this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
13 points (100.0% liked)

World News

89 readers
1 users here now

News from around the world!

founded 2 years ago
top 8 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Very cool. Iirc, in those ancient ball games, it was really hard to get the ball through the hoop and if you did you won a lot of riches.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Actually, captain of the winning team got sacrificed and met the gods.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The captain maybe, but if someone actually made the ball go through the hole the game was stopped and that person was given all the wagered loot, and was also able to take things from the audience or whoever he wanted too.

Thing is, it was really difficult to make the shot. So a very rare occurrence.

Also the audience got really into betting, some of them lost it all, and some even gambled themselves into slavery.

Fun game!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

And Michael Jordan took it personally…

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

But instead of Airs he used Ass.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

The more I hear about these games, the less fun they sound. I think it was just the person who literally puts it through the hoop that gets the riches, though, not the captain?

I have a hazy memory of some Mayan leader called Bird Jaguar The Great actually putting their political opponents inside a ball and kicking it down the steps, but that sounds like a fever dream.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Bird Jaguar the great likely used his hips or buttocks to send the victim's remains, encased in a large rubber ball down a long flight of stone steps.

Ball skills!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

That doesn't sound as bad, I was imagining a live captive like in a hamster ball.

load more comments
view more: next ›