No monkey business

Yes, this is the first sports-related post on my culture blog. That's if you consider remote-controlled robot monkeys zooming after whiffle balls to "Chariots of Fire" to be athletic. It got my heart rate up!

Saturday night K. and I headed out to Greenpoint, Brooklyn to witness what is sure to go down as one of the best-fought "chimpionships" in the history of monkey sports.

Monkey robot sports tournaments are the brain-child of artist Dan Walker (the explosive lamp-sculpture below is his work. Dan's in the background, in character, donning Panama hat and pencil mustache as he arbitrates the game). We started hearing about the chimpionships last year and since then they have taken off, moving to larger venues (Saturday's game was held at Greenpoint's hip t.b.d. bar), crossing state lines (this summer Miami held its first chimpionship), and acquiring sponsors (like Amp energy drink).

So this is how it works: there are two, three-monkey teams, red and blue. There are three different sizes of monkey on each team, and each has different strengths (and weaknesses). The monkeys are controlled by humans, which is a big part of the fun. The teams are trying to score by corralling three balls (each a different size) into the opposite team's goal. Like soccer, though goal tending was against the rules.

I took a turn and, while I only scored once, and completely by accident, I had a lot of fun making my monkey disco dance in the center of the ring. The fans (hundreds of small plastic toys arranged on stadium seating around the field) loved it.

Another big part of the fun were the announcers, who called every play and made plenty of monkey wisecracks. In fact the theater of it all, the careful attention to each detail, was what made this event so much fun. That and the beer.