2. Mayan “Raquetball”
These days, racquetball is a fairly genteel sport. It is associated with a refined, rather than purely physical athlete. But early forms of the sport were much more violent. Consider the sport played by indigenous tribes, including the Maya and the Inca, throughout ancient Central and South America.
Although the exact rules of the game are a mystery, courts and rubber balls left behind by these tribes reveal what the sport entailed. Like the ancient sport of polo, this ball game simulated battle, but ancient Mesoamerican tribes took it one step further:
With games involving religious rituals, losers wouldn't simply shake hands and go home; they would be sacrificed to the gods. Some historians have even suggested that dismembered heads were used as balls in some ritualistic games.
