Heard about a great new sport the other day. One you should try … I’m not likely to.

What it is, is … Underwater Hockey.

First heard about UH on a National Public Radio broadcast one afternoon last week, not on April First. A story by NPR reporter Peter Breslow described an evening with a group which calls itself the Beltway Bottom Feeders of Washington, D.C.

The game is played in a swimming pool … the less difference between the deep end and the shallow end, the better … with ten players on a side. Six players from each team are in the water at one time with the four substitutes on the deck. On-the-fly substitution is allowed, and often necessary.

I say necessary because Underwater Hockey players don’t use SCUBA tanks, just snorkel, masks and flippers.

Players brandish wooden sticks about a foot long with slightly curved blades. The sticks are painted black or white, that’s how the players tell their teams apart.

The puck is a three pound lead weight covered in plastic.

At the start of a point, the puck is in the middle of the pool with the players at each end of the pool. At the opening whistle, players swim for the puck to try to propel it into the opponents’ goal.

There are forwards and backs, but no goalies.

Goals are nine feet long, about eight inches high and a foot deep. They are made up of the eight inch tall backstop, a trough and a shallow ramp. A goal is scored by getting the puck up the ramp into the trough or hitting the backstop with it.

As you might imagine, there is a premium on endurance, but not necessarily on brute strength. The water becomes an equalizer, allowing a smaller, but more agile player, to outmaneuver a bigger player.

The equalizer makes Underwater Hockey a good co-ed game.

Equipment is simple, besides snorkels and masks, players must wear some kind of mouth protection, like a wrestling mouthpiece, and ear protection, like a waterpolo cap.

Most also take a heavy gardening glove and coat it with something like silicone caulking or other kind of flexible sealant. The glove protects the player’s knuckles from contact with the bottom of the pool or an opponent’s stick.

Jennifer Hack has posted a description of the sport at www.uwhockey.org. She writes that the sport is aimed at having fun, although the level of competition ranges from inter-squad games to multi-week international tournaments.

She says that legend has it that the sport was invented by South African spearfishermen looking for a way to stay in shape in the off-season. In the U.S., there are about 40 teams scattered from coast-to-coast, mostly centered around dive stores or clubs.

Unfortunately, it is not a good spectator sport, nothing to see but butts and fins from around the pool, but a great way to improve stamina and swimming skills while having fun.

Noticed an ESPN article telling how Attorney Johnny Cochran is representing Texas Motor Speedway in a lawsuit charging NASCAR with being a monopoly. The issue seems to be that NASCAR owns International Speedway Corporation, which owns about 13 tracks around the country.

According to the lawsuit, ISC-owned tracks seem to have had better luck getting NASCAR races each time the season is expanded. TMS wants a second NASCAR race but hasn’t gotten one.

On its face, such lawsuits seem to be nothing more than Lilliputian attacks with virtually no hope of success and little likelihood that there will be any far reaching effects.

But don’t forget those simpler times when there was just one Phone Company.