Mesoamerican Ballgame Analysis

Mesoamerica have been connected the North and South America culturally and geographically throughout the history. Mesoamerican culture and aspects heavily influenced southwestern United States, being the frontier borderline between North America and Mesoamerica. It is very important to study the relationship between the Mesoamerica and American Southwest because American Southwest contains various elements of Mesoamerican culture and this provides fundamental information about human behaviors, history, interactions, and tradition in America. Our group has selected Agriculture, Architecture, Religion, and Trade as our categories to analyze the relationship between American southwest and Mesoamerica. Fair trade, we will focus on scarlet macaws and how it got traded from Mesoamerica in the American southwest and its significance. For architecture, we will compare the ball courts of Hohokam and that of Mesoamerica. Significance of ball courts and how it got introduced into the American southwest from Mesoamerica will be discussed as well. Religion will be analyzed by focusing on the cosmological beliefs of both groups and the similarities and differences between Mesoamerican cosmology and American southwest cosmology.

It is undeniable that sports have a profound impact on society. Not only are sports a form of leisure, but in the 21st century sports have evolved into multi-billion dollar enterprises. The National Football League alone made 12 billion in revenue in 2015. Football is an American institution in the present but in the past it was Baseball that ruled American sports. Baseball is often referred to as America’s pastime, but it is much more than that. Baseball is a symbol of America, it is a game that reflects what it means to be American, and in many ways it tells the story of our country. From humble beginnings in Cooperstown, New York, through struggles and controversy in the early 20th century and culminating in the 1920’s when Baseball became essential to American life. Changes in sports tend to reflect changes in society; baseball being America’s pastime and part of the American identity is no exception. There is little doubt that baseball in American

“Both the Aztecs and the Mayans had a version of the game of basketball. The Mayans played the first basketball game around 500 years ago, although their ball was a human skull of a conquered foe!” (Faurschou, “History of basketball”). Aspects of the games included today’s basketball, American football, and

Like the bald eagle, baseball has become an icon for the term “American”. It was the nation’s first major sport and quickly was coined America’s pastime. It was created from a combination of other games during the 1840’s and became increasingly popular during the years of the Civil War (Brinkley 392). In their

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

The evolution of baseball has changed everything about baseball everything is different since the beginning ,including the players and how they play every new era has been better and their knowledge and how the play.The new generation of baseball players are showing baseball something they have never seen before.

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,

Mesoamerica is full of rich culture. Expeditions have revealed monuments of valiant, female sultan erected for display and iconography feminine in appearance. Women have played a prominent role in defining cultures; such is the case for Maya, Inca, and Aztec societies.

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.

The article “America’s Pastime” by Robert S. Fay and Tom Pfannoch, teaches readers about the history of baseball. The first unofficial baseball games were played in the early 1800’s, these games otherwise known as “town ball”. One of the earliest organizations to influence modernized baseball was the knickerbockers, the knickerbockers put together a set of rules and gave the game structure which helped standardize how the game is played today. Soon after, the game spread throughout the country and gained popularity among players and spectators as well, which led to the professional sport of baseball. Following the professionalization of the sport many leagues were formed, the present day MLB (Major League Baseball) has been considered America’s

While the MLL title is on the line in Tuolumne, in Sonora the ’Cats are trying to get in one final strong game before the beginning of the playoffs.

Baseball has for a long time been a staple in the American sporting culture as baseball and America have grown up together. Exploring the different ages and stages of American society, reveals how baseball has served as both a public reflection of, and vehicle for, the evolution of American culture and society. Many American ways including our landscapes, traditional songs, and pastimes all bear the mark of a game that continues to be identified with America's morals and aspirations. In this paper I will be addressing the long residuals of baseball as it specifically relates to the emergence of the

In the realm of the Classic Maya ballgame, there is much speculation based off carvings, and there exists little concrete knowledge. Overall, the ballgame served as a religious altar where sacrificial events took place, but various researchers find drastically different reasons for the act of sacrifice on the ball court. Miller and Houston explain, through a materialistic and political lens, that the Ancient Mayan ballgame served as a means for an individual, typically a captive of war, to play for their life; it was a political game to emphasize who was the stronger and authoritative society. However, Freidel, Schele, and Parker, through a spiritual and idealistic lens, see the ballgame as a ritualized reenactment of a mythological event involving the Hero Twins. Moreover, Miller and Houston’s argument, using archeological proof, is more convincing because Freidel, Schele, and Parker’s reliance on the Popol Vuh, written much later than the actual events it accounts, and a spiritual viewpoint exhibits a distorted story.

The photo displayed above provides some of the people who introduced baseball in America. These are individuals in the American history that have a substantial significance to lives of Americans today; they introduced baseball that some American depend on as a career to earn money to cater for their daily necessities (Panacy, 2017). Development of baseball by G. Wright, Alison, C, Leonard L.F, among others promoted entertainment in every part of the continent. Baseball development identified America has a continent with innovative change through various aspects of social life such as entertainment. In this manner, America shows advancement in some areas of life than other countries. America is identified by its nurturing value represented by the invention of the baseball, which has gone through

Male or female, sports were often introduced to many at a young age. Some vigorously exercised from their childhood just to be physically prepared to endure the sport’s requirements. Winning at these games brought great honor to some families and some were disciplined to dedicate their whole lives learning the game. Many civilizations involved sports within their community as a form of entertainment and competition. Even