The Redneck Games: Actual sporting contest or simply tongue in cheek event?
In 1996, the Summer Olympic Games were held in Atlanta and some people decided to hold a spoof event called the Redneck Games as well. The Games have turned into a fun event that many people from all over America come to take part in and watch. The event
features funny contests such as belly flopping into mud, flipping cigarettes and seed spitting. Besides being a fun event, the Redneck Games are trying to overturn the negative stereotypes that some hold about people from the South of America. It will be interesting
to see how far the message behind this fun sporting event will reach and how effective it will be in changing people’s perceptions.
The Redneck Games are held every year in East Dublin, Georgia and they bring together some of the strangest and funniest contestants in America to a unique sporting event. In 1996, when the Summer Olympic Games were to be held in Atlanta, Georgia, a few
comments in the media were made that the Games would be contested by a bunch of rednecks. In response to this derogatory and offensive remark, the General Manager of a local radio station decided to do something about it. Mac Davis of WQZY-FM “Y96” got a few
friends together and set up the first Redneck Games as a way to reinforce the image the media held and show them the error of their statement. It turned into an annual event and became very popular with the locals and tourists who came to the area.
A redneck is a historically derogatory remark which was used to refer to poor, rural, white Southerners. It most probably originated from the fact that a lot of the poor in the South used to be farmers who used to work outdoors in the sun and it would cause
them to have a red neck. Over time the term was used to mean someone who was bigoted and opposed to modern ways. The stereotype was amplified and spread through the use of cartoons, movies and songs about the South perpetuating the image of the people who
lived there.
It was this damaging image that the people who got together and set up the Redneck Games were trying to challenge. In 2001, another radio personality in Georgia, Drew Scott of Wild Country 96.5, used the concept of the Games and turned them into a fund raising
event to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Due to the popularity of the Games and with this new noble angle to them, every year more and more people have started to attend them and they have become bigger in scope and size as well. A lot of people
attend the Games and they all have a good time in trying to reinforce the negative redneck image that is prevalent outside the South of America.
Even the different events that feature as part of the Games are meant to strengthen this very stereotype. Some of the events are mentioned above but a longer list needs to be mentioned. One of the most popular events is the Mud Belly Flip into a pond of
red earth clay mud. This is where fully clothed participants leap belly first into a pond of mud and the winner is the one who can make the biggest mud splash. Another fun event is seed spitting; a contest to see who can spit seed shells the furthest. Also
featured among the many events is the very funny armpit serenade, where competitors try and make music through noises made with their armpits. At the end of the day the only prize given is a half crushed, empty can of beer.
What's interesting about this annual event is the fact that it is specifically used to try and destroy a very old stereotype that is doing a lot of harm to the image of the people of the South. Maybe some people in the South are traditionally what are referred
to as rednecks, but a label cannot be placed on an entire population of a city or country. It is great that an entertaining and popular sporting event is being used to get rid of this image and show people how silly it is.
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