Sunshine State launches inaugural Florida Man Games

Floridians have earned a reputation for providing us with some pretty crazy stories — a distinction they celebrated on Saturday, February 24, with the inaugural “Florida Man Games.”

Dubbed “the most insane athletic showdown on Earth,” it included events like the Evading Arrest Obstacle Course, and the Category 5 Cash Grab challenge, in which contestants tried to snag as much money as they could in a wind-blowing booth. And, of course, beer-belly wrestling.

The games were the brainchild of St. Augustine native Pete Melfi, owner of media outlet The 904 Now. “We thought, ‘How can we really play on these Florida Man headlines that we hear so much about?’ Someone gave me the idea to make it into an athletic competition,” Melfi said, according to WOFL-TV.

It was “an opportunity to live that Florida Man life for a day,” he added.