There are a lot of weird international competitions, but I wasn't expecting this one.  Believe it or not, there are actual worldwide pizza contests.  If this was just another bizarre American event I wouldn't have been surprised, but teams from countries around the globe enter into these. 

It gets better.  The World Pizza Championship isn't like one of those cake shows on the Food Network.  A few of the contests do rate the quality of the pizza, but that's not the fun part.  They have one event that is probably the coolest food-related thing since the world's largest cookie. 
Pizza freestyling and acrobatics. 

I saw a video of last year's tournament, and it was awesome.  This event went way beyond throwing dough in the air and catching it.  It was kind of like an underground dancing competition.  These guys would spin their pizzas while flying through the air, do tricks upside down, and twirl the dough while making human pyramids.  I think a few of the competitors spun pizzas with their feet, and I watched at least one of them spin the dough with his hand on top rather than beneath it in some kind of 'screw you, gravity' move. 

The United States team actually took the gold medal in this event, which I think is great.  We can not only gorge ourselves on pizza, but perform with it as well.  Playing with your food has never been more entertaining. 

This is the kind of thing they should add to the Olympics.  I know I would watch if they did.  A pizza freestyle and ice dancing combination could cause a huge ratings boost.  It'll never happen, but I can always dream. 

The other fun part of the whole competition is that when they're not in Italy doing their crazy acrobatic acts the United States team tours the country and occasionally hires out its members.  According to their website, they can perform at various events.  I'm not sure how hard it would be to hire them for a private show, though.  They would be a lot cooler to have at a birthday party than a clown.  For a bigger fee the pizza dancers even bring along the whole road show, which includes, I'm serious, a 'talking cowboy robot.'  I don't know if the robot somehow fits the pizza theme or if it was just thrown in to sweeten the deal. 

I'll try to pay more attention to the next competitions when they roll around sometime in 2008.  It will undoubtedly be fun to watch, even though I won't be able to go to Italy and see it in person.  Then again, that could turn out to be a bad idea.  I'm already hungry enough as it is.  Let this be a lesson: if you must look up random things on the internet, try to avoid topics centering on food. 

That's it for now.  Look for my next article, which will be along whenever I find something else that's bizarre or interesting enough to write about.  Now, though, I've got to go find my phone and the pizza delivery number.

http://iwantnypizza.com/