Amongst the bloggers on this site, there is a ton of discussion on what truly constitutes a sport. If it isn't manly then some just don't think it's so. Archaeologists and Anthropologists can trace the origin of sports to almost 300,000 years ago. The evidence is in cave drawings in France, Australia etc. These drawings place archery and wrestling as perhaps the first documented sports used for recreation and not survival.
Then we have "ball sports." These are the manly sports that most of the population consider sports. The Mayans created courts for ball related sports that are still being used today. Our own American Natives created the first versions of Laccross and due to the whole Duke scandal, more Americans are aware of the sport.
Ancient Egyptians gave us swimming and fishing for recreation/sporting purposes and the first sporting dogs. Sorry all of you who complain about the airtime given to AKC, Eukanuba Tournament etc. The Egyptians gave us the Greyhound and look at them now!
There is the Chinese culture that has given the world so much. Thanks for the pasta and fireworks! However, there are ancient pieces of artwork that give China the nod for the sport of gymnastics.
Who can forget the Olympics. Here is where wrestling, archery and horeseracing really got going. The Greeks also gave us the Marathon. The ironic part is that the first Marathon runner ended up dying because of his historic run. Number 1,000 why I will never run more than 3 miles.
Then we have our aristocratic bretheren that perfected Boxing rules in London in the 1700's and yes... wait.... Horseracing. This sport got it's official nod when Queen Ann built the first official racecourse in England. The aristocrats in England also gave us tennis and the aristocrats in France gave us field hockey.
Here we are now in the 20th century still watching sports, playing sports and arguing about sports. As American's we can say we contributed to the sporting era's with basketball and football. I am still in awe at what humans are capeable of with independant thought. Wheather you like horeseracing or dog shows, or laugh at the men in gymnastics you've got to feel the awe of the history behind them and revel at how far we have come. No one will ever agree what constitutes a "real" sport, what is truly important is that we particpate in them, enjoy them and keep them going for generations to come.
