St. Augustine, Fla. – The “Florida Man” has become an iconic title associated with some of the most unbelievable stories.
So, what did the Sunshine State do with the moniker?
They turned it into an Olympic-style competition known as the “Florida Man Games.”
And the organizers were back in St. Augustine as they looked for the next “Florida Man” royalty.
The games hosted a tryout for new and returning teams to practice before the games returned.
“This came together over a lot of beers,” Florida Man Games owner Pete Melfi said, “I can tell you that much.”
The event hosted its first Florida man Games earlier this year and is already looking for its next talent.
“We are looking for really as weird as it gets,” Melfi said. “We’re not necessarily looking for the best athlete Florida man doesn’t necessarily produce the best athletes, but we produce a lot of cool weirdos.”
The makeshift combine was held at Hatchet Pro Wrestling.
It’s a place Sam Shaw and Brandon Bullock run to teach the next generation of entertainers.
They see a lot of those attributes in these Florida men and women.
“[Pete] said ‘Hey I’m doing this thing called the Florida man games' and I’m like yeah it sounds cool,” Shaw said. “I don’t even need to know what the events are or what’s happening. I’m on board let’s go.”
Competitors got to try out some games inspired by real stories.
The first included a race where competitors had to step through tires, knock over a cutout of a cow and then throw a fake gator into a bucket.
That last move was inspired by a Florida Man who threw a Gator into a drive thru window.
And yes — that actually happened.
“So excited,” Bullock said. “There’s just classic Florida legends that they turned into game somehow and I like to think I’m creative, but I gotta give my hat off to Pete to think of these games and complicated names for games.”
And in classic Florida Man fashion, some of these competitors came from different parts of the state for Sunday’s combine.
And were tailgating hours before the event.
“We gotta do it,” one member of the team ‘Red-Eyed Gator Huggers said. “We had no choice. We were a perfect group for it.”
“They’re making a game about us we gotta go,” another added.
Organizers are expecting about 10,000 people to turn out for the main event.
That will be held at the St. Johns County Fairgrounds on March 1.