The Mezoamerican Ballgame

This reenactment of the "Mezoamerican Ballgame" - also known as "Juego de Pelota" - shows people using only their hips to hit the ball! I wouldn't've believed it possible until I saw it actual re-en-action. What remarkable skill! What a profoundly skill-demanding principle for a hip-based junkly soccer game! What a good reason to wear many, many layers of underpants!

The clip came to us courtesy of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mint Museum of Art. It is on a site meant for children, which probably explains why it's so fun. It doesn't explain, however, why it is also fun for the adult-labeled amongst us. My guess is that one of the designers had a remarkable understanding of kids and adults and the transcendence of fun.

So we have two noteworthy moments here: one, the fascinating re-creation of an ancient, culture-shaping sport, and two, a paradigm for the design of educational experiences on the Internet.