How Did The Olmec Ball Game Affect Society?

Sports are prominent in today’s culture more than ever. Almost everyone watches them, has a favorite team, or even competes in sports, but this wasn't always the case. In the early 1800’s, Americans were opposed to sports. Organized sports like the ones that we have today were not common at all. The idea of sports wasn’t even on the radar of most people.

The Olmecs were farmers, traders, artists… innovators. The Olmec culture first emerged in the Isthmus region of Tehuantepec. The site of San Lorenzo, which sits on the Coatzacoalcos River, sheds the most light on this mysterious culture. During this time period, The Initail Formative, food surplus sparked an increase in population and career specialization. With the increase of specialization and sedentism came the environment for complex culture.

In the early 20th century, the dominant theme in American sport was the spread and influence of “organized team sport” in American culture. Organized team sport gained attention and importance as early as the late 1800’s with the influence of Luther Halsey Guick. Guick viewed sports as a social tool that sped up an individual’s ability to self-govern and thus he pushed for public funded playgrounds in big cities. Guick also focused on integrating team competition into the school system as much as possible; he was incredibly successful in this endeavour and team competition became an integral part of the education system. One obstacle faced in physical education was the need for an indoor sport that could be played during the winter; this posed multiple obstacles in itself. Developing a game that could be played in a small enclosed area and was not rough, proved to be a challenging feat that was eventually overcome by James Naismith. The development of basketball furthered the integration of organized team sports into American culture.

When people think of sports, some of the first things that come to mind are ball games such as football and basketball, cheerleaders, and expensive halftime shows. We rarely think about the origins of these organized games, which date back thousands of years to the subtropical regions of Central America. Today’s sports fans have nothing on the Mayans. The Mesoamerican Ball Game is the oldest known sport in the Americas. It was a ritual, political and social activity that involved the whole community. The basic form “consisted of two parallel mounds separated by a playing field, but the ball court evolved and took on an important variation with end zones forming an I shape” (Foster, 2002, p.233). These structures had sloping walls and benches, where

Sports, especially ones that involve a ball, are modern America’s favorite pastimes. Well, this was also true for the Mesoamerican people of the ninth century. While the event does not have a specific name, it is referred to as the Mesoamerican ballgame. Like basketball, this game was played on a long, rectangular court (Stokstad 405). The ball itself is said to be pretty heavy and rubber. Unlike basketball, the players wore protective gear because the actual sport of the game was to use everything but your hands to hit the ball. The object was to make it into the protruding stone goal, in which the ball would enter horizontally and not longitudinally. Some scholars suggest that perhaps the Mesoamerican ballgame was used in times of warfare,

The concept of sports, as a competitive physical activity, has existed through much of recorded human history and it is academically recognized to have played a fundamental role in shaping

The Aztec ball game was a very important Aztec game. This game was played with a large rubber ball. It was considered a very difficult game. The game was not just important for entertainment, but also politics and religion. Another game was Patolli.

Before the Great Depression, the MLB was in ways a lot different than it is today. When baseball was first invented it was a big hit. There were many different ways to play back then and there still are today. It is more organized and there are more rules. The 1919 World Series changed the way it is played and changed the outlook on baseball. MLB officials watch very closely so there is not a scandal like the one in 1919. It not only changed the way it is played, it changed the way it is written about also.

It sometimes takes one person to make an impact on something so big. In this case, it was three people that made an impact on three different sports in the 1920’s. Jack Dempsey, Paavo Nurmi, and Babe Ruth all played different kinds of sports throughout the 1920’s. They did not only make an impact on sports, but they have made an impact on America in a very positive way. Paavo Nurmi, Babe Ruth, and Jack Dempsey have made a huge impact on sports and without them, sports would not be the same today. Sports has changed because of the impact that these guys have made.

The Mesoamerican ball game was said to be invented around the Pre-classical Period by the Olmecs and was a well adopted sport by many different civilizations by the time of the Classical Period. In Mesoamerican mythology the ball game is a significant factor in the story of the Mayan gods Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu. Both of these gods had annoyed the gods of the underworld with their noisy playing and the two brothers were tricked into going into the underworld where they were challenged to a ball game (Cartwright). The two brothers eventually lost the game and Hun Hunahpu had his head cut off. This would be a common practice in the

They used the game to settle land arguments, most disputes between tribes, and anything not quite major enough for a war. Some tribes wagered land or resources. Death and critical injuries were considered normal in the game. In the 1890’s, “to play ball against them” was a slang term to declare war on another tribe.

Since the early 1400s BCE, people of this era have played one of the earliest known forms of a sport that involves two teams and a rubber ball played on a court. Based on archaeological evidence, Tlachtli (which translates in English to “ball game”) is thought to have been played by the civilizations of Mesoamerica including the Aztec, Maya, Olmec, and Toltec. The game was more than a sport to these people. It was a means of settling conflicts and maintaining social harmony, it was a very important part in the ritualistic lives of those cultures. The most fascinating aspect of this sport is what set it apart from other ritual-based events of these cultures. Based on how you played in the ball game was a matter of life and death. As seen

There were separate teams for black players because they were not allowed to play on white professional teams. In the late 1800s, professional African American players played on all-black teams such as the Cuban Giants. But some baseball managers and owners of Major League teams wanted to hire African Americans. In order to get around the rules, they listed some black players as Hispanic or Native American. Baseball remained an independent sport well into the 1940s. In 1945, a talented young player named Jackie Robinson joined the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro American League. He would become baseball's "great

Many know about the ancient civilization, the Aztecs, but most people don't know about their recreation. One of the only forms of entertainment they had was the very popular sport, Ulama. Ulama is a ball game played by the Aztecs. Ulama is a game where you hit a rubber ball (that could weigh up to 10 pounds) through a small hole without using your hands or your feet. The Aztec ball game was actually a revision of an ancient Mesoamerican game that was played by many peoples including the Mayans.

This game were played by the Aztec, Mayas, Olmec, and other Mexican groups. No one knew whether Olmec where the ones who invented this game or adopted it from another society. Olmec were the ones who were responsible for spreading it across to the Mesoamerican cultures. Six hundred ball courts have been found in Mesoamerica and scientist believe there are more hidden in abandoned cites. The ball games were played on large courts of hundreds of people watching. The court was set up like the letter I, it was about 120 by 30 feet long. They played with a big heavy rubber ball that weighs about six to ten pounds. If it was thrown pretty hard it could injure or even kill a player. The object of the games was to score points by getting the ball through the stone hoops on the side