SPORTS: BRAIN (ERROR), GLADIATOR(STRENGTH), POPULI (SIMPLE) GAMES Sean Ring As a

SPORTS: BRAIN (ERROR), GLADIATOR(STRENGTH), POPULI (SIMPLE) GAMES

Sean Ring

As a person who’s lived in 5 countries, I look at it like this: you have the “brain” games (baseball and cricket). Games you have to be taught how to score. It can’t be done intuitively. For instance, you can’t intuit the R H E in a baseball scoreline. Cricket is even harder. I’ve never done a study on it, but I think the only high-IQ country that doesn’t play either of these is Germany. (BTW, chess is not a sport. Period.) Next are what I’d call the “gladiator” games: games that demonstrate the ultimate manhood in whichever country you’re looking at: NFL, Rugby, Aussie Rules, Ice Hockey. Finally, you’ve got the “populi” games: Soccer/Futbol/Football and Basketball, in which any imbecile can figure it out after 2 minutes. Which is why it attracts the types of hooligans they do. Of course, there’s crossovers. But most people have a favourite and you can tell a bit about them by it, wherever you meet them in the world.