Just When You Think You've Seen It All at the Gym...

OK, so we all know the gym is full of... ahem... interesting people. My particular gym is home to Scarily Thin Elliptical Machine Chick Who Should Probably Be Spending More Time in the Cafe Downstairs, Weird Skinhead Neo-Nazi-looking Dude With a Billion Tattoos and a Scraggly Beard, and last but certainly not least, Dudes Who Make Porno Noises When They Lift Weights That Are Too Heavy. I should certainly be used to the occasional strange sight at the gym by now, but I had to do a double-take when I was on the treadmill the other day and saw an excerpt of a Gym Towel Folding Contest on the TV. Yes, you heard me. A Gym Towel Folding Contest. I was too busy trying to keep from giving myself an aortic fissure (typical day at the gym) and thinking "WTF" (due to said TV programming) to pay much attention to the narrative on the contest itself, but here is what I was able to get out of it. It appeared as though the contest was open to gym employees who were given the unenviable task of folding a large pile of towels while being timed by the judges. After the towels were folded, the judges verified the aesthetic beauty of each folded towel in the pile to determine the true winner. These are just regular folded towels, mind you, not towels in the shape of swans, hearts, or other complex designs. The first prize winner received a large cash purse (I believe it was $1,000) and the second prize winner received something like $500. I wonder what other crazy things my gym dues are paying for!