Through ONLY A GAME, we learned this week about our new heroes: scientists that compete in an event that make the LeMans drivers look around for their EPO. In BioBlitz, scientists fan out over a plot of land in Rhode Island to find as many unique species as possible in a 24-hour period. (”Don’t swat that mosquito off you; we need that to up our count!”)

The ninth annual BioBlitz was held a few weeks ago at Grills Preserve in Westerly, RI, with 115 scientists (pro and amateur; you can tell them apart from the sponsorships on their vests) counting up all kinds of mycota and vertebrates and the like. In the end, they charted over a thousand unique species of life in just that one preserve, including plants thought to be gone from Rhode Island forever.

Don’t mock it; it was this or pay Clay Bennett a billion dollars for the Sonics. We see some logic in going this way.

The BioBlitz started because a proper policing of a plot of land costs too much. Therefore, scientists turned the hunt into a game that can catch more than not looking at all. Also, it’s 100% pure awesome sauce. We’re all about combining science and sports. We mean… look at this gentleman. He’s even playing hurt:

We salute you, sir. That’s more than we’ll ever get from Vince Carter.

This is far more useful than modular table tennis, perhaps, but no less nifty. Keep inventing games, people; we’ve got to stay ahead of the great apes culturally now that they’ve got some of the same rights as us. Sure, they can’t invent games as quickly as us, but they didn’t create Celebrity Family Feud, either.

(Dick Pound wants a piece of this action, too. He’s heard about scientists doping themselves.)