Sunday saw the conclusion of three days of Mud Bowl (not to be confused with professional Mud Bowls), celebrating its 50th year in filthy fashion as football players trudge through a "pitch" of wet mud in North Conway, New Hampshire.
"You're playing football in the mud, so you've got to have a smile on your face," said Jason Veno, the 50-year-old quarterback of the North Country Mud Crocs, who described mud as an equalizer. "It's just a different game in the mud. It doesn't matter how good you are on grass. That doesn't matter in the mud."
Players describe an experience that stick with you.
"It gets in the eyes. You get cracks in your feet. And you get mud in your toenails for weeks," he said. "You get it in your ears too. You'll be cleaning out your ears for a long while …you'll be blowing your nose and you'll get some dirt and you're like, oh, I didn't know I still had that there."
The Associated Press posted a glorious gallery of mucky photos from the tournament/festival. Embedded below, some footage from a previous year's action.
Previously:
• The secret world of swamp mud
• 'Mud and Merchandise at Woodstock '94' compares the event with the original Woodstock festival of '69
• Imagine you work by paying $425 for artificially mud-stained jeans
