The Wikiness

It has been said that “sports take a human necessity and make a game of it.”

* So soccer takes the necessity of human movement, role-distribution, teamwork, and goal-achievement and puts it on a field with rules so well that it is the world’s most popular sport.
* So baseball takes the skill of stalking and killing game with rocks and clubs and turns it into “America’s pass-time”
* So football takes the cooperative coordination of the modern corporation, adds brute strength, padding, and testosterone, and enchants billions every SuperBowl.
* And hockey takes the human skill of adapting to new tools and new work environments, combines it with teamwork and aggression, and from September through June delights many fans and Zamboni drivers.

Here is a highlight reel showing grace on skates, speed, amazing stickwork and spectacular body slams–the lower and higher capacities of humans

Could it be that if only they had been able to channel their “beast”ly tendencies in a sport, like these NHL players (and fans), the boys in Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies might have been able to keep their society intact?

For the most part, it seems to be working for our society, where 30% more men than women enjoy sport, and violence between groups is (except for gangs) relatively low.
Rules keep sports from getting out of hand. , and rules in the case of hockey allow for violent intervals. Sports sublimate human aggression in ways that keep everyone safe. Let’s go, Blackhawks!