[do the dhue]

I have never been to a Renascence fair or anything like that, but I watched this on History Channel last night and I must say that I enjoyed it.

What about you? did you see it? If so, did you enjoy it?

[MissMagnolia]

I watched it too - loved it! Definitely not a sport for the faint of heart.

[KarlInOhio]

What about you? did you see it? If so, did you enjoy it?

Saw it at the local Renfest. To me it had the same feel as the Kentucky Derby, lots of warm up which bored me, followed by moments of excitement. I don't know if the jousters were doing it for real or if they had already decided who was going down in that bout. I'm betting the second just because even a blunt lance can be pretty dangerous if it hits the knight oddly or he falls when not planning for it.

Another History Channel show about medieval combat showed that the knights in armor were pretty darn nimble and were able to roll over and spring to their feet pretty quickly in armor. I had expected them to be like turtles on their backs, but I guess with years of training and hundreds of years of making armor taught them how to make it heavy enough to be protective but still light and flexible enough not to be too great of hindrance.

[RJS1950]

It was fun to watch and interesting in its variance from theatrical jousting presentations. Unlike medieval armor, this stuff weighs more and is made for at least some safety so it is not always as maneuverable as some of the traditional armor.

This is set up to be a full contact, blows given and taken event. A lot of times the personalities (or lack of personality) with all of their bluster is as entertaining as the actual joust.

I think as they develop through the weeks you will see more technique and strategy than was evident in the first week where they were all pretty much newbies.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I have never been to a Renascence fair or anything like that..."

Depending on where you're at in the states, I can highly recommend the Louisiana Renaissance Festival. It runs every weekend starting in November through the second weekend of December. Gotta love the logo with the alligator as dragon...

[Hot Tabasco]

As the televised "extreme sports" are getting more viewership, there will always be the need for them to become more "extreme" in order to hold the audience.

I see a major problem with this in that what will be the major outcome of all this "extreme" sports?

Running Man?