(June 13, 2005) — Upon being asked about the future of sports, junior Anthony Abraham said despondently, “Well, we don’t have a future, so forget that,” referring to Los Angeles’s decline form sports greatness. While Los Angeles’s athletic future may seem dim, other prospects, far more unconventional concepts, provide an interesting future. A new sport was created from the minds of Matt Parker and Trey Stone, creators of South Park: Baseketball. It mixes the strategy of baseball with the shooting in basketball. So they take out the actual moving around, add bases and you get Baseketball. Another interesting aspect of the game is the “psych out.” “It tests your concentration because the other team gets to mess with your head while you shoot,” said junior Matt Dragoijlovic. A new trend gives up on physical activity. Actually, it’s the antithesis of that. Eating contests have recently spiked in popularity and involve, well, eating a lot. One may question the merits of calling it a sport, but one viewing endears you to the competition and the hilarity that inevitably follows. “I want to be in one of them,” said junior Jason Tom. “I want the free hot dogs and besides, the skinnyAsian guy always wins.” Surprisingly, competitive eating already exists, and according to the International Federation of Competitive Eating, the number of sanctioned tournaments have ballooned to 200 around the world, up from just 45 in 2002. Following the trends of unconventional sports that challenge the very definition of the word, comes Spike TV’s Most eXtreme Challenge. MXC puts contestants in outrageous mini games that come straight out of Japan. The show’s appeal lies in the voice-overs present throughout the show by American actors over the Japanese action. Junior Ted Aristakessian believes “MXC should be a sport, an Olympic sport.” Saturday’s episode featured “a classic battle between the Mail bags and checkered flags.” Of course, most of the show is just a spoof, but jumping around on obstacle courses seems to be a resurgent theme in this new kind of sport.