“Odd”ities – Highland Games Props

Here at SBD, we like putting odds on things. (Had you noticed?)

We generally stick to sports. (Hence the name of the website.) And we generally stick to sports that are somewhat popular. (Hence our continued existence.)

But, every so often, we get a hankering to set some less-than-serious odds on some less-than-mainstream events (like competitive eating).

On Monday, someone in the office watched Braveheart on Netflix so, naturally, we now have to do an article on the Highland Games.

The Highland Games are Scotland’s version of “Dude, I bet I can throw these big-ass things farther than you.” They feature events like the caber toss (a.k.a. tree throwing), stone put (a.k.a. rock throwing), and sheaf toss (a.k.a. wheat throwing) and take place in various cities, towns, and burgs in Scotland from May to September. (Here’s the full schedule if you nae already ken.)

With this year’s throw-stravaganzas just around the corner, let’s take a look at some Highland Games props for the 2015 season.

2015 Highland Games Odds:

Caber Toss:

• Odds that one of the cabers lands standing on end: 5000/1 (A little better than the odds of a coin doing the same.)
• Odds that Ryan Howard commandeers a caber to use as his new bat: 10/1
• Odds that someone gets confused and tosses a saber: 100/1

Sheaf Toss:

• Odds that the sheaf toss is cancelled country-wide because an increasingly overweight Scottish population eats all of the wheat: 25/1
• Odds that Gwyneth Paltrow tries to make the sheaf toss “gluten free”: 5/1
• Odds that someone gets “confused” and tosses a sheep: 5/1

Stone Put:

• Odds that the stone put is cancelled country-wide because an increasingly overweight Scottish population eats all of the rocks: 100/1
• Odds that C.J. Hunter is disqualified from the stone put for using Nandrolone: 10/1. (It’s very reminiscent to shot put.)
• Odds that someone gets confused and tosses Stone Phillips: 1/1 (Why are the odds so good? Because we’re going to do everything in our power to make it happen.)

(Photo credit: D. Gordon E. Robertson (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo may appear cropped.)