Olympic scholars debate whether the Intercalated Games of 1906 should be considered official. If naysayers knew that dueling pistol was one of the events in those controversial Olympics, said debate would be over on account of awesomeness.

Let me stop you right there. No, the competitors didn't actually shoot at one another. Had the O.K. Corral been successful in its bid to land the '06 Games, maybe that would have been an option. But Athens got the nod, so no actual dueling, which made the ghost of Aaron Burr very upset.

What did happen was that participants stood 30 meters from dummies dressed in a buttoned frock coat with a bulls-eye painted in the middle of the chest. They shot, and whomever was closest earned the most points. Leon Moreaux of France was the first, and only, winner of this competition. The Frenchman's victory came only after he was told that surrendering to the dummy was not an option.

In the first modern Olympics, three regular swimming events were contested: the 100-meter freestyle, 400-meter freestyle and 1500-meter freestyle. Despite dominating the overall medal count, host Greece was denied gold in each of those races, so they channeled their inner-Donaghy and rigged an event to ensure a win. And, thus, the 100-meter freestyle for sailors was born.

The event, which was only contested at the first Olympics, was limited to members of the Greek navy. (Note: No evidence suggests that this event was actually created to pad the Greek medal total, but being of Greek descent myself, I can ensure you that this is something my people totally would have done.) Three men entered, with Ioannis Malokinis taking the gold with a time of 2:20.4. That time was almost a full minute slower than the 1:22.2 (by Hungary's Arnold Guttmann) that won the regular, non-sailor 100-meter freestyle race. I guess that means if you were on a shipwreck with members of the Greek navy in 1896, you wouldn't have had much trouble out-swimming them to the nearest lifeboat.

In this era of dwindling attention spans, highly individualized Olympic events like the 100-meter freestyle for sailors might be just what the IOC needs in order to spruce up the Games. Some suggestions for possible events:

• Weightlifting for ex-convicts
• Fencing with inflatable swords from McDonald's Happy Meals
• Yachting for dudes named Blake or Connor
• Freestyle wrestling for freestyle rappers
• Rowing: Men's lightweight four-oared shell without coxswain (oh... wait) 

Mad Men, the AMC show centered around a 1960s New York advertising firm, began its much-anticipated second season last night. The show's depiction of early-‘60s life has made some viewers nostalgic for that time-period; they wish they could live in an era where hard drinking, worry-free smoking and casual sex were the norm in the workplace. I'm not one of those viewers.

I'm nostalgic for a different time in the 20th century, namely the first 20 years. It was a dizzying time to be alive, with airplanes, automobiles and handle-bar mustaches coming into vogue. Had I lived back then I could have hob-nobbed with Albert Einstein or tickled the ivories with Irving Berlin, all whilst canoodling a radiant Lillian Gish. I would have looked resplendently foppish in a three button frock coat and tweed knickers, topped off with the sharpest homburg this side of 5th Avenue. But most importantly, I could have watched tug of war at the Olympics.

Yeah, that's right: Tug of war. From 1900 to 1920, tug of war was a medal event at the Summer Games. Twelve men, one rope, six feet to destiny; it sounds like the perfect addition to any Olympics. But like many obscure sports of old, it was taken from us too soon, depriving modern audiences of enjoying what Upton Sinclair once called "a primal ballet of brute strength and subtle delicacy".*

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