New Ball Games

Surely our hunter-gatherer ancestors played games: "Race you to that carcass," perhaps, or "I'm a better spear thrower than you." The winner ate; the loser was tiger bait. Our Darwinian need for competition, short of war, ultimately diverted to sport. The Greeks stopped battles for their Olympics; the Romans hailed their gladiators; they also played a version of soccer. Ancient sportswriters recorded it for us.

Of all our desires, what is it that compels men and women to throw, hit and kick balls, or chase one another for 100 meters or 26 miles? And what compels us to watch them at play and pay them exorbitantly for that privilege? It is better explained from inside a stadium filled with 80,000 singing, screaming fans, strangers bonding to celebrate the physical prowess of mortals, sharing victory that, although senseless in the abstract, provokes a kind of unfettered joy that even art and music can't match. It's millions of French citizens pouring into the streets to celebrate a World Cup triumph. It's the exhilaration of a downhill run, sinking a jump shot, holing a long putt. It's you or your team against whatever challenge sport can offer.

And in a world of 500 channels, there are more challenges every day. As our sports innovators show with their contributions, the need to run faster, jump higher and test our human limits is matched only by the need for imaginative sports programming and fancier arenas to stage it in.

--By Bill Saporito