The New Earl Campbell

Video by. ESPN

alaBAMa Amazing Catch

I've watched many great plays in football history for example, the Immaculate Reception, JJ wortan one handed catch, Jerome Simpson front flip, and many more. Out of all of those amazing plays, I've never seen a play like this. I'm not saying it's the best play ever, but it is a great one.

    

The History of Sports

   One day, I googled "first sport ever played on earth" and tons of different results popped up. Some were websites talking about baseball and football (both created in the late 1800's). Other websites said that golf was the oldest. Golf was invented in Scotland during the Middle Ages. To be specific, Golf was first played/recorded on February 26, 1297 in Loenen aan de Vecht. The game was played by the Dutch with a stick and a leather ball.

    

   So, was Golf the first sport ever played? According to some websites, yes, but to others, no. One website says that the first sport ever played was the Ancient Olympic Games. The games were played in 776 BC in Olympia. There was only one event, which was the footrace. This is the first time racing was ever actually recorded. I think that racing has been around forever. I'm pretty sure that Adam and Eve even raced a couple of times.

   Even though, racing was recorded 776 years before Jesus, another website claims that there was an even older sport. This sport was called Mesoamerican ballgame. The game/sport was created in 1400 B.C. The Mesoamerican ballgame was a very dangerous game for the players and the watchers. The winners would receive riches and gratitude from the fans. Mesoamericans had a hard life to live with no power of course, no medicine, and lot more, but they believed that to keep the sun shining, people healthy, and the crops growing, they would have to sacrifice an person. That person was the loser. This didn't happen every game, but it did happen to most games. The sport was played a little but different in certain places. The rules of the game are unknown, but people think that it's similar to racquetball. The goal of the game is to keep the ball in play. Most places allowed its players to their hips and their forearms other places allowed the use of rackets bats and handstones. The ball was about nine pounds and was made out of solid rubber. The balls had different sizes in different places. It was played in stone ballcourts. The sport was mainly played in North America and South America (the Pre-Columbian era).

                                

 Stone Ball Court at Uaxactun, in the Petén Basin region of the Maya lowlands.

(Picture from Wikipedia)

   I think 1400 B.C. was a long time ago, and it is, but that doesn't mean that the Mesoamerican ballgame is the oldest sport. There's actually that there's an older sport then that. The proof of the older sport(s) are cave paintings. One cave painting in the Cave of Swimmers in Wadi, Sura is evidence of swimming and archery being practiced around the year of 6,000 B.C. 

      

                             

Cave Art in the Cave of Swimmers

(Picture from Wikipedia)

 In the Bayankhongor Province of Mongolia Baylia is a cave painting of a wrestling match being surrounded by a crowd. This cave painting was from 7000 B.C. This means that wrestling has been around for an estimation of 9014 years. Wrestling is the oldest sport, but actually might be older than 9,000 years. In the Lascaux caves in France people think that a cave painting in the caves is a painting of sprinting and wrestling. That cave painting is around 15,300 B.C. If the people are right about what the drawing is, then that means that wrestling and sprinting is the oldest sport ever!

• Football, Hockey, Baseball (late 1800's)
• Golf (February 26, 1297)
• Ancient Olympic Games (776 B.C.)
• Mesoamerican sports (1400 B.C.)
• Swimming and Archery (proof) (6000 B.C.)
• Sprinting and Wrestling (proof) (15,300 B.C.)