Where do I begin?

Whereas I’m not necessarily the most passionate sports enthusiast you may happen upon, I – for the most part – am able to appreciate the myriad of sports (and their variations) that exist.

But this?! World Sauna Championships?!

So here’s the premise…You end up subjecting yourself to temperatures exceeding 200 degrees for what? Bragging rights? Fame and glory? A spokesman for the event held recently, Ossi Arvela, declined to give further details about the prizes available for the victors other than, “some small things”.

The World Sauna Championships is an annual contest held in Finald where, as I’d imagine, saunas are a popular past-time.

The most recently held contest took place over the weekend, and one of the last two competitors standing…or sweating…collapsed and died.

Let that soak in for a second…

A 60-something year old competitor, Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy, suffered severe burns in the 225-degree room (that’s 110 degrees Celsius). He was so badly hurt that, upon collapsing, medical workers on-site had to remove him from the sauna…Actually, they had to remove both Ladyzhenskiy and the other finalist, Timo Kaukonen.

Whereas both men were seen to be shaking and suffering from severe burns…Kaukonen at least made it to the hospital where he was said to be ‘in stable condition’. Ladyzhenskiy…not so much.

So, I now look at this so-called ‘sport’ and REALLY have to ask: sitting in 110-degree heat is NOT fun, much less 225-degree heat…you’re not making oodles of cash and, outside of Finland, Japan and some other places, it ain’t that popular a sport…so why the hell would you do this to yourself?!

It really makes me wonder about the importance of bragging rights and the extent to which people will go to earn them. It’s not worth it…Really.

I can’t…

Read more about this incident @ the DailyMail’s website. Image via the DailyMail via EPA.