Posted on 12/08/2017 12:47:05 PM PST by nickcarraway
Some 50 years ago, an area was cleared, hoops were erected and the town of San Pedro La Laguna, nestled at the foot of a volcano in Guatemala's southwestern shore, had its first basketball court. No matter that the court was made of dirt then. Today, that same ground houses the town's municipal court. By day, children participate in dribbling drills to later show off their Kyrie Irving moves or Steph Curry skills. Beginning in the 1980's, NBA games were televised, and the sport's popularity grew. The rest is history.
The local Hoyas and Cavaliers square off in the municipal court of Salcajá, a town in Guatemala's southwestern shore and 15 miles from San Pedro La Laguna. Salcajá is famous for the San Jacinto Church, founded in 1524 and the oldest in Central America. Basketball is a popular pastime as indigenous communities embrace the game.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
Didn’t the Mayans play some form of soccer with severed heads? Or was it another Central American group?
One could see the basketball as the modern equivalent.
it was akin to basketball in that it involved a raised hoop, but the hoop was vertical, not horizontal.
Cool...genius marketer and savvy businessman LaVar Whatever can have his sons dominate the Mayan league and sell his junk there!
At least nowadays they don’t execute the losing team.....as far as we know.
They used a rubber ball, although the part about the heads is in some of their myths.
It was a rubber ball, and the losing team lost their heads.
It was as much like basketball as soccer.
The winning team was the one that was supposed to get executed.
They also say soccer was started with severed heads. Who knows if that’s true.
I’m sure nobody knows ... but it doesn’t make much sense. It would hurt your foot!
>The winning team was the one that was supposed to get executed.
Nope. That’s one of the many lies told by trying to cover up for the crimes of the Aztecs and Mayans. They’ve frequently tried to claim that the Aztecs only sacrificed brave warriors caught in the battle to honor their gods, but whenever they find the gave sites in a temple most of the skulls are from women and children.
The real story is the Aztecs would attack the villages of people nominally under their control round up the women and children because they couldn’t fight back, sacrifice them(they frequently raped them first), and eat the flesh. This prevented the tribes around them from reproducing and was a slow form of genocide.
Yes, sorta. They played with a ball throwing thru a hoop/ring that was vertical.
The losing team was sacrificed.......................
“The real story is the Aztecs would attack the villages of people nominally under their control round up the women and children because they couldn’t fight back, sacrifice them(they frequently raped them first), and eat the flesh. This prevented the tribes around them from reproducing and was a slow form of genocide.”
I think Mel Gibson made a movie about that...
Better yet! No wonder they like it. Like old times.
They had a similar game that they played with human heads before Europeans showed up.
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