Average Joes celebrate their 'redneck' heritage at wacky US festival

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

EAST DUBLIN, United States (AFP) — Bellyflopping in the mud, tossing toilet seats and guzzling beer, average Joes celebrated the unrefined life of the US "redneck" at a wacky annual event initially held as a counterpart to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Setting the tone for the daylong pseudo-athletic antics, a toothless man who calls himself "Freight Train" kicked off the event Saturday by lighting the propane-fueled, beer can-adorned ceremonial torch to whooping and hollering from the crowd.

His ability to touch his nose with his lower lip earned him the title of official mascot of the East Dublin, Georgia Redneck Summer Games.

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...