Bo-Taoshi is craziest sport you'll see today

This video is titled—very succinctly, very accurately—"Dangerous Japanese Sport." If you've never seen it before, it's probably best not to spoil anything.

This video is titled—very succinctly, very accurately—"Dangerous Japanese Sport." If you've never seen it before, it's probably best not to spoil anything.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds0w9adW0Qs]

At the beginning it looks like a friendly competition to see who can do a better-choreographed wave, but then things get crazy. 

A little Googling reveals that this is a sport called "Bo-taoshi," translated "pole bring-down." This particular video appears to be from a game between cadets at the National Defense Academy of Japan. You can see more videos here and here.

Each team is split into two sides, one to defend its own pole and one to bring down the other team's. The first team to bring their opponents' pole below a 30-degree angle wins. Presumably this is the only sport that requires the referee to carry a protractor.

There are no shoes allowed, which is good because people are constantly getting kicked in the head. Still, this has to be more dangerous than football, no?

- Dan Gartland