mario

...volves a "pitch", or the field, designated by the selection of four trees, the cherry, maple, pine and willow. Many great houses in Japan would grow trees to have a permanent pitch, or field, established.

Kemari was normally played with two to twelve players. Established in roughly 1004 B.C., it vies for position of the oldest game with China's Tsu Chu. In fact, China's Tsu Chu players and Japan's Kemari players were the first to have an "International" game of their versions of Soccer, which is dated to have occurred in roughly 50 B.C., although a definite date of 611 A.D. is known. Regardless, this game stands with China as a sister sport to Soccer, while it never affected the modern version of the game.

Egyptian Soccer History

While not much is known about Egyptian Soccer, or other ball games, it is thought there was a version of a type of ball game played by young women during the age of Baqet iii. On his tomb, images of this sport were depicted, although no one is certain how the game was played or whether or not it truly affected the outcome of modern soccer. Recordings of this game date as far back as 2500 B.C., although not much more is known asides the fact that it was played with a ball. The lack of information on the sport and how it was played has eliminated it from runnings as the first evidence of a game similar to soccer.

Greek/Roman Soccer History

Perhaps the closest relative to modern soccer are the games that were formed by the Greeks during the prime of their culture. They had numerous varieties of football style games, some of which required hands, some of which forbade hands. In the end, after the Roman conquering of Greece, the game Harpastum is what modern soccer would be based from. This game, probably a modified version of the Greek's "Harpaston", which translates roughly to handball. While grossly misnamed, this game is what is considered to be one of the precursors to modern soccer.

british Soccer History

In Britain during the 8th century, soccer was created, not as a recreational sport, but as a war game. One of the stories of the original roots of the sport comes from when a Danish Prince was beheaded, and his head was used as a ball and was...more

Super Bowl 40: Decided in the Trenches

...wks have watched game film of that one again to try and figure out what they did wrong and what adjustments they need to make. Pittsburghs run-stuffers and quick, aggressive linebackers are as good as any in the league, and better than the Cowboys!

The Cowboys continually controlled the line of scrimmage by putting as many as nine defenders within 4 yards of the ball, even on passing downs. The Seattle offense, averaging 407 yards coming in to that game, finished with 289. In addition, QB Matt Hasselbeck was 23-of-42 for 224 yards, with one TD and two interceptions. Hell likely have to put up better numbers than that Sunday if Seattle is going to win a championship. Notice that dallas RB Marion Barber ran for 95 yards on 22 carries in Julius Jones' place. The St...more

NFL playoffs: chicago Bears Lost the Defensive Edge

...o heal their wounds and to review video tape but the week off also took away their sharpness on the field. They were so successful defensively because they would be able to swarm to the ball in record time. Yesterday as smith was running all over them, their ability to swarm to the ball was questionable.

The Panthers also did a great job at picking apart the Bears defense early. T...more

Champions League Round Up - 23 February 2006

...Chelseas hopes to claim the Champions League for their own took a major setback after Barcelona won the first leg at Stamford Bridge. The Blues had Asier del Horno sent off after 36 minutes but the 5/4 favourites took the lead on the hour through a Thiago Motta own goal.

From then on it was all Barcelona and their breakthrough came with 20 minutes left when Ronaldinhos free kick was glanced in by John Terry for the second own goal of the evening. Samuel Etoo sealed the win for the 9/4 outsiders with 10 minutes left.

Arsenal had better fortune against Spanish opposition, produc...more