Introducing a new extreme sport

[asiaticdarkperson]

Ok, I wanna tell you guys about a "freesport" that a couple of my buddies and I invented under very fortuitous circumstances, about five years ago.

We don't really call it anything, but I guess "crossing the freeway" would be an accurate name.

The game is this: you find a freeway (highway, expressway, autobahn, etc) and you walk across the width of the road avoiding the traffic at all costs.

The rules are simple. You have to walk at a calm and steady pace without flinching. You may be forced by the traffic to stop and stand still while you find an opening; this is allowed and the recommendation is that you stand on the lane separator markings, which are the white lines painted on the road surface.

When the highway has more than 4 lanes going in each direction, experience has shown that you may need to stand still in the middle of the road for minutes at a time while cars pass you by at speeds exceeding 60mph.

The perfect game is achieved when you walk across the entire width of the highway while maintaining a natural, steady, relaxed gait without flinching at all.

The perfect game is actually judged according to beauty, flair and style which you will judge yourself once you get to the other side of the road.

The game is both single player and multi player (team.) The single player was outlined above. In a team game, one player is the leader who will be facing the cars, and the other players stand next to the leader forming a line that runs parallel to the road's length. The minimum allowed distance between players depends on the type of highway, the speed and general intensity of the oncoming traffic, but it's usually over 5 feet.

The rules here are simple too. The leader is the only one who actually looks at the traffic and the road. The other players have to keep their eye on the leader and follow his/her slightest movements. This is part of the objective.

If a player stops paying attention to the leader for a single moment, the best case is that they'll flinch and will either have to retreat or run like hell; definitely not pretty and negative points for style. Worst case is being hit by a car.

A perfect team game is achieved when the entire line moves at a completely relaxed and steady pace. To look at them you'd feel like there are no cars and the road is completely deserted, just some people strolling along naturally.

The team members take turns at being the leader. All members of a team have to know how to lead and follow impeccably.

What makes the game magical is that the only way anyone could ever walk across say a 2x5 lane autobahn with no upper speed limit, when there's traffic, at a steady pace with a relaxed and flowing gait, and pull it off with flair and style, is to let go of the self completely and become one with the spirit; one with the road and the flow of cars.

Only the spirit could direct the player and all the traffic in such a way as to achieve a perfect game. Team games are even more spectacular.

I would say the rush and sheer adrenalin of walking between cars that are constantly coming towards you at 100mph, and the feeling of peace (endorphins?) you get when you reach the other side still alive is like how I'd feel if I jumped off a mountain peak and suddenly found out I could fly.

As far as I know, myself and two other people are the official federation of this little death-sport, which is actually A LOT easier in practice than it is in theory. It's really no big deal at all IMO. It just sounds really dangerous.

Everyone can play crossing the freeway in any big city. There are no winners or losers here. If you reach the other side, you are a winner and if you don't, it doesn't matter anymore.

This game in all its simplicity is guaranteed to force any man or woman to achieve oneness with the spirit or die. (no deaths have been reported among professional players as of yet) I believe the psychological and physical effects of this sport are quite profound and I think it deserves mainstream scientific attention.

Also, you should expect people to honk their horns or even hold their hand on the horn for a long moment if your movements distract them or force them to hit the breaks. In my experience, women in general and young girls in particular are much more likely to squeeze the horn or even shout profanities at you even if you don't interfere in their natural flow in the slightest. Your best bet is to maintain constant eye contact with the drivers so they will see that you are calm and confident, so they won't panic either. Maintaining eye contact also helps the drivers know what you are planning to do just as it helps you know what the driver is thinking. Also, try to remember that for the drivers, to hit the breaks suddenly in the middle of an expressway would imply a 90% chance of accident. It is the players' responsibility to ensure that no accidents occur.

There was an article in our popular morning newspaper ~4 years ago that was explicitly asking the city council to find a way to "stop these lunatics who are endangering lives and making the highways of our city unsafe for all." It turned out the article was written by a girl.

Oh and I've personally accomplished a perfect game literally thousands of times; same goes for my playmates. Once we zigzagged like a mile stretch of H. expressway.

And I forgot to mention; if the player that is at the right end of the line is the leader for half the road (ie. traffic moving from right to left) then when the team reaches the second half (traffic from left to right) the player who was at the end of the line before automatically becomes the new leader and the old leader is at the end of the new line.

Also, as of a year ago one of the original players moved to LA. So I'm proud to announce that crossing the freeway is now international.

And kids don't forget: a healthy mind in a healthy body.

[The Late Mitchell Warren]

"The game is this: you find a freeway (highway, expressway, autobahn, etc) and you walk across the width of the road avoiding the traffic at all costs."

LOL I agree, avoiding the traffic at all costs is a good idea.

[karlsie]

The only true freeway we have is in Anchorage, and Anchorage drivers are filled with road rage. If you're in the middle of the road, or even on the edge, chances are they'll go out of their way to hit you. We've even had kids killed at school intersections, yet were the road ragers sorry? Nope. They only ranted that a walk bridge should be built to keep children away from "their" road.

In my younger years, when Alaska had nothing more than a few towns with actual paved roads, that were usually covered with pot holes and frost heaves, my friends and i used to play "chicken on the road". The idea was to walk through the middle of the road and see who would back down first; the pedestrian, or the driver. It was usually the driver, who would then go to the nearest telephone and call our parents, who routinely put us on restriction for the next two weeks. Those restrictions sucked. I once threw my bed out the window when they restricted me from watching the home coming basketball game.