me jane. you jack. give jane ball.

have you ever stopped and thought about sports.  i mean like really think about them.  what was the first sport? who started it? who made up the rules? why do we even need sports? what purpose do they serve? why are they even fun? how do we find so much joy in playing sports? why are they fun to watch? if you really think about the answers to these questions sports in general begin to not really make sense.  i am and have been an athlete for the a large majority of my life but i still don't think i could answer half of these questions and make any sense.
someone once said to me that volleyball looked like "organized hot potato," and when you think about it, it really does.  individually, you can't touch the ball too long or you will be called for a lift and the other team will get the point, but at the same time you want to control the ball and pass it to your teammates so you can hit it to the other side of the net only so the other team can do the same thing right back.  football is yet another childhood game altered to make it acceptable for adults to play.  that game is keep away and a much more violent version of tag rolled into one, where the endzones are home base.  i'm sure i could go on and on and oversimplify every sport out there and relate it back to some childhood, but for time's sake i'll just leave it at those two.  with that in mind though, if you think about the sports that involve a ball, we are all basically barbarians chasing something that is usually bright with a funny shape.  we might as well be screaming "me want ball," just to tie it back to the days of neanderthals.  but yet some people's whole lives and careers are based around these seemingly pointless activities and there is still so much joy involved.  like i said, i am one of these ball-chasing, children-wannabes and i still can't explain why.