watermelon polo.\u201d The name alone was enough to pique my curiosity and convince me, even before I read the rules of the game, that I\u2019d have to stage a greased watermelon polo tournament at my house by summer\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how the game works:<\/p>\n
Two teams enter a swimming pool. A referee drops a watermelon covered in vegetable oil or petroleum jelly into the center of the pool. The teams then kick, push or swim with the watermelon in an effort to get the watermelon to the opposing team\u2019s side of the pool while the opposing team tries to do the same. Sort of like soccer, only in a pool\u2026 with a really slippery watermelon.<\/p>\n