Saturday night, I was sitting in front of the computer at home and was curious to see what was on ESPN3.com. Such experiments before have been interesting, some have put me to sleep.

This time, the one live option available was the 2011 Canoe World Championships.

Oh, why not?

I tuned in just in time for the women's 200-meter K2 final (whatever that means).

It was kind of interesting. If you had Poland in your K2 fantasy pool - congratulations, you are a winner.

A few observations: First, the boats look like telephone poles struck down by lightning - how do people fit in those?

Second, those marketing gurus in canoeing actually put advertisements on the paddles. If it's a sprint race, how will you know about the ad during the race? That would be like a sports drink company putting a small logo on Usain Bolt's uniform and expecting the world to see it during a 100-meter dash.

Third, those canoeists (credit that verbage to the broadcast - certainly not my vast boating expertise) are ridiculously strong. It looks like they're wielding nunchucks.

Here's an example of sprint canoeing, for what it's worth:



Admittedly, watching canoeing at a late hour on a Saturday night isn't going to make me get my own canoe and go out on Lake Erie (that would make for some great entertainment as I float over the international boundary into Canadian waters).

But for a few minutes, it was interesting. Who knew?

- Chris Lillstrung