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Hundreds show up in Nebraska for fight over name Josh

April 26, 2021 GMT

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Joshs gathered to battle it out to find out who is the rightful owner of the name Josh via a pool noodle battle royale in an open green space in Air Park on Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Lincoln, Neb. What started as a mid-pandemic joke took on life Saturday, as a mixed bag of individuals sharing only their name came to battle it out. The winner was to be declared the rightful owner of the name. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP)

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A fight over the name of Josh drew a crowd from around the country to a Nebraska park Saturday for a heated pool-noodle brawl.

It all started a year ago when pandemic boredom set in and Josh Swain, a 22-year-old college student from Tucson, Arizona, messaged others who shared his name on social media and challenged them to a duel.

Hundreds showed up at Air Park in Lincoln — a location chosen at random — to participate in the silliness.

The festivities started with a “grueling and righteous battle of Rock, Paper, Scissors” between the Josh Swain from Arizona and another Josh Swain from Omaha. KLKN-TV reports that the Arizona student won that competition, allowing him to claim the title of the true Josh Swain.

The pool-noodle competition that followed was open to anyone with the first name of Josh. The victor of that competition was a 4-year-old boy, who was coronated with a Burger King crown.

Swain, the organizer, said he is a little surprised about how the whole thing blew up: “I did not expect people to be as adamant about this as they are right now.”

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This story has been corrected to show that the winner of the pool-noodle competition was 4 years old, not 5.