GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!
Seems I read somewhere a long time ago, before the Internet, that these ‘games’ were actually a way to prevent all out war between warring Mayan city-states, by having their teams play the game and being sacrificed if they lose.
That way only a handful of people were killed versus hundreds if not thousands in a full scale war...............