The Idiotarod
It was deep in the winter when the sickness took them: The snow piled high and no sign of a melt. The only antidote could be found by hitching a team to a sled and heading out into the icy wasteland of...New York City? It draws inspiration - or at least a horrible pun of a name - from the Iditarod, the grueling, thousand mile dogsled race held every year along the route that brought essential medicine to cure a 1925 diptheria outbreak in a snowbound Alaskan town, but instead cures the annual epidemics of winter blues and cabin fever by hitching teams of four costumed people (plus one equally decked out "musher") to a glorified shopping cart and running around the city. Idiotarods have taken place in Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Austin, and Washington, D.C., though the original race was founded in San Francisco in 1994 as the "Urban Iditarod."
Prizes are awarded not only for the first team to cross the finish line, but also for the team with the best costumes, best sabotage, best bribery and "Best in Show." Beyond that, the awards change every year at the judges discretion and have included honors for: Best Dance, Best Recruitment of New Members Along the Course, Most Surprising Completion of the Race Despite An Unwieldy Course, and Best Name Change When Pirates Became Against the Rules.
Norwegian Curling Pants Update: Norway took the silver medal in Men's Curling Saturday night, losing the medal match to Canada.
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