A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Film comedy "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" introduced the world to a new sports channel.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As announcer) ESPN8: The Ocho, bringing you the fights with seldom-seen sports from around the globe since 1999.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, back when that movie came out, The Ocho was just a joke. But this weekend and for the ninth year in a row, fiction becomes reality. ESPN's The Ocho is actually showcasing 30 new sports, including the Bubble Gum Blowing Championship. Frank Mazzella from Go Live Sports Cast is the executive producer of that broadcast. So, Frank, before we get into competitive bubble gum blowing, give us a preview of some of the other sports featured this weekend on The Ocho.
FRANK MAZZELLA: Well, some of the other shows that we're doing this weekend is the 11th annual outhouse races, Swiss stone tossing, a 138-pound stone that is thrown. Some of the things that we've done in the past include stone skipping, cherry pit spitting, the USA Mullet Championship.
MARTÍNEZ: You know, I was an ESPN radio host for eight years, and I used to dream about The Ocho becoming a real thing. And regrettably, Frank, I left ESPN a few months before it debuted. I got to know, though, what is Donk Toss?
MAZZELLA: Oh, the cow chip toss.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
MAZZELLA: The cow chip throwing, which was in Beaver, Oklahoma. Everybody takes it serious out there. And what they do with the cow chips, they get them actually produced in the fall the previous year, and then they wait till spring when they're dried out. Everybody gets to toss two cow chips, and whoever throws it the furthest is the winner. These are real serious people out there.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Now, OK, so it's one thing for the participants to be serious, but what about sports fans? I mean, are there any sports on The Ocho that sports fans might actually take seriously?
MAZZELLA: Well, that's all up to the person. I mean, we like to keep everything humorous and have some fun with it and put nicknames in there because some people take sports just way too serious, and we've got to put fun back into things.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, Frank, let's get to your broadcast. Describe how blowing bubble gum became a competitive sport.
MAZZELLA: Well, I was doing some back history on bubble gum blowing, and it seems like over the years, nobody really put together a good competition where people would go up, blow their bubble, get it measured, and that was it. What we put together was the ones that had the top three blows, they go on to the next round and have a blow-off. So it becomes a very hard situation for people to blow bubbles right in front of a crowd of people. You usually blow your biggest bubble when you walk away and nobody's watching.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, I think people would think that bubble gum blowing is easy, right? Just chew the gum, blow the bubble. But this is pressure.
MAZZELLA: Exactly. And what I found out, I don't know if it's scientific, but based on people blowing bubble gum, usually their first blow is their biggest. And then their second blow goes down a little bit smaller, and their third blow is smaller. What I've heard from past people that have been champions in bubble blowing is you need to block out that crowd. You need to concentrate and focus and dial in. That's easier said than done.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Frank Mazzella from Go Live Sports Cast. He's the executive producer of the Bubble Gum Blowing Championship, just one of the events this week on ESPN's The Ocho. Frank, thanks a lot.
MAZZELLA: Do I get to give you guys nicknames or what?
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, you can if you want.
MAZZELLA: So I got A "Moneybags" Martínez, and then Ben "Baby Abey" Abrams (ph).
MARTÍNEZ: That's perfect. That absolutely works. And Ben Abrams is the producer of this segment. Frank, thanks a lot.
MAZZELLA: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MASERATI'S "MONOLITHS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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