The Seven Great Games
Human beings have several avenues for entertainment. Particularly in today's world where we have 300 television channels, a movie house every so many miles, video games, theater and three sports for each day of the week.
No form of entertainment is as engaging, however, as one centered on competition. Even our television shows have now been focused on individuals or teams competing. These forms of entertainment I like to call games. They could be a game of chance, skill, knowledge or athletics, but they are all just that -- games. Everything from Jeopardy to the Super Bowl is a game.
And with that in mind, I'd like to list what I believe to be the best seven games we have created.
7) Poker: Easily the best of the card games, poker is as romantic as it is historical. We can envision Doc Holliday playing in a Tombstone saloon, or a celebrity on a Texas Hold 'Em tourney on TV. We play it ourselves, in basements or kitchen tables all across the country. Even James Bond turned in his Baccarat chips for poker in the most recent Casino Royale. It's a game of chance, yes, but it's also a game of knowledge and skill. Few things in the gaming world are as sexy as the art of the bluff.
6) Formula 1 Racing: Racing is as basic as competition gets. It's all about speed. In its purest form -- track -- it's about pushing the human body to its limits, either in a sprint or marathon. Horse racing is also beautiful and romantic -- and Secretariat's famous ride may be the greatest performance in sports history. There's also cycling -- few competitions can match the Tour de France. Still, I have to bow to auto racing on this one. More specifically, the European circuit. I mean, NASCAR may be popular, but driving 175 miles per hour in an oval is less gripping to me than the way they race in Europe. Windy roads, hair-pin turns, Ferrari, Porche, Alfa Romeo -- the way it ought to be.
5) Tennis: There are so many variations on this sport -- badminton, volleyball, ping pong, paddle tennis -- that it's no surprise it has made the list. It is a game requiring more than mere athletics. There is a strategy, there is skill. And there is style. Watching two greats go head-to-head in tennis is as wonderful as can be: McEnroe-Borg, Evert-Navratilova, Aggasi-Sampras, Federer-Nadal. You can't help but want to grab a racket when you watch them.
4) Soccer: Another sport with so many variations. Goal-oriented games come in so many forms. There is soccer with sticks on ice (hockey), soccer with sticks on horses (polo), soccer with sticks and nets (lacrosse). Even basketball and American football are just variations on the same theme. I choose soccer as the best of these games for a few reasons. First, it is one of the few sports where women have done so well. Watching a women's soccer match is as exciting as watching the men. Also, no sport has captured the world quite like soccer. And that is saying something.
3) Chess: Let's not forget the board games. When athletic prowess is not necessary, knowledge becomes the most important of skills. Strategy is the weapon here, and no board game captures it as much as the legendary game of chess. It's not even easy to understand, and it is as difficult as any game to master. Chess is the greatest exercise for the mind that we have created. Pull up a chair and get smarter.
2) Boxing: Fighting games are, like track, the purest of competitions. It is one-on-one, my best vs. your best. Winner takes all. There is no second place. What separates boxing from the other fighting games (wrestling, judo, karate, taekwondo, muy thai and "ultimate" fighting) is not that it is necessarily better. It's the boxers. Each era has its boxing legends. There are the ferocious sluggers we all feared (Liston, Foreman, Tyson). There were the skilled fighters who dazzled us (Robinson, Leonard, Ali). There were the warriors (Frazier, LaMotta, Holyfield). And, when we're lucky, we get to watch great ones bring out the best in each other (The Thrilla in Manila).
1) Baseball: Come on, it's me. Still, no other sport captures all the greatness of competition quite like baseball. It's one-on-one within a team sport. It requires athleticism. It requires skill -- it's often said that the most difficult thing to do in sport is to hit a pitched baseball. It requires strategy. It requires knowledge. It's not a race against the clock. As modernity has altered so many other games, baseball has remained remarkably the same. Our first and arguably greatest sports hero, Babe Ruth, was a baseball player. It's tied so closely to our nation's history it is in the very fabric of American culture. One does not need to be a biological oddity to succeed at it, as is the case in football and basketball. It even gives the illusion that anyone can play it. And in no other game are the competitors so burdened by the successes of previous players as in the game of baseball. There are other bat-and-ball games -- heck, cricket, rounders and town ball all pre-date baseball. But no game is as perfect as the game of baseball.
No form of entertainment is as engaging, however, as one centered on competition. Even our television shows have now been focused on individuals or teams competing. These forms of entertainment I like to call games. They could be a game of chance, skill, knowledge or athletics, but they are all just that -- games. Everything from Jeopardy to the Super Bowl is a game.
And with that in mind, I'd like to list what I believe to be the best seven games we have created.
7) Poker: Easily the best of the card games, poker is as romantic as it is historical. We can envision Doc Holliday playing in a Tombstone saloon, or a celebrity on a Texas Hold 'Em tourney on TV. We play it ourselves, in basements or kitchen tables all across the country. Even James Bond turned in his Baccarat chips for poker in the most recent Casino Royale. It's a game of chance, yes, but it's also a game of knowledge and skill. Few things in the gaming world are as sexy as the art of the bluff.
6) Formula 1 Racing: Racing is as basic as competition gets. It's all about speed. In its purest form -- track -- it's about pushing the human body to its limits, either in a sprint or marathon. Horse racing is also beautiful and romantic -- and Secretariat's famous ride may be the greatest performance in sports history. There's also cycling -- few competitions can match the Tour de France. Still, I have to bow to auto racing on this one. More specifically, the European circuit. I mean, NASCAR may be popular, but driving 175 miles per hour in an oval is less gripping to me than the way they race in Europe. Windy roads, hair-pin turns, Ferrari, Porche, Alfa Romeo -- the way it ought to be.
5) Tennis: There are so many variations on this sport -- badminton, volleyball, ping pong, paddle tennis -- that it's no surprise it has made the list. It is a game requiring more than mere athletics. There is a strategy, there is skill. And there is style. Watching two greats go head-to-head in tennis is as wonderful as can be: McEnroe-Borg, Evert-Navratilova, Aggasi-Sampras, Federer-Nadal. You can't help but want to grab a racket when you watch them.
4) Soccer: Another sport with so many variations. Goal-oriented games come in so many forms. There is soccer with sticks on ice (hockey), soccer with sticks on horses (polo), soccer with sticks and nets (lacrosse). Even basketball and American football are just variations on the same theme. I choose soccer as the best of these games for a few reasons. First, it is one of the few sports where women have done so well. Watching a women's soccer match is as exciting as watching the men. Also, no sport has captured the world quite like soccer. And that is saying something.
3) Chess: Let's not forget the board games. When athletic prowess is not necessary, knowledge becomes the most important of skills. Strategy is the weapon here, and no board game captures it as much as the legendary game of chess. It's not even easy to understand, and it is as difficult as any game to master. Chess is the greatest exercise for the mind that we have created. Pull up a chair and get smarter.
2) Boxing: Fighting games are, like track, the purest of competitions. It is one-on-one, my best vs. your best. Winner takes all. There is no second place. What separates boxing from the other fighting games (wrestling, judo, karate, taekwondo, muy thai and "ultimate" fighting) is not that it is necessarily better. It's the boxers. Each era has its boxing legends. There are the ferocious sluggers we all feared (Liston, Foreman, Tyson). There were the skilled fighters who dazzled us (Robinson, Leonard, Ali). There were the warriors (Frazier, LaMotta, Holyfield). And, when we're lucky, we get to watch great ones bring out the best in each other (The Thrilla in Manila).
1) Baseball: Come on, it's me. Still, no other sport captures all the greatness of competition quite like baseball. It's one-on-one within a team sport. It requires athleticism. It requires skill -- it's often said that the most difficult thing to do in sport is to hit a pitched baseball. It requires strategy. It requires knowledge. It's not a race against the clock. As modernity has altered so many other games, baseball has remained remarkably the same. Our first and arguably greatest sports hero, Babe Ruth, was a baseball player. It's tied so closely to our nation's history it is in the very fabric of American culture. One does not need to be a biological oddity to succeed at it, as is the case in football and basketball. It even gives the illusion that anyone can play it. And in no other game are the competitors so burdened by the successes of previous players as in the game of baseball. There are other bat-and-ball games -- heck, cricket, rounders and town ball all pre-date baseball. But no game is as perfect as the game of baseball.
posted by E-Luv at 9:44 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home