Big Balls

The husband/lover/best friend and son and I took a drive yesterday back to son Caleb's alma mater, Penn State, for two reasons.  One, Caleb wanted to shop around in Appalachian Outdoors, which he claims is the best store in the entire world, way too full of all sorts of outdoor gear of every sort, and two, we had some gift cards for the Outback Steakhouse, and Penn State has one of those.

We did accomplish both missions quite satisfactorily, and I must say that Penn State in general seems to still be solidly behind its football team.  Just about every shop window displayed a  Penn State football pride type of sign.

But that really is not the point of my post today.  In the heart of the town as we were heading to our first stop, this funny site passed by us on the main street of the town, advertising itself as the largest ball of hay.  Weird.  Good thing I wasn't driving because I would have rear-ended the car in front of me while I was rubber necking.  Not every day do you see a ball of hay on top of a car.

Anyway, seeing that large ball got me to thinking and vaguely recalling something about some other Largest Balls of _______ elsewhere in the U.S.  So I did some research and did quite a bit of amusing myself in the process.  (It doesn't take much, sometimes.)

Here are some of the other Largest Balls I came across:

First is the World's Largest Ball of Twine, and my husband assures me that if we are ever in its vicinity, he will stop so I can be amazed.

This ridiculous ball was constructed by Francis Johnson over the period of 1950 to 1979.  Its weight is 17,400 pounds and it has a circumference of approximately 40 feet.

Here you can see the foul and disgusting awe-inspiring World's Largest Ball of Chewed Gum.

Yup, that's a lot of chewed gum - 95,200 pieces to be exact.

Next we have the World's Largest Ball of Rubber Bands.  

Office Max sponsored the project of the creation of this monstrosity.  This ball, created by Steve Milton and his six year old son, contains 175,000 rubber bands and weighs in excess of 4000 pounds.  Once it won the title of World's Largest, it happily appeared in Chicago's Thanksgiving Parade.  Awwww.

Get ready to be amazed, for here is the World's Largest Ball of Stamps.

Built in the 1950's in Boys Town, Nebraska, this solid ball of stamps weighs over 600 pounds.  It measures 32 inches in diameter and consists of 4,655,000 postage stamps.  (That's a lot of licking.)  A sign posted on its display stand says "Please do not stick stamps on the ball."

And last we have the World's Largest Ball of Tape.  Weighing 2000 pounds and measuring 12 feet 9 inches in circumference, this orb was made by the Portland Promise Center and completed in Kentucky.

The collection of tapes used in its construction included duct tape, electrical tape, making tape, gaffers tape, packing tape, foil tape, and athletic tape.

Well there you have it folks, I guess some people just have too much time on their hands, and can stand doing the same useless and monotonous thing over and over and over.  Maybe the lure of winning an award is enough to inspire some people to devote so much of their time and energy to these "works of art."

Not me, though.  I guess I just don't have the artistic vision.