The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame

The world's first team sports were invented in Mexico by the Olmec, circa 1800 B.C. Played with balls made from the indigenous rubber plants, the games shared some aspects of basketball, football and soccer and were a vital part of Mesoamerican society, through the Mayan civilization until the Spanish forbade them in the 16th century. In The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame, editor E. Michael Whittington, curator of pre-Columbian and African art at North Carolina's Mint Museum, displays 323 photographs (171 in color) of numerous artistic and textual representations of such games, including the Mayan creation myth, the Popol Vuh. Various scholars discuss mythic games between humans and gods, the human sacrifices that followed certain games, the ball court of Aztec capital Tenochtitlan now buried under Mexico City and other fascinating details about the Mesoamerican jock set. (Oct.)