Marble Racing Is the Sport That Can Save Us From Losing Our Marbles

[CellarDweller]

This article was originally posted just after the beginning of the Covid pandemic, when all the sport events were being cancelled.


Marble Racing Is the Sport That Can Save Us From Losing Our Marbles

Jessica Smetana  - MAR 22, 2020



Greg Woods first stumbled across Jelle’s Marble Runs on Reddit, naturally. He clicked on a video link and watched a dozen or so marbles bounce off dirt walls and each other as they rolled down a sandy racecourse.

“This is just natural sound,” Woods thought to himself. “This would be kind of fun if I called it like it was a Formula One race or something, just for the heck of it.” That was the moment that Greg Woods, Marble Race Commentator was born.

Since 2015, millions of people have listened to Woods’ calm, compelling voice commentate events for Jelle’s Marble Runs, a popular YouTube channel dedicated to the sport (yes, sport) of marble racing. That number has grown exponentially in the past week, as the coronavirus pandemic forced sports leagues around the world to suspend their seasons and events for the foreseeable future, leaving fans yearning for competitive action.

Since March 16, Jelle’s Marble Runs subscribers have increased more than 999% and video views are up a remarkable 339% according to Front Office Sports. As the kids say: marble racing is having a moment. The sudden onslaught of marble racing enthusiasts seems to stem from a March 15th tweet, where a video from one of Jelle’s early YouTube races was ripped and posted with the caption: “Day 4 without sports: Marble1 racing is intense!” As of March 22, the tweet has more than 34 million views and 240k retweets.


https://www.si.com/more-sports/2020/03/2...ommentator