It is difficult to know what the Mayans did for a good time. Their chief sport — known to us simply as the ball game — was a kind of cross between football, basketball and hara-kiri. Rules stipulated you weren’t allowed to use either your hands or your feet but instead manoeuvred the ball — it weighed up to 8lbs, and was not allowed to touch the ground — with your shoulders, your hips, your buttocks or your back to get it through one of the two hoops on the side walls. Defeat didn’t mean dropping three points. The losing team were lined up and sometimes — the ultimate hairdryer treatment — decapitated.
很难知道玛雅人是如何消遣的。他们的主要运动——我们简单地称之为球赛——是一种介于足球、篮球和切腹之间的混合运动。规则规定不能用手或脚，而是用肩膀、臀部、臀部或背部操控球——球重达8磅，且不能触地——将球送入侧墙上的两个篮圈之一。失败并不只是失去三分。输球的队伍会被排成一排，有时甚至会被斩首，这就是终极的惩罚。