Three days

From The Great Outdoor Fight

The Great Outdoor Fight lasts no more than three full days, or 72 hours. During this time, 3,000 men enter the Acres. One at a time they are removed by the Crane. One man, three days later, walks out of the gate as the Champion... the Last Man Standing.

These 72 hours officially have only a few required events. For the most part, anything goes at any time during the Great Outdoor Fight. In a practical sense, however, certain predictable patterns and sequences of events have evolved that are typically followed. Veterans and Students of the Fight have learned these patterns well, and successful fighters exploit them to their advantage and ignore them at their peril.

[edit] Pre-Fight (Day 0)

Before the Fight proper begins, the contestants gather outside the gate, often showing up two or three days early. Tower One is secured by both locks and guards, and contestants park in various numbered lots, according to their qualifying rankings. (Lot 2 is reserved for guests, approved commentators, and others who will watch the Fight from Tower One. Lot 3 is reserved for support staff like the food vendors outside the gates, entertainment staff, the Crane operators and so on. Lot 1, of course, is reserved for the Jeeps.)

At this time, contestants are usually sizing up the competition, making pre-Fight alliances, organizing into the factions and armies that will be seen, and loading up on food, since there is no food on the Acres (barring the turkeys and brandy, of course.) There is often some degree of violence outside the Gate, as well. Testosterone runs high before the Fight, and prospective leaders want to build their reputations as quickly as possible. There are no rules prohibiting pre-Fight violence. Any contestant rendered unable to compete is replaced by one of the dozens of alternates invited on hand for just such an occurrence. (Alternates are drawn by those who didn't quite qualify in the Qualifying Rounds.)

Extended pit stops in the provided port-a-potties are considered a must as well, since there are no formal facilities in the Acres.

Each contestant must also submit to a urine test to screen out those seeking to win the Fight by taking painkillers to dull the inevitable pain, or increase one's aggression and endurance by use of speed, PCP, or any other substance.

[edit] Day I

Day 1 begins in the morning, generally around 8 am. The contestants gather outside Gate 1 (also called Kenneth's Gate) after the announcement of one hour to gate up, queueing to enter. Queue placement is important, as there isn't much time to get inside and prepare a strategy.

The gate opens for two minutes. At this time, contestants have to run onto the Acres and get to whatever positions they wish as quickly as possible. After two minutes, the gate shuts, and the announcement to begin fighting is made. At this point, the gate will not open again under any circumstances, until it is time for the Champion to walk out... or the Jeeps to roll in.

Day 1 is a feeling out day. Generally, factions form up -- most often into two armies under two respective leaders, but sometimes into multiple smaller factions. (At least one year saw nine opposing factions on the field at once.) Leaders generally have to solidify their positions through high stakes combat, which means that some of the top fighters are generally among the first to be eliminated. (Alongside some of the most hapless fighters.) Generally within the first couple of hours the Leaders have established themselves and a tactical war between factions and armies begins.

The first day generally sees upwards of 1,000 to 1,900 contestants eliminated -- most of whom are taken out within the first three hours. After the initial flurry of top ranked contenders being put out to solidify leadership positions, most of the contestants who get eliminated are the very weakest on the field. The simple fact of the matter is a good percentage of any Fight's contestants are made up of people who qualified by default and have no business on the Acres. However, the Fight has always been a place to prove one's spirit, and all (who qualify) are welcome.

When evening comes, fire barrels are put out by the Crane, for warmth. This is a point where there is typically a lull in the action, while the armies regroup, gossip is spread, and the truly dangerous targets are assessed. While this is generally a peaceful time during the Fight, there certainly is no rule against fighting, and there are always some who get eliminated during this time.

As the evening gets later, something of a party atmosphere develops. The organizers typically put on entertainments and concerts for the fighters to enjoy. Fighters who choose to fight through these amusements typically do so out of the immediate view of the concerts or performances, so as not to be rude. Exceptions are made, of course, particularly when someone has entered a Dutch fugue. No food is provided during the Night One revels, but beverages (ranging from water to various alcoholic substances) are made available. Naturally, a percentage of the fighters get drunk enough to get right back to fighting, and so a number of eliminations follow from that, winnowing the field out.

[edit] Day 2

When Day 2 officially begins at 8:30, almost 2,000 combatants have typically been eliminated. At this point, the remaining fighters are not complete wastes of space, and various sections of the Acres have been taken over. The battles are strategic at this point, as the leaders maneuver their forces towards better ground and work to break the formations of the enemy.

At noon, the traditional feast of turkeys and brandy is offered to any leaders on the pitch. Each leader has a choice of eating his feast alone, or having his feast distributed among his men with him getting none. Naturally, each leader only gets one turkey and one bottle of brandy, so if that leader has a large enough army it won't get very far regardless, but most leaders have found it to be advantageous to pass their feast out and get some measure of loyalty instilled in his men. Some, of course, keep their feast for themselves.

Whether or not the Leaders share their meals or keep them for themselves, it is traditional for the Leaders to rest up during Day Two, from noon until seven thirty in the evening. They do this in the Snack Tent, having been called there by the Organizers, whether they eat or not. During this time, their armies continue their skirmishes and battles. This helps test the mettle of the men without direct leadership, as well as testing the leader's ability to plan and delegate authority.

At 7:30 or so, the leaders emerge from the Snack Tent and take stock of their situation. Sometimes they discover that their armies have disappeared while they were away -- either through attrition, defection or both. This is often a time when leaders consider breaking their own forces down or when ambitious lieutenants seek to improve their chances for victory by taking out their leader. Regardless, this is the point where the battle begins in earnest. Often, the battle will rage all through the night -- there are no entertainments for Night Two -- as the remnants of the armies and factions batter each other into submission.

Typically, those fighters brave (or stupid) enough to go it entirely alone will fall on day 2, assuming they survived day 1 in the first place. Almost all the chaff will be taken out before the coming of the dawn, and those who remain after night two are by definition the most dangerous men in the Fight.

It is worth noting that in 1952, the Fight was ended on day 2, after Antonia Pery finished eliminating the last remaining competition.

[edit] Day Three

When 8:30 rolls around on day three, there is almost never more than three hundred men left on the field. Sometimes fewer. Sometimes a lot fewer. It's not uncommon for less than fifty men to survive to day 3, and plenty of years have seen twenty or fewer greet the dawn.

At this point, all the convivial atmosphere and camaraderie are gone. Any remaining followers or army members find themselves cut off and alone, as the Fight becomes every man for himself. Starvation for all those denied a turkey dinner becomes a real consideration that must be dealt with. Everyone on the Acres is tired, dirty, bloody, and sore. Everyone remaining on the Acres is also a threat to all the others. No man or woman who sees 8:30 am on the inside of the gate is incapable of becoming Champion, and they all know it.

At this point, the fighters who have done the most damage can afford to hang back. More often than not their enemies will let them be, in hopes of finishing the fight with them, to build up their legend in post fight history. The remaining field will take themselves down. Usually when the field reaches five left standing or fewer, all men will be drawn into the fight, and all men will have to make it march.

When there are only two men left standing, it's customary to wait three or four minutes, to make sure both are as fresh as possible. During this time, they might speak or they might not. If they do not start fighting within an hour of becoming the Last Two Standing, the Ruling Body will unleash the Jeeps on them.

Most often, however, the pair fight. In 1962, the Jeeps were brought out when the Schweitz triplets tried to claim a three-way victory. They are now buried in the southeast field of the Acres. In 2006, Son of Rodney and Roast Beef were the only men able to claim a two-way victory, but only because no one and nothing was left standing when they were finished.

The loser is picked up by the Crane. The winner walks out Kenneth's Gate. The Fight is over, and a Champion for the year is crowned.

And then, they start to get ready for next year. The Cycle of the Fight continues.