ESPN is making The Ocho a reality. The sports network announced on Thursday that it’s turning the silver screen joke network from the movie “Dodgeball” into a real broadcast network next week.
The fake ESPN 8: The Ocho was the network that aired the Las Vegas International Dodgeball Invitational from the movie.
“Bringing you the finest in seldom-seen sports from around the globe since 1999,” said fictional ESPN 8 broadcaster Cotton McKnight. “If it’s almost a sport, we’ve got it here.”
In honor of that fake network, ESPN is turning ESPN U into “The Ocho” on August 8 — 8/8 — and airing some of the seldom-seen sports ESPN 8 claims to show. The network does have an impressive list of seldom-seen sports on tap, though many of them have already aired in other ESPN networks. Here’s the full list of programming set for Tuesday.
Midnight — 2016 American Disc Golf Championship
2 a.m. — 2016 WFTDA Roller Derby Championships
4 a.m. — 2016 Sky Zone Ultimate Trampoline Dodgeball
5:30 a.m. — Firefighters World Challenge XXV
8 a.m. 2016 — Kabaddi World Cup Final
9 a.m. — World Darts Championship
11:30 a.m. — Arm Wrestling: Best of WAL 2016 Championship
12:30 p.m. — 2017 Championship of Bags
2:30 p.m. — EVO 2017 World Championship – Street Fighter
5:00 p.m. — Moxie Games
7 p.m. — U.S. Open Ultimate Championship
Darts Twitter will be thrilled to get another look at the Worlds, but there are certainly some off-the-beaten-path sports here. Ultimate, of course, is ultimate frisbee, while trampoline dodgeball sounds fun as well. And here’s the description of Kabaddi, if you need it.
A contact team sport that originated in India involving two teams and unique rule. The goal is for each team’s “raider” to tag as many of the opposing team’s players as possible and return to his/her home half all while taking just a single breath.
Yup. I’m totally watching that. The switch from ESPN U to ‘The Ocho’ starts right at midnight, so set your DVR or prepare to stay up late to catch all the action for yourself.
