Many a story on cow tipping have circulated over the years. Each time they are retold more details are added to the legend of terrorizing cows at night with a good hard shove that more often then not does not end up with the cow falling over with all four hooves pointed in the air.

But this doesn't deter college students, pranksters and rednecks from trying one of rural America's favorite pastimes. The first step on the path to a local dairy farm involves alcohol. Lots of it. Spectators and participants have found that booze eases the suffering of those that find themselves tipped into the nearest pile of steamy poop.

Recently a mad cow at the University of Tennessee's agricultural campus struck back for cows across America and retaliated by tipping a man.

An ambulance was called to the scene after an emergency call had been placed reporting a man being trampled by a cow. The bewildered bovines retreated from sight when the Knoxville Fire Department arrived to find the man conscious, alert and joking about being the first man who had been tipped by a cow and lived to tell about it.

The man was transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for evaluation of his injuries. After tipping the man, the cow stepped on his chest which required x-rays to be taken for precautionary purposes.

For every person who determines that cow tipping is impossible there is another person claiming to have seen it done. While cow tipping is definitely a cruel sport it is possible to stealthy sneak up on a resting herd and startle a cow with a firm shove upsetting its center of gravity causing them to lose their balance and fall to the ground.

Cows do not sleep standing up and are almost impossible to sneak up on. Cows are becoming more cautious after years of being tormented by these bored drunken "athletes".

The majority of attempts to tip a cow fail due to the inability of the intoxicated participants to quietly approach the unsuspecting cud chewing cows without laughing at each other or swearing when they have stepped in the randomly scattered piles of still steaming cow dung strategically placed like land mines during the day to protect them at night from high school high jinks.

In some rural areas children learn the mechanics of tipping a cow before they learn to talk. (see pictures)

The happy cow union has firmly stated their position that cow tipping is cruel and suggests that people give them a break and try tipping the other white meat instead, the unsuspecting pig. Have you tipped a pig today?

*No cows were injured in making the cartoon of the upside down tipped cow.

** Please don't attempt to tip a pig or a cow.

*** Save a cow/pig and tip a fraternity brother.