Could you cut it as a Florida Man? 

This weekend, St. Augustine, Florida (just south of Jacksonville) hosted the first ever Florida Man Games. The event attracted around 5,000 paying spectators at $45 a ticket to watch competitors take on challenges inspired by the mythos of “Florida Man.” 

The games were put on by local media operator Pete Melfi of The 904 Now and featured a wide array of on brand events including: Eat the Butt (a pork butt speed eating contest), Category 5 Cash Grab (hurricane simulation machine cash grabbing challenge), A Catalytic Converter, 2 Bikes, And A Handful Of Copper Pipes: Race Against Time (a very convoluted timed bike race based on a real life event), Florida Sumo (inflatable sumo wrestling where the object is to spill your opponents beer), and my personal favorite – Evading Arrest Obstacle Course (contestants ran an obstacle course while evading real life law enforcement officials). 

“Florida Man” is a running joke about the crazy, sunny, salt soaked world of Florida and the particular brand of headline the men are capable of producing. The shortened “Florida Man” derives from how headlines are written re: “Florida Man does XYZ bizarre and horrifying things.” There is a social media account called Florida Man dedicated to capturing these headlines. 

The Florida Man Games does not have a female category yet outside of their pinup competition called Florida Ma’am. The event also hosted a mullet contest and as the competition grows, there is no telling what new categories they might add.

The scoring was done by team and through an accumulation of points based on ranking in each event (I think). 

Here were the team rankings from the weekend: 

• Hanky Spanky – 58 points
• Vero Man – 48 points
• Ronin Space Cadets – 47 points
• Screaming Eagles – 45 points
• Storm Surge – 43 points
• Cooter Commanders – 39 points
• Miami Mango Boiz – 31 points
• Swamp A** – 29 points
• Rattlesnakes – 25 points
• El Diablo and the Firecrackers – 24 points
• Hatchet Pro Wrestling – 18 points
• Red Eyes Gator Hunters – 17 points

Congratulations to all the competitors! And most of all: Congratulations to the great state of Florida.