After hearing about Skyrim I started thinking: Nords seem like a competative race, do they apply any of this competativeness to sport? And since I haven't seen anyone mention such a thing so far, I thought I would...

Oblivion had the Arena. But that was all. It wasn't quite mundane, but it was the same thing over and over again. Some other options would have been nice is all. So here are a few (probably unfeasable) ideas to mull over:

Bare-knuckle boxing
Bear fights
Horse racing
Mammoth racing
Something like this: http://www.insureguide.co.uk/sites/WhitakerSally/_files/image/extreme%20Sports.jpg
Skiing
Snowboarding
Rock climbing
Competative tree-felling
Darts
Archery
Tossing the caber
Duelling (is in, but probably not as a sport...)
Sailing

And many other fun-filled acts, so what are everyone's thoughts on this?

Snowboarding is sure to be one of the 18 skills...

Honestly, the only thing from your list that interests me is bare-knuckle boxing.

you know this isn't a sports game right?

Someone mentioned some silly water racing before arm wrestling would be cool as would jumping from oar to oar on a nord longboat (see The Vikings movie!)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not into sports in the slightest. I just thought that it would be an interesting way of spending your time whilst not questing and killing. Don't think FIFA or any of that nonsense, think Red Dead's side games. I personally don't like many of these either, but hey; it's a discussion right?

Some of the things on that list are ( i'm sorry ) silly.
I have done a thread on tournaments....that expands past the arena fights etc.
Not blowing my own trumpet,but mine is little more appealing/sensible.
Sorry

You do know that even Todd Howard himself said that any type of game could just "happen" in a roleplaying game right? He said a race could just bust out, or a football game. Now Im not expecting football games but races of some form would be fun. Boxing matches would also be fun. Little extra things to do are always welcomed in a RPG in my opinion.

Boxing, Racing, and Archery sound good. That's as far as I would go.

Nord figure skating....

drinking contest!

who can drink the most mead before punching the barmaid in a drunken rage?!

skyrim archery competitions!
famous for being the only ones in all of tamriel where your opponent is the target.

Obviously the Arena and I hope it's better then the one in Oblivion with different rules such as what types of armor or weapons that you can use in the fights.

Elf-ball! Two teams of barechested Nords on a frozen lake, each consisting of 15 players; and the head of an elf in the middle. The first group to kick the elf's head through some poles at the other team's side WINS! :celebration:

Sounds like a mix of bullying, soccer, and quiditch... And the origins of dodge-ball from the chinese opium dens according the the the movie Dodgeball..

I like it!

Yeah I know it's silly, but everything is silly to begin with :celebration:

Probably will stay sill though... Ah well, one can dream of racing while falling. :sadvaultboy:

Strong-men competitions, very Nord like.

It depends on how it's executed. A knockoff of a modern day sport would scream "You are playing a video game, living in the real world, and you have a BS in chemistry in an age where America's chemical industries are all outsourcing and eliminating jobs." Simply put, it would knock me out of my "trance" and into my real life. A sport that actually feels appropriate for Skyrim and doesn't count on all the Nord stereotypes (har har Nords are really drunk and stupid har haaaaaaaaar!) might work.