The Florida Man Games Were Awesome

The OutKick Culture Department just added a must-attend to the 2025 calendar. 

The Florida Man Games were held Saturday in St. Augustine, Florida and featured hours of events like the "Evading Arrest Obstacle Course" where contestants ran from actual sheriff's department deputies, a pork butt-eating competition, and an MMA competition where contestants had to hold a pitcher of beer and battle it out to see which Florida Man could save the most draft beer to suck down at the end of the battle. 

THIS is the Americana I'm looking for and the Americana we need more of. As I've mentioned many times here at OutKick, nothing brings people together like the odd and zany. I'm looking for contestants to run from cops while breaking out of sex toy handcuffs like they did Saturday under a beautiful blue sky.  

James "Manatee" Gordon, top, takes on Cameron Cooper in the "Florida Sumo" competition during the inaugural Florida Man Games Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024 at Francis Field in St. Augustine, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK]

There were snakes, and alligators and people walking around with iguanas like they were dogs. There were black people, hillbilly white people, young, old, hipsters, Gen Zers, Xers, Boomers and tons of women in the stands rooting on the madness. 

There was chicken shit bingo. There was a race to see who could steal catalytic converters and bikes in the fastest time. 

Florida Man Games founder Pete Melfi even went out and got Nitro and Ice from American Gladiators to ref the "Weaponized Pool Noodle Mud Duel." 

And this is just year one where fans paid upwards of $45 to attend the event. 

Schuyler Amacher of Vero Beach belly flops in a pool, a punishment for the losing team in the "A Catalytic Converter, 2 Bikes, and a Handful of Copper Pipes," during the inaugural Florida Man Games. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK]

James "Manatee" Gordon raises his beer before taking on Cameron Cooper in the "Florida Sumo" competition. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK]

Melfi told the Associated Press he "expected ticket sales to exceed 5,000. That's a cool $225,000 in ticket sales. Year one. That's enough to get attention from the national press and what will likely be a competition between the streaming providers to get their hands on this event and a reality show about its creation and execution. 

"We kind of give a person an opportunity to live a day in the life of ‘Florida Man’ without ending up in a cop car," Melfi added. "There’s typically drugs and nudity," he said. "But the city frowned on it when I asked for drugs and nudity."

If Saturday in Augustine taught us anything, it's that America is craving the weird. We want to be shown a vision by Great Americans like Melfi who took a chance and now has himself a cultural phenomenon. 

The New York Times covered the event and didn't turn it into some think-piece on rednecks and how they're bad for society. Stop and think about that. Melfi actually got away with making fun of people running from cops by holding an actual event where that's the goal and the Times didn't crush him. 

This guy is playing with house money and next year we'll be there to see if he can top Saturday's fun. 

Do you know a fun event that OutKick needs to attend or know about? 

Email: joekinsey@gmail.com