Belly flopping into muddy water, tossing toilet seats and guzzling beer, average joes celebrated the unrefined life of the US "redneck" on July 7 at an annual event initially held as a counterpart to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
"Freight Train," a toothless man whose ability to touch his nose with his lower lip earned him the title of official mascot of the Redneck Summer Games, kicked off the event by lighting a propane-fueled, beer can-adorned ceremonial torch.
The top favorite was evidently the mud-pit belly flop. Contestants with a large beer gut - and there are quite a few- - have a marked advantage as they produce a bigger splash when they land belly first in the pit filled with muddy water.
PHOTO: AP
The Confederate flags that adorn just about everything from bikinis to pick-up trucks leave little doubt this is the heart of the US South, home of the proud and controversial US redneck.
"Being a redneck is a heritage, it's the way we're born and raised, it's a way of life," says Rick Humphrey, who manages the local radio station that runs the event.
Humphrey admits there is no precise definition of a redneck, but one thing is certain - and the toilet seat-hurling competition made this quite clear - it's definitely not your wine-and-cheese crowd.
The stereotype of the US redneck is a low-income southerner who lives in a trailer, drives a pick-up truck and chews tobacco.
Humphrey says the good thing about the games is that nothing can really go wrong "because it's all a bunch of rednecks who drink beer, jump in the river and don't worry about anything."
升斗小民挺著肚皮撲向泥濘、丟擲馬桶座，暢飲啤酒，在七月七日慶祝美國「南方鄉巴佬」的市井生活。這個一年一度的活動起源於一九九六年，原先的構想是與亞特蘭大奧運互別苗頭。
綽號「運輸火車」的男子點燃裝飾啤酒罐的丙烷儀式火把，為活動揭開序幕。這名滿口缺牙的男子因為下唇能碰到鼻子，贏得「南方鄉巴佬夏日競賽」的官方代言人寶座。
最受歡迎的無疑是肚皮撲泥的活動。挺著大啤酒肚的參賽者（人數可不少）比較吃香，他們敞開肚皮撲向泥坑時，飛濺的水花要比別人大得多。
美國南方聯邦旗幟的圖案無所不在，從比基尼到小貨車處處可見，讓人一點也不懷疑，這裡就是美國南方的中心，也是輝煌又爭議良多的「南方鄉巴佬」故鄉。
發起活動的當地電台總經理瑞克．漢福瑞說︰「身為南方鄉巴佬是項傳承，是我們被養育的方式，也是一種生活方式。」
漢福瑞坦承「南方鄉巴佬」（redneck）一字並沒有明確定義，但丟馬桶座的競賽卻不言而喻說明了一切︰鐵定不屬於紅酒起司的名門紳士那群。
典型的美國南方鄉巴佬是指住在拖車，駕駛小貨車且嚼著菸草的窮南方人。
漢福瑞表示，這個比賽的優點是絕不會招惹麻煩，因為「這些都是暢飲啤酒、撲通跳進水池，無憂無慮的南方鄉巴佬。」
（法新社/翻譯︰賴美君）
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