Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Spectator sports and balls

 For the last two months,you could not have picked up a newspaper or switched on a news channel without being inundated about the Soccer World Cup  or the Wimbledon. Billions of dollars  were spent on organizing, training and advertising on these events.

 In ancient times emphasis was on man's ability to run, throw, wrestle and compete on a one to one basis. The only team sport was going to war with each other. 

The  exception was racing horses which still continues to date. Horses in chariot races have been replaced by horsepower in Formula 1. 

For what ever reason the majority of spectator sports which attract the maximum viewership these days center round balls. Difficult to explain why this obsession with balls, perhaps because of its ability to roll across different terrains.

Golf - where men and women  go around hitting hard balls with curved  steel sticks .

Tennis - where two opponents whack a bouncing ball across with all their might. and within a constrained area.

Soccer - the mother of all sports in terms of viewership, where two teams go kicking a air filled hand sewn leather ball from one end of a field to the other and then shoot it through a rectangular bar .

Cricket - played in a large circular field rather like a Roman arena but played in a more gentlemanly manner.
In this game the batsmen tries to whack a hard ball thrown at him.

Rugby/Football  - a slight modification of  soccer, but which appears to be a rougher tougher version of pass the parcel. A oval shaped leather "ball" is tossed,thrown  and occasionally kicked across a field.

Basket ball - where grown up's bounce and toss a air filled rubber ball.

Hockey - where people using curved sticks hit a hard  ball from one end of the field to the other.

Ice Hockey - a variation of hockey played indoors and on ice. The ball is replaced with  a  puck made of vulcanized rubber which performs the same functions as a ball in ball games.

Volleyball - where you hit a air filled ball across a net using your hand instead of your feet. 

Yes you might have other sports such as badminton but in terms of viewer ship they do  not even come  close. 

The sports men  (or women) who can hit, kick, throw a ball are idolized and paid  huge sums  of money.Sports is a level playing field where your ability to manipulate a ball can take you out a slum to undreamt of riches. 








No comments:

Post a Comment