Let it never be said that the locally-born-and-bred winter sport of competitive Burling could possibly be considered a mere excuse for people to gather together, drink beer and other wonderful winter-inspired beverages, and while away the wilding winter weather with friends flinging frozen jugs at cans of corn careening across carefully-curated courses of slitheringly-slippery ice while having an absurdly great time together.
Or perhaps, upon further review, let it absolutely be quite exactly that. (I’ll call, and raise you two jugs.) Turns out it’s crazy fun to get yourself a team, come up with a team name and correspondingly-killer logo, print it up on winter-weather hoodies and a team flag, and get y’all selves down to the ice and go Knuclear™.
So, what exactly is “Burling”? Let’s try to take a bite out of this sporty meal: start with a main course of curling (minus the brooms), add a salty side of shuffleboard (hold the cue sticks) and toss in a bare bit of bocce (sans balls). Burling is served up on ice just a jug at a time, with a hefty hint of hominy and plenty of grit.
To describe it less metaphorically and more precisely: it’s a game where competing teams fling their jugs (common grocery store one-gallon plastic jugs filled with frozen water, branded to represent their teams) down the ice sheet (a conditioned, snow-cleared stretch of ice) attempting to land as close as possible to their target (see next paragraph to decipher).
The Burling target (which for example in Bocce ball is called the Palino, aka the Jack) required time to establish its identity. It’s not a marked-out, lined area on the undersurface (as in curling or shuffleboard); instead, like bocce, it’s a target that free-floats on the surface, subject to incoming bombardment and subsequent repositioning; in most matches, it gets knocked around considerably. Early attempts to choose the Burling target using various Tupperware items proved too fragile, breaking up upon impact by the solidly-frozen jugs. Subsequently-tested affordable and conveniently available options ultimately pointed to an extra-large, 111-ounce can of hominy, aka in Burlingspeak “the Hominy” (also known as nixtamalized corn), justly anointed due to its weight/density and resistance to impact.
(To thoroughly explore what “nixtamalized corn” is or can become, please pour yourself a generously-sized adult beverage, seat yourself in a comfortable space, and commence the Googleage. You’ll eventually find it starts with corn, involves some harvesting of kernels and such, some soaking in an alkali solution, and eventually being ground either into grits or masa harina that’s later formed into tortillas. Burlingfolk buy it pre-ground while it’s incredibly dense and canned in water)
Burling points are awarded based on several logically skill-based and results-oriented factors, including double points if the jug finishes in an upright position, and additional double points if the jug lands touching against the Hominy. Burlers hurl their jugs at the Hominy attempting to ultimately land their jugs the closest to it, while knocking their opponent’s jugs away from it.
Creator and Commissioner of Burling John Bader sat down with me recently over a leisurely Lindy’s Landing lunch to demystify his wildly popular locally-spawned sport.
John mentioned an interview he’d taped featured on WGN-TV highlighting Burling:
“Ironically, it was a sport born out of the dog days of winter… we were watching Curling at home on TV, watching the Olympics with my son-in-law Joe Sovran. I lived on Bangs Lake, and we’re looking out the window, watching the Curling and side-glancing at the lake, and we looked at each other and said, ‘We can do this!’… so I got on my phone and started Googling… and [soon] said, “We can’t do this… these curling stones are like a couple thousand dollars each!”… and so [later], we basically went out and froze jugs (grocery-style gallon-sized plastic water jugs, filled with water and frozen) and then went at it.”
Over the next several years, John (with family and friends) worked to evolve the nascent sport-in-waiting into a workable, family-friendly, sensible way to engage with winter weather and get outdoors and have fun. Tracy Lehmann, owner of Bungalow Printing, is a member of Burling’s official Board that works out logistics and communications, and is the official provider of Burling related merchandise. As a burler herself, she testifies “It’s fun! It gets me off the couch in the winter… I’m not one to go out in the cold, but I’ll bundle up and go to Burling. Everyone is so welcoming to the players.” A proudly woman-owned business in the community, Bungalow Printing was bustling during my brief interview printing T-shirts for the upcoming local Turkey Trot.
Fleshing out this inspired game-of-the-people has involved tremendous effort from its organizers. Bader early-on formed an LLC with a set of rules establishing the sport’s guidelines and administration, and engaged its Board members to protect and promote the sport.
There are now about 20 Burling Houses, some of which create and maintain their home “ice sheets” and host Burling matches, as well as other “traveling houses” that travel to play on other team’s ice sheets. Maintaining an ice sheet on a lake, pond, river, or other nearby body of water takes quite some work — it’s a bit like creating and maintaining a small hockey rink minus the Zamboni — but the fun of the sport motivates a number of lakeside-dwellers on Wauconda’s Bangs Lake, as well as several nearby local businesses such as Lindy’s Landing, Dock’s, Side Lots and others to support the sport as they can. Teams from other nearby communities have joined BurlingNation expanding its reach and highlighting its opportunity.
It's been tricky, but tremendously rewarding, according to Bader.
“Burling is considered an extreme sport and as such will be a different game/experience every time depending on the weather and ice conditions,” cautioned Bader while sharing details of his experiences managing BurlingNation’s growth and challenges. Several recent years, based on warmer winters and shorter freezing seasons, necessitated shortened season schedules, cancellation of matches and planned playoffs, and awarding season-winning accolades per rules ahead of normal schedule (similar to the results during the 2020-2021 pandemic years in many sports). Participants supported the go-with-the-flow changes and remain loyal to the spirit of the sport.
BurlingNation’s rules fearlessly require teams to play on regardless of competition-time temperature. A telling testimony to the sport’s strong grip with its teams and players: regardless of weather conditions, John remarkably reports no forfeits over the years from teams previously scheduled to compete, come rain or shine or holy-heck-batten-the-hatches. People love this thing, and are fully committed to it.
Fleshing out this inspired game-of-the-people has involved tremendous effort from its organizers. Bader early-on formed an LLC with a set of rules establishing the sport’s guidelines and administration, and engaged its Board members to maintain its integrity and ensure its growth under appropriate care.
The team is now open to future growth, open to partnerships that could expand Burling to communities that would fully embrace it with appropriate infrastructure for its local support: for example, park districts that may have existing infrastructure to support local ice sheets for matches and tournament play.
For additional information, visit Burling’s website at GoBurling.com.
"Regardless of weather conditions, no forfeits over the years from teams, come rain or shine."