Burns and Marx: Loophole Abuse

Burns and Marx get caught with their pants down during a round of golf–by design.

 

George Burns and Harpo Marx were once playing golf on a very hot day, and decided to take their shirts off. A nearby group complained, and the club manager came out to inform them that club rules required them to wear shirts on the course. A little while later, he received another complaint – this time they were playing without pants. When he went out to tell them to put pants on, they asked to see the rulebook on that – and it turned out that there was no rule requiring club members to wear pants on the course, because nobody had ever thought to need it.

I uncovered this anecdote at this highly entertaining site, in a section logging historic incidents in sports during which people take advantage of loopholes in sports.

If you take the time to read it,  I dare you not to laugh when you get to the part about John Hopoate, a player in Australia’s National Rugby League. I’m still laughing as I write this, even if it’s unlikely that Hopoate’s opponents saw the humor.