Meaning of the Game
The Mesoamerican ball games expressed religious beliefs but they were arenas for secular beliefs as well. The ball court became a show case to display the wealth and power of the king. The more elaborate the ball court the more power and wealth the king was seen to have. The games also provided drama, vehicles for athletic contests and an outlet for gambling. The games under also provided a stage for a human team to be pitted against the gods and the frightening power of the natural world.
The teams on the court represented duality on the court and unification through opposition. The ball and its movement in the court symbolized the movement of heavenly bodies in the sky. The court was also the symbolic access to the underworld and at the same time the channel for the sun's rebirth daily. The ball game symbolized the universal struggle between the opposing forces of day and night, and the battle of the sun against the moon and stars. The game was further seen as the universal struggle between the opposing forces of good and evil, and life and death. The cosmos and the depth of the earth existed as dual concepts of the game.
Team games also provided a substitute for war. In battle warriors worked in teams to capture an enemy to bring home just as they worked in teams in the ballgames. Ball games were held to re-enact battles and the losing warrior was sacrificed at the game as a valiant warrior. It was an honor to be chosen. His blood would be let to replenish the land. The sacrificed warrior, like the Maize god, was a metaphor for life and death. The young Maize god appeared as young green shoots of maize in spring which grew maturity with the sun and rain during the summer only to whither away and die after the harvest. This was followed by the promise of resurrection and the replenishment of the earth through bloodletting. In the Mesoamerican tradition life was seen as a person's most valuable treasure and therefore worthy of offering to the gods.
The similarities to today's sports teams are endless. The cost of ball court construction in Mesoamerica, like today, entailed a major commitment of resources from a community. Participants in Mesoamerican ball games and American sports teams both use animals and raptors as team symbols. These symbols not only identified one team from another but the identifying symbol gave the team members superhuman or supernatural powers that could defeat any opposition. The fans of a particular team then identify with the team symbol thus giving up their individual identity to identify with the team. Mesoamerican ball courts, like our stadiums today, were used for particular events, ball games with opposing teams; the rest of the time these courts remained unused. In Mesoamerica these games were often ceremonial, associated with seasonal and astronomical activities; today we have seasonal sports which bring us together at certain times of the year to share a common pastime.
To field a winning team communities had to support the training and apprenticeship of players. At times this may have proven too burdensome at task, but these sport teams also became important integrating factors in the development of communities. Communities of people have often developed teams to develop cohesion within the group, an identity, work teams, and other cultural events such as singing, dancing, festivals, and hunting which bring people together to share a common purpose. The ball games not only brought participants together as teams but also promoted human bonding and emphasized the qualities of cooperation and obedience to rules to achieve success. Just as is done today, other participants, bands, cheerleaders, songs, and cheers add to the sense of being a part of the team and to our participation at the games.
The ball games also helped keep warriors in shape and provided a place where warriors could remain in shape. In 1896 when thought was given to starting the modern Olympics Baron Pierre de Courbertin believed that the main reason for the growth in England's power in the nineteenth century was due sports education in English schools. He also was convinced that the French defeat in the Franco-German war was due to the poor physical condition of the French and the lack of sport and physical education in the French schools (Hill 1).
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