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(rooster crowing)

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(people chattering)

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(engine rumbling)

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(gentle music)

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One of the things that makes ball games different

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is the degree of uncertainty and chaos and spontaneity

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that putting a bouncing ball with human limbs creates.

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That's above all what balls bring,

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spin, uncertainty, variation, bounce.

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The ball game is a microcosm of our lives.

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When we win we thank God.

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When we lose we curse the universe.

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It's the place where we can act out

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the drama of human existence.

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It happens across every culture, across thousands of years.

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These sports have developed

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with the ball at the center of them.

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When we look back through time,

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we see again and again the sphere,

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fascinating, bewildering and enchanting our ancestors

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and asking us what does it mean to play

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and why do we love it so much?

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(gentle music)

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(birds and insects chirping)

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Humans did not invent play.

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We only develop it and add new elements.

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(energetic music)

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The play instinct is deeply rooted

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in animals and humans as primates.

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Play is the thing.

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It's, the only point of playing is to play.

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(monkeys squeaking)

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Play is the central paradox of evolution.

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It's a huge puzzle because evolution

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is supposed to be efficient.

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How did natural selection,

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which is supposed to always be making

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everything more functional and more efficient,

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produce this purposeless behavior

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that seems to be without function, seems to be pointless.

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It involves a tremendous expenditure of energy.

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(monkeys squeaking)

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Rats do it.

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Mice do it.

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Monkeys do it.

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Meerkats do it.

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That it exists across these different species

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means that it's been naturally selected for.

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So, it's important.

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As important as reproducing.

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What is it doing?

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In the 19th century scientists thought that if a cat

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was playing at hunting that they were practicing

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for an actual hunt.

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But we've learned over time

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that it's not that straight forward.

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When we studied the development

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of ball play in young animals, what we see is early on

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they'll do certain things which are pretty simple

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like just push the ball, maybe mouth the ball and so on.

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And then they learn, well, maybe I can dribble the ball.

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When they're first learning that, they're not good at it.

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They're failing a lot.

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They shouldn't persist at that behavior.

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But, in fact, it's because they want to get good at it.

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You're not worried about solving a problem.

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So, you're more likely to generate these novel uses.

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So, if you love the process, the process sucks you in.

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Then you're much more willing to go off on these tangents.

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Creativity.

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Novelty.

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It could be that flexibility is the key

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to what makes it adaptable to future situations

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and helping us to survive.

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(film reel whirring)
(dramatic music)

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The classic example of this, Wolfgang Kurler,

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a famous German gestalt psychologist, had these chimpanzees.

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Kurler put bananas out of reach

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and he gave one chimpanzee two sticks.

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His name was Sultan.

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Sultan took the sticks, jumped up with the sticks,

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threw the sticks up, couldn't get the damn bananas down.

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He gets frustrated.

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Eventually he just sits.

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Ah, the hell with it.

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I'm just gonna play with the sticks.

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Then oh, they do this, do that.

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Then they go together and the ah-ha moment.

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Just by mistake, by the drive of novelty,

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by exploration, i.e. object play.

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Sticks go together.

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Bananas come down.

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Quintessential form of social play is rough and tumble play.

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Play fighting.

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The golden rule you follow is I've got to give

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the other guy a chance.

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There has to be reciprocity.

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And you see this in the rats all the time.

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You see one animal on top and then he gets thrown off

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and he goes on the bottom and they just keep doing this

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through a reciprocal interaction

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that you just don't see in a real fight.

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There's a structure.

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Rules that you follow.

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There's got to be enough cooperation to make it possible

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for both animals to win sometimes.

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But in that structure you can have unexpected variation.

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The animal has to continually evaluate his or her actions

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and those of its partner.

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And they're exactly the sorts of things that help train

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the development of the prefrontal cortex.

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The play is shaping the brain to be able to perform

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in much more intricate ways than without it.

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So, we have a causal link between play,

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development of the prefrontal cortex

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and, consequently, the development of these social skills.

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(heavy panting)

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There's increasing evidence that puts play at the center

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of some of the biggest evolutionary breakthroughs.

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Sociality and empathy through rough and tumble play.

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Tool use through object play.

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The moment you have creatures entering into a metaphorical

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relationship with objects where a stone isn't just a stone,

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it's a tool, then you also have the possibility

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of other metaphorical relationships emerging.

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Gestures, signs, signals.

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The beginning of language.

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Generally, I'm interested in the origins of human language

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and to try understand how language evolved,

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it's very interesting to look at our closest relatives.

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Play is incredibly rich in terms of communication.

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(animals screeching)

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When bonobos are playing they very, very often laugh.

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(monkey laughing)

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Laughter becomes a signal to your partner

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that you are still playing.

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The way dogs do it, and other animals,

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they do what's called the play bow,

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where they bow on their forepaws.

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They put their butts up in the air.

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(dog howling)

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The play bow is used to say I want to play with you.

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And then it's used very strategically.

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Before a dog bites another dog,

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they'll say I'm gonna bite you hard but it's still play,

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and so we've discovered that the play bow

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is a very ubiquitous signal.

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It shouldn't surprise us that a ball in the hands

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of a highly intelligent and social animal

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is gonna bring out a lot of familiar behaviors

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that look just like what happens when we play.

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(monkeys squeaking)

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But I think that behavior provides a clue

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as to why ball games are so important to us.

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(engine rumbling)

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The ball is a very universal experience.

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It's a tool to explore security versus insecurity.

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And I think with a ball, there's a sense of give and take

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that's very soft and very yielding.

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I wanted to see if the possibility of emotion

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and deep emotion could generate a physical commitment

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to how to work with an object.

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Not to take a ball and control it,

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but to let the ball be what the ball is.

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Round.

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(gentle music)

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No one invented the ball.

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It had to come out of the natural world.

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Where do our predilection,

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our fondness for roundness comes from?

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Whether it's the sun and the moon

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or a pregnant woman's belly,

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these are things that we see from the youngest age.

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(waves roaring)

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The sphere is really a form that we're drawn to in nature

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and are surrounded by.

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One thing we know for sure is that we're primates.

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Primates eat fruits.

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So, much of our behavior really parallels

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or has relationship with the ape world.

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Food items, especially the highly caloric ones

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tend to be round.

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Fruits, nuts, eggs, seeds and stones.

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It's no coincidence that the ball evolved from these things

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that we depended upon for our existence.

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Between one and two million years ago,

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many of our hominid ancestors lived

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around the Olduvai Gorge area.

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Archaeologists have found numerous

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stone artifacts and tools there.

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Of the spheres that were found,

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some of them were too large to hold in the hand

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so don't seem to have been tools per se

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but an object of interest.

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And they gathered these balls.

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Perhaps they'd made them.

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Maybe they'd found some.

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Maybe they'd made others.

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Why?

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If some of these objects were not of practical use

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and were stemming more into the symbolic

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and perhaps artistic,

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it is in a way a stupid thing to do.

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It's risky.

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On the plains of Africa struggling to survive.

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You've got drought.

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You've got floods.

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You've got lions around the corner.

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The fact that they were gathered into one place

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means that they must have had some kind of significance.

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It's quite possible our ancestors

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made no direct distinction between tools

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and metaphorical function.

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It can be at once a hammer and a breaker

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and something beautiful and something playful.

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Were these objects of play?

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Were they, one of the earliest forms

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of a ball that we know of?

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Ancient ball games were concerned with the idea of survival.

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Survival against nature.

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Controlling the ball was their way of exerting control

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over the natural world which was so unpredictable,

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chaotic and dangerous.

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The ball could represent much more

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than the actual object itself.

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It represented the movement of the planets, the seasons.

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It represented whatever you wanted to map onto it.

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The game evolved.

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It is started as a highly ritual activity

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and eventually was becoming a more recreational activity

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because people connected with them

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so much they gave meaning to their lives.

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The first physical evidence we have of ball games

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being played is from ancient Egypt.

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They were highly symbolic affairs.

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The Egyptian Pharaoh would throw the ball

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and would kind of inaugurate the games with great spectacle.

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In a way, it's not that different

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than say the president showing up

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and throwing the first pitch

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which is a highly ritualized affair

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that's not really play in the sense of fun.

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It's something much more meaningful.

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Games even are linked to the identity of people.

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And this is something very clear in the case of ulama.

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The game of ulama was played for over 3,000 years

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in a region spanning from Arizona all the way

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through to Central America and into the West Indies.

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(waves crashing)

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When the Spanish came to Mesoamerica,

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one of the things that freaked them out was the way

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the ball in the Mesoamerican ball game bounced.

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They couldn't believe it.

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All humans in every ages always face

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the challenges of nature and they have responses

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that are similar regardless where in the world you are.

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The genius of Mesoamerican society was to work out,

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A, not only how to make rubber,

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but how to vulcanize it, right.

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To give it that kind of incredible elasticity.

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In this case of the ulama,

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it's a rubber ball that comes from the trees.

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Tree produces a sap that is sticky.

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You feel that that sticky sap became part of your body

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like a second skin.

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(gentle music)

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And you begin to manipulate that sap.

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It begins to grow little by little.

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It's developing like a human being.

270
00:18:53,210 --> 00:18:56,270
Imagine you've spent millennia as humanity

271
00:18:56,270 --> 00:19:01,250
kicking pebbles and skulls and something bounces.

272
00:19:02,190 --> 00:19:03,543
Oh, my God.

273
00:19:06,417 --> 00:19:09,167
(dramatic music)

274
00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,940
So, people felt a connection to the sacredness

275
00:19:17,940 --> 00:19:18,773
through these objects.

276
00:19:18,773 --> 00:19:21,313
Are they gonna connecting to the essence of life.

277
00:19:31,783 --> 00:19:35,030
Ulama is arguably the oldest sport in the world.

278
00:19:35,030 --> 00:19:37,320
And today there's maybe 100 players

279
00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:39,153
that can still play this sport.

280
00:19:40,765 --> 00:19:43,598
(dramatic music)

281
00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,010
The ball represented the sun

282
00:19:59,010 --> 00:20:01,980
and the people trying to keep the ball in play

283
00:20:01,980 --> 00:20:06,260
represented different celestial bodies or forces of the sky

284
00:20:06,260 --> 00:20:07,967
because they understood that the sun

285
00:20:07,967 --> 00:20:09,530
had to do with everything.

286
00:20:09,530 --> 00:20:11,853
All the aspects that give life to people.

287
00:20:14,060 --> 00:20:15,740
Europeans showed up in Mesoamerica

288
00:20:15,740 --> 00:20:17,240
with their own version of the ball.

289
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:19,397
It was called pelota de viento

290
00:20:19,397 --> 00:20:22,490
and it was basically an animal bladder filled with air.

291
00:20:22,490 --> 00:20:24,870
Those balls had a very dull bounce.

292
00:20:24,870 --> 00:20:26,690
Very limited bounce.

293
00:20:26,690 --> 00:20:28,630
The Spanish thought the devil was in the ball.

294
00:20:28,630 --> 00:20:29,463
They really did.

295
00:20:29,463 --> 00:20:31,740
They thought some mad spirit, you know,

296
00:20:31,740 --> 00:20:34,973
that needs to be restrained and controlled is there.

297
00:20:35,820 --> 00:20:38,440
In 1588, the Spanish banned the game of ulama

298
00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,000
across Mesoamerica because it represented

299
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,130
the pagan past of the culture.

300
00:20:43,130 --> 00:20:45,360
They thought it was an integral part

301
00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:48,250
of religious or philosophical ideas that could be harmful

302
00:20:48,250 --> 00:20:49,520
to Christianity.

303
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:51,560
The Maya understood that the sap

304
00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:53,140
from the rubber tree was the source

305
00:20:53,140 --> 00:20:54,763
of the movement in the ball.

306
00:20:56,350 --> 00:20:58,963
While blood is the source of human life.

307
00:21:02,420 --> 00:21:05,280
Giving blood for blood is giving life

308
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,540
to the stars and the planets.

309
00:21:07,540 --> 00:21:10,653
Restores order and restores balance in the universe.

310
00:21:13,645 --> 00:21:16,395
(blade swishing)

311
00:21:17,259 --> 00:21:19,926
(head thudding)

312
00:21:21,500 --> 00:21:24,540
Decapitation was clearly a central ritual

313
00:21:24,540 --> 00:21:26,590
associated with the ball game.

314
00:21:26,590 --> 00:21:29,973
It's found across cultures and throughout time.

315
00:21:31,980 --> 00:21:34,560
It's actually something that's still with us today.

316
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,200
We see it in films again and again.

317
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,131
Now, give me back my head.

318
00:21:39,131 --> 00:21:41,081
Ow, how about I...

319
00:21:41,081 --> 00:21:42,080
Ow!

320
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:42,913
Ooh!

321
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:46,010
Got your head dude.

322
00:21:46,010 --> 00:21:48,480
This image of a head that's decapitated

323
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,713
and then is played with or kicked around.

324
00:21:51,595 --> 00:21:53,547
We got our war faces on!

325
00:21:53,547 --> 00:21:55,010
I'm Dave Beckham.

326
00:21:55,010 --> 00:21:57,343
(screaming)

327
00:22:02,939 --> 00:22:03,772
You guys!

328
00:22:03,772 --> 00:22:05,670
This man was alive a few seconds ago.

329
00:22:05,670 --> 00:22:07,603
We can't play soccer with his head.

330
00:22:11,290 --> 00:22:13,230
In some of the games of folk football that there,

331
00:22:13,230 --> 00:22:16,960
the myth of a severed head does play a role.

332
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:19,900
I think it's clear that the game represents a battle

333
00:22:19,900 --> 00:22:22,570
between two teams and there's a sense

334
00:22:22,570 --> 00:22:26,786
that having a sort of battle origin myth fits in with that.

335
00:22:26,786 --> 00:22:31,619
(thunder rumbling)
(waves crashing)

336
00:22:31,619 --> 00:22:33,320
There's an old Orkadian tale

337
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,120
about a young warrior called Sigurt,

338
00:22:38,957 --> 00:22:42,077
who went off to fight and kill an ancient

339
00:22:43,180 --> 00:22:46,193
and malevolent king called Tusker.

340
00:22:47,250 --> 00:22:50,811
Tusker was so described because he had protruding teeth.

341
00:22:50,811 --> 00:22:53,061
(growling)

342
00:22:57,826 --> 00:22:59,438
(branch snapping)

343
00:22:59,438 --> 00:23:02,188
(blade swishing)

344
00:23:04,594 --> 00:23:09,410
Now, the boy did the job and set back on his way home

345
00:23:09,410 --> 00:23:12,793
with the head athwart his brawny thigh.

346
00:23:14,690 --> 00:23:17,370
Because of the king's protruding teeth,

347
00:23:17,370 --> 00:23:20,604
they scratched the boy's thigh and gave him an infection.

348
00:23:20,604 --> 00:23:23,187
(bell tolling)

349
00:23:24,730 --> 00:23:28,192
And as the boy was staggering in in his infected state,

350
00:23:28,192 --> 00:23:29,580
(townsfolk cheering)

351
00:23:29,580 --> 00:23:34,580
the townsfolk were outraged that the king's snaggled tooth

352
00:23:34,870 --> 00:23:37,380
had caused the demise of such a brave

353
00:23:37,380 --> 00:23:38,773
and valiant young warrior.

354
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,130
And in a state of collective rage,

355
00:23:44,130 --> 00:23:47,100
they then proceeded to kick the old king's head

356
00:23:49,711 --> 00:23:51,737
around the town square.

357
00:23:51,737 --> 00:23:52,842
(crowd yelling)

358
00:23:52,842 --> 00:23:55,425
(bell tolling)

359
00:23:56,270 --> 00:24:00,867
And thus is the explanation for the Kirkwall game of Ba'.

360
00:24:06,505 --> 00:24:09,172
(waves roaring)

361
00:24:12,749 --> 00:24:15,499
(dramatic music)

362
00:26:41,072 --> 00:26:43,922
Would you call it a sport?

363
00:26:43,922 --> 00:26:44,839
Mm.
<v ->Aha.

364
00:26:49,340 --> 00:26:52,090
(crowd cheering)

365
00:27:55,023 --> 00:27:57,856
(energetic music)

366
00:29:25,723 --> 00:29:27,192
Hold the pressure lad.

367
00:29:27,192 --> 00:29:29,442
(shouting)

368
00:29:38,670 --> 00:29:41,420
(crowd cheering)

369
00:29:47,424 --> 00:29:50,400
At the end of the Ba' once one team is victorious,

370
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:52,470
they still have to decide which of the men

371
00:29:52,470 --> 00:29:54,360
that's played that day gets to take home

372
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:55,573
the ultimate trophy.

373
00:29:58,890 --> 00:30:02,370
Debate ensues in the thick of this mob

374
00:30:02,370 --> 00:30:04,793
just on the heels of this team's victory.

375
00:30:26,465 --> 00:30:29,215
(crowd cheering)

376
00:31:21,406 --> 00:31:22,480
(bell tolling)

377
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:24,680
Kirkwall Ba' doesn't really resemble any game

378
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,460
of football that you or I would recognize.

379
00:31:27,460 --> 00:31:30,840
And yet we know that Kirkwall Ba' is a descendant

380
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:32,517
of the most ancient forms of football

381
00:31:32,517 --> 00:31:35,610
and that everything we play and call football today

382
00:31:35,610 --> 00:31:36,663
derives from it.

383
00:31:38,670 --> 00:31:41,000
The games of Celtic Europe

384
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,440
are basically being played by peasants.

385
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:44,420
By shepherds.

386
00:31:44,420 --> 00:31:46,710
By the lower orders of the cities

387
00:31:46,710 --> 00:31:49,233
so, of course, they're gonna be much wilder.

388
00:31:51,210 --> 00:31:54,280
The aristocracy looked down their nose at ball games.

389
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,050
They're all about killing people on the horseback.

390
00:31:57,050 --> 00:31:58,150
That's their pleasure.

391
00:31:59,450 --> 00:32:02,520
By the time we get to the early 19th century,

392
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,940
folk football, street football, all the different variations

393
00:32:06,940 --> 00:32:08,433
are beginning to disappear.

394
00:32:09,350 --> 00:32:13,110
This is an era of class paranoia.

395
00:32:13,110 --> 00:32:15,020
You know, you've got a ruling elite

396
00:32:15,020 --> 00:32:17,430
that is desperately riding the wave

397
00:32:17,430 --> 00:32:19,970
of the world's first industrial revolution,

398
00:32:19,970 --> 00:32:22,460
and the one thing it really fears is large numbers

399
00:32:22,460 --> 00:32:26,320
of poor working class or rural people gathering together

400
00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:27,430
in one place.

401
00:32:27,430 --> 00:32:30,663
You've got a lot of folks saying this is akin to a riot.

402
00:32:31,910 --> 00:32:33,653
It almost dies.

403
00:32:34,870 --> 00:32:37,993
What saves it is the public schools.

404
00:32:39,060 --> 00:32:41,600
Sport is brought in as part of the curriculum,

405
00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,240
as a way of occupying teenagers

406
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,760
dealing with too much testosterone.

407
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,960
Countering the threats of homosexuality and masturbation

408
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,710
by exhausting everybody and providing systems of control

409
00:32:53,710 --> 00:32:56,330
from the top down to the bottom of the school.

410
00:32:56,330 --> 00:32:59,070
Then you layer onto that the notion

411
00:32:59,070 --> 00:33:01,820
of creating muscular Christian gentlemen.

412
00:33:01,820 --> 00:33:04,490
Christian soldiers who are going to run the empire.

413
00:33:04,490 --> 00:33:08,330
To create a moral imperial project of moderation,

414
00:33:08,330 --> 00:33:12,070
of fair play, of sexual moral discipline.

415
00:33:12,070 --> 00:33:16,347
And games and football in particular is gonna deliver that.

416
00:33:16,347 --> 00:33:20,298
And that's the culture out of which football emerges.

417
00:33:20,298 --> 00:33:21,930
(dramatic music)

418
00:33:21,930 --> 00:33:23,130
Once again the boys of Eton

419
00:33:23,130 --> 00:33:25,043
turn out to celebrate St. Andrew's day by taking part

420
00:33:25,043 --> 00:33:26,870
in the war game.

421
00:33:26,870 --> 00:33:28,287
Two teams, the Collegers and the Opadams

422
00:33:28,287 --> 00:33:30,840
are involved in the rough and tumble.

423
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:32,273
The battle of Waterloo may have been won

424
00:33:32,273 --> 00:33:34,920
on the playing fields of Eton but it's nearly always a draw

425
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:36,220
in their own war game.

426
00:33:36,220 --> 00:33:38,130
Like most sports at that time period,

427
00:33:38,130 --> 00:33:41,190
it was really a collection of games played with a ball.

428
00:33:41,190 --> 00:33:43,330
There's a lot of different varieties of football

429
00:33:43,330 --> 00:33:45,520
being played in different public schools.

430
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:47,620
We see rugby which involves

431
00:33:47,620 --> 00:33:48,617
being able to carry the ball

432
00:33:48,617 --> 00:33:52,130
and we see something more like soccer that involves kicking

433
00:33:52,130 --> 00:33:54,090
but not carrying the ball.

434
00:33:54,090 --> 00:33:56,400
That's fine when it's just at the school level.

435
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,310
But by now the public school boys have left university.

436
00:33:59,310 --> 00:34:02,650
They want to carry on playing football now as young adults.

437
00:34:02,650 --> 00:34:04,880
But they find everybody has different rules

438
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:06,610
so what are we gonna do?

439
00:34:06,610 --> 00:34:08,450
How are we gonna deal with this?

440
00:34:08,450 --> 00:34:11,630
So, there's a real concern to systematize,

441
00:34:11,630 --> 00:34:13,470
formalize and make it work.

442
00:34:13,470 --> 00:34:17,390
And the 1863 rules drawn up by the football association

443
00:34:17,390 --> 00:34:20,573
are the rules that we pretty much still play today.

444
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:26,000
Here's the idea about American football.

445
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:27,370
I have the ball.

446
00:34:27,370 --> 00:34:30,550
I'm gonna advance it and you're going to violently take it

447
00:34:30,550 --> 00:34:31,383
away from me.

448
00:34:32,780 --> 00:34:33,697
That's it.

449
00:34:33,697 --> 00:34:36,250
(energetic music)

450
00:34:36,250 --> 00:34:38,250
Americans embraced industrialism

451
00:34:38,250 --> 00:34:41,600
and modern capitalism and took it to a whole new level.

452
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:43,523
American sports reflect that.

453
00:34:45,810 --> 00:34:49,033
If you take the violence out of it, we're playing soccer.

454
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,500
When Americans bring ball games

455
00:34:55,500 --> 00:34:57,010
into the United States from Britain

456
00:34:57,010 --> 00:34:59,250
in the second half of the 19th century,

457
00:34:59,250 --> 00:35:02,180
they bring with it the British amateur tradition.

458
00:35:02,180 --> 00:35:04,830
It doesn't matter whether you win or lose,

459
00:35:04,830 --> 00:35:06,683
it's how you play the game.

460
00:35:07,670 --> 00:35:10,190
It's a sense that we're all in this together.

461
00:35:10,190 --> 00:35:13,810
I mean, that's the fundamental democratic idea.

462
00:35:13,810 --> 00:35:16,090
American citizens at the time

463
00:35:16,090 --> 00:35:18,500
thought it didn't have anything in common

464
00:35:18,500 --> 00:35:21,950
to what they were experiencing in their own country.

465
00:35:21,950 --> 00:35:24,590
People like Teddy Roosevelt are worrying

466
00:35:24,590 --> 00:35:28,530
that urban civilization is corrupting the manly spirit

467
00:35:28,530 --> 00:35:30,883
of the American upper classes.

468
00:35:32,810 --> 00:35:36,770
That's when we invent our American game of football

469
00:35:36,770 --> 00:35:39,303
which is a much rougher version.

470
00:35:40,450 --> 00:35:42,210
It was about winning.

471
00:35:42,210 --> 00:35:45,593
It wasn't really about how you play the game.

472
00:35:47,780 --> 00:35:50,830
The first thing that they did in transforming soccer

473
00:35:50,830 --> 00:35:55,583
to Americanized football was invent the first down.

474
00:35:59,140 --> 00:36:01,910
The idea that you would gain territory,

475
00:36:01,910 --> 00:36:06,170
capture that territory, advance, move on and defend it,

476
00:36:06,170 --> 00:36:08,963
much like the concept of manifest destiny.

477
00:36:11,710 --> 00:36:15,900
The whole idea that anybody who came here could have a chunk

478
00:36:15,900 --> 00:36:19,920
of the United States of America as it moved west.

479
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:21,478
Well that's football.

480
00:36:21,478 --> 00:36:25,170
(crowd cheering)
(commentator shouting)

481
00:36:25,170 --> 00:36:28,360
You're gonna capture territory and defend it.

482
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,560
It was a clearly delineated and defined story.

483
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:34,680
You don't have that in soccer

484
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:36,920
because the score rarely changes.

485
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,450
Most games end 1-1, 2-1.

486
00:36:40,450 --> 00:36:44,270
Less than 10% of games have more than five goals in them.

487
00:36:44,270 --> 00:36:45,560
They're very rare.

488
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:47,686
They're very precious.

489
00:36:47,686 --> 00:36:48,584
Goal!

490
00:36:48,584 --> 00:36:49,615
(mumbles)

491
00:36:49,615 --> 00:36:51,490
Africa celebrates.

492
00:36:51,490 --> 00:36:55,120
If what you're used to is 110 versus 108,

493
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,800
football's not gonna make a lot of sense to begin with.

494
00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,250
Americans are easily bored. Let's face it.

495
00:37:00,250 --> 00:37:02,050
Soccer is frustrating.

496
00:37:02,050 --> 00:37:06,270
11 things could go right and you don't get rewarded for it.

497
00:37:06,270 --> 00:37:09,980
That's just not satisfying to American culture.

498
00:37:09,980 --> 00:37:12,210
The vast majority of Americans

499
00:37:12,210 --> 00:37:15,720
believe that we are the authors of our own fate.

500
00:37:15,720 --> 00:37:17,930
There is no other country in the world

501
00:37:17,930 --> 00:37:21,240
that thinks that outcomes in life are as controlled

502
00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:23,573
by the individual as the United States does.

503
00:37:25,830 --> 00:37:29,360
Soccer seems to prove the idea that you could do

504
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,890
all these things right and it still doesn't matter.

505
00:37:31,890 --> 00:37:33,690
This is why I think that America

506
00:37:33,690 --> 00:37:35,530
is a little resistant to soccer.

507
00:37:35,530 --> 00:37:38,070
The one thing we do know is if you play

508
00:37:38,070 --> 00:37:42,773
to a zero-zero tie after 90 minutes, not much has happened.

509
00:37:44,490 --> 00:37:45,413
That we know.

510
00:37:46,892 --> 00:37:47,827
(laughing)

511
00:37:47,827 --> 00:37:50,750
(whistle screeching)
And they're off!

512
00:37:50,750 --> 00:37:53,660
Nietzsche and Hegel there, Socrates.

513
00:37:53,660 --> 00:37:55,123
There he is Socrates.

514
00:37:57,889 --> 00:37:59,740
There's the ball, there's the ball!

515
00:37:59,740 --> 00:38:00,573
We'll be bringing you back

516
00:38:00,573 --> 00:38:03,370
to this exciting contest in a moment.

517
00:38:03,370 --> 00:38:06,620
I do think the criticism of soccer that Americans make

518
00:38:06,620 --> 00:38:09,350
that it's too low scoring totally misses the point.

519
00:38:09,350 --> 00:38:10,710
If you know the sport,

520
00:38:10,710 --> 00:38:14,130
the amount of scoring doesn't really matter.

521
00:38:14,130 --> 00:38:18,380
Football, soccer is like a, European meal

522
00:38:18,380 --> 00:38:19,780
that goes on forever.

523
00:38:19,780 --> 00:38:22,550
You can sort of just let it wash over you

524
00:38:22,550 --> 00:38:24,810
and take your time picking whatever plates

525
00:38:24,810 --> 00:38:27,880
that you want whereas it seems to me that a game

526
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:29,650
like, you know, American football is like going

527
00:38:29,650 --> 00:38:32,150
to a food court and eating standing up in a hurry.

528
00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:35,030
Football remains.

529
00:38:35,030 --> 00:38:37,590
Once the whistle blows for the first half,

530
00:38:37,590 --> 00:38:40,330
that's it for 45 minutes.

531
00:38:40,330 --> 00:38:42,253
There's nothing else but the football.

532
00:38:46,740 --> 00:38:50,700
The essential sporting drama, the movement of the ball.

533
00:38:50,700 --> 00:38:52,680
It flows.

534
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:54,950
Flow is ecstasy.

535
00:38:54,950 --> 00:38:56,393
Into Pauleta!

536
00:38:57,443 --> 00:38:58,443
What a goal!

537
00:38:59,630 --> 00:39:03,130
Yes, there are ups and downs and variations in the rhythm.

538
00:39:03,130 --> 00:39:06,200
It stops because people are feigning injury and all of that.

539
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,493
We have our little theatrical cameos.

540
00:39:09,630 --> 00:39:10,980
If you've just been kicked in the leg

541
00:39:10,980 --> 00:39:15,510
and it hurts you do not roll seven times over on the floor.

542
00:39:15,510 --> 00:39:18,250
This is not a natural reaction.

543
00:39:18,250 --> 00:39:20,750
You listen to Argentinian football commentary

544
00:39:20,750 --> 00:39:25,750
and they praise players on cheating the referee.

545
00:39:25,868 --> 00:39:27,801
(shouting)

546
00:39:27,801 --> 00:39:30,140
Goal!

547
00:39:30,140 --> 00:39:32,570
When Maradona scored his famous goal with the hand,

548
00:39:32,570 --> 00:39:35,420
that was a work of art because the referee didn't see it.

549
00:39:38,660 --> 00:39:42,110
Football is the most extraordinary personal

550
00:39:42,110 --> 00:39:46,225
and public theater of the emotions in the human soul.

551
00:39:46,225 --> 00:39:48,975
(crowd cheering)

552
00:39:51,961 --> 00:39:54,980
What is killing I think all American sports

553
00:39:54,980 --> 00:39:57,170
is too much stop start.

554
00:39:57,170 --> 00:39:58,450
Today's first and 10 line brought to you

555
00:39:58,450 --> 00:40:00,770
by your local Toyota dealers.

556
00:40:00,770 --> 00:40:04,410
Because of the pathological demands of commercialization,

557
00:40:04,410 --> 00:40:07,510
the game's been fragmented to the point

558
00:40:07,510 --> 00:40:10,830
where watching it is absolutely excruciating.

559
00:40:10,830 --> 00:40:11,950
Make sure you join us at halftime

560
00:40:11,950 --> 00:40:13,180
as we announce this week's winner

561
00:40:13,180 --> 00:40:15,240
of the Honda generator's tailgate giveaway.

562
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:16,770
The OT presented by Lowes.

563
00:40:16,770 --> 00:40:19,980
KFC plus football equals couch gating.

564
00:40:19,980 --> 00:40:23,010
Served up by DQ, the home of fan food.

565
00:40:23,010 --> 00:40:26,560
The crowd is constantly being manipulated,

566
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:29,360
engaged and bombarded in all of those things.

567
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:31,198
No space to think.

568
00:40:31,198 --> 00:40:32,520
(engines roaring)

569
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:35,887
During the three-hour broadcast of an NFL football game,

570
00:40:35,887 --> 00:40:39,150
the ball is in play for maybe 11 minutes.

571
00:40:39,150 --> 00:40:41,980
The rest of the program is advertising,

572
00:40:41,980 --> 00:40:44,000
replays and video segments.

573
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:47,120
Shots of the players standing around in a huddle

574
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,750
or gathering at the line of scrimmage.

575
00:40:49,750 --> 00:40:53,250
Therefore, you have to have more and more special effects.

576
00:40:53,250 --> 00:40:55,560
But that's what happens when the game

577
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:58,103
turns into a machine-made product.

578
00:40:59,863 --> 00:41:02,696
(dramatic music)

579
00:41:13,860 --> 00:41:17,020
I think football mirrors how we experience pleasure.

580
00:41:17,020 --> 00:41:19,890
I mean, football kind of gives us everything

581
00:41:19,890 --> 00:41:20,793
that we're after.

582
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:23,730
Celebrity.

583
00:41:23,730 --> 00:41:24,563
Athleticism.

584
00:41:26,350 --> 00:41:27,453
Violence.

585
00:41:28,290 --> 00:41:30,033
And it has forensic videography.

586
00:41:31,030 --> 00:41:34,770
It's not just a receiver stretching out his hands

587
00:41:34,770 --> 00:41:37,180
and catching the ball by his fingertips.

588
00:41:37,180 --> 00:41:40,670
It's also that bit of knowledge that he could be creamed

589
00:41:40,670 --> 00:41:43,170
by a defensive back at any moment

590
00:41:43,170 --> 00:41:47,310
so the danger plus the balletic expression

591
00:41:47,310 --> 00:41:49,163
is what makes football so exciting.

592
00:41:52,140 --> 00:41:55,500
It's impossible even to compare the thinking

593
00:41:55,500 --> 00:41:58,000
that goes on with football with any other sport.

594
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:01,800
It's the most primal but also the most cerebral

595
00:42:02,850 --> 00:42:04,103
and the most exalted.

596
00:42:05,290 --> 00:42:07,040
But you know, in this world of sports,

597
00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:11,360
people use larger institutions to explain the things

598
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,270
that they can't explain.

599
00:42:13,270 --> 00:42:15,020
There is justice, there isn't justice.

600
00:42:15,020 --> 00:42:18,330
For 100 years as a Red Sox fan you were pretty much

601
00:42:18,330 --> 00:42:20,100
like a Scottish Presbyterian, right.

602
00:42:20,100 --> 00:42:21,780
You knew that life was suffering.

603
00:42:21,780 --> 00:42:24,060
Well, maybe you're a bit of Buddhist also.

604
00:42:24,060 --> 00:42:24,893
Right?

605
00:42:24,893 --> 00:42:26,460
If you're a Yankees fan,

606
00:42:26,460 --> 00:42:28,970
maybe that's like being an evangelical Christian

607
00:42:28,970 --> 00:42:31,160
where there's a reward now

608
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,053
and there's also a reward in the afterlife.

609
00:42:35,970 --> 00:42:37,410
Here at the University of Tennessee,

610
00:42:37,410 --> 00:42:40,320
the football games are a prime example of,

611
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:42,920
ritualized behaviour and, in fact, it's often said

612
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:47,400
here in Tennessee that football is the main religion.

613
00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:49,910
Well, certainly there are some people who claim

614
00:42:49,910 --> 00:42:52,970
they're not religious and yet over 100,000 people

615
00:42:52,970 --> 00:42:53,880
come out to the games.

616
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:57,213
They all wear the required regalia orange.

617
00:42:58,740 --> 00:43:01,490
Religion seeks to explain the inexplicable

618
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:05,365
and so does sports, you know.

619
00:43:05,365 --> 00:43:08,032
(festive music)

620
00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,050
Professional footballers.

621
00:43:11,050 --> 00:43:13,760
The whole hierarchy is meaningless

622
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,691
and nothing without the crowd.

623
00:43:16,691 --> 00:43:19,260
(crowd booing)

624
00:43:19,260 --> 00:43:21,520
We're the chorus, we're the commentators.

625
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,200
We provide the essential background and energy

626
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:26,550
that gives it social meaning.

627
00:43:26,550 --> 00:43:29,510
Because until people invest cultural capital

628
00:43:29,510 --> 00:43:32,750
and their personal energies in the meaning of this thing,

629
00:43:32,750 --> 00:43:36,193
it's just a silly game with a ball and 22 people.

630
00:43:37,210 --> 00:43:40,670
It's tribalism at its most basic.

631
00:43:40,670 --> 00:43:42,270
You put on face paint.

632
00:43:42,270 --> 00:43:44,880
You dress like other members of the tribe.

633
00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:48,450
You identify yourself mostly by the geographic community.

634
00:43:48,450 --> 00:43:50,530
But, of course, if you're someone from Cleveland

635
00:43:50,530 --> 00:43:53,570
who's now living in L.A., your love of the Browns ties you

636
00:43:53,570 --> 00:43:57,418
to the city as much as anything else about Cleveland.

637
00:43:57,418 --> 00:44:00,168
(crowd chanting)

638
00:44:16,350 --> 00:44:17,690
We think of watching sports,

639
00:44:17,690 --> 00:44:19,770
particularly maybe watching sports on TV

640
00:44:19,770 --> 00:44:23,280
as being a passive act and yet science shows us

641
00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:24,883
that that's absolutely not true.

642
00:44:30,820 --> 00:44:34,193
Watching sports, it's almost like being part of the game.

643
00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:38,510
This mechanism in the brain makes us so into the game.

644
00:44:38,510 --> 00:44:41,160
Somebody who watches a player on TV

645
00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,440
kicking a ball, for example.

646
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:46,480
The very same neurons that would fire in their brain

647
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:47,660
if they were kicking the ball,

648
00:44:47,660 --> 00:44:50,270
fire watching a player kick that ball.

649
00:44:50,270 --> 00:44:52,070
We call these cells mirror neurons

650
00:44:52,070 --> 00:44:55,210
because it kind of suggests that I'm almost watching

651
00:44:55,210 --> 00:44:57,700
my own action reflected by a mirror.

652
00:44:57,700 --> 00:45:00,643
We literally project ourselves in the game.

653
00:45:05,700 --> 00:45:08,630
Mirror neurons allow us to feel on some level

654
00:45:08,630 --> 00:45:11,023
what we're seeing athletes do on the field.

655
00:45:11,990 --> 00:45:13,800
The blood pressure goes up a little.

656
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:16,033
There's a little increase in sweating.

657
00:45:19,590 --> 00:45:21,953
People tend to mimic what they watch.

658
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:24,900
Not only are we invested in the players

659
00:45:24,900 --> 00:45:26,840
but we actually have a cognitive connection

660
00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:28,163
to the ball itself.

661
00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:31,380
They kind of orient their body

662
00:45:31,380 --> 00:45:33,643
toward where they want the ball to go.

663
00:45:38,547 --> 00:45:41,950
And in the way show our desire to influence

664
00:45:41,950 --> 00:45:43,700
how the object moves.

665
00:45:43,700 --> 00:45:45,260
We are kind of one with the ball

666
00:45:45,260 --> 00:45:46,903
in this neurological sense.

667
00:45:48,610 --> 00:45:49,690
It's automatic.

668
00:45:49,690 --> 00:45:51,840
And it creates a connection between people.

669
00:45:54,045 --> 00:45:59,045
(crowd gasping) (crowd cheering)

670
00:46:28,904 --> 00:46:31,654
(balls thudding)

671
00:47:45,083 --> 00:47:48,390
I think the thing that sport in its modern form

672
00:47:48,390 --> 00:47:51,190
offers is brilliant storytelling.

673
00:47:51,190 --> 00:47:53,570
The throw to second is high and wide,

674
00:47:53,570 --> 00:47:54,690
pulls Colman off the bag.

675
00:47:54,690 --> 00:47:56,960
Nevertheless, he goes on through with the pivot throw

676
00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:57,960
to first base.

677
00:47:57,960 --> 00:47:59,810
But both runners are safe.

678
00:47:59,810 --> 00:48:02,740
Just as American ball games embraced the idea of data

679
00:48:02,740 --> 00:48:06,540
as an abstraction of the game itself and the story itself.

680
00:48:06,540 --> 00:48:08,690
Once the box score system is invented,

681
00:48:08,690 --> 00:48:11,190
you're got a really simple and effective form

682
00:48:11,190 --> 00:48:12,780
of visual representation.

683
00:48:12,780 --> 00:48:14,340
These are games that are defined

684
00:48:14,340 --> 00:48:16,040
by quantifiable events.

685
00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:18,580
We see the emergence of statistics

686
00:48:18,580 --> 00:48:21,470
that captured elements of the game for spectators

687
00:48:21,470 --> 00:48:23,400
and others who might not be there.

688
00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:25,050
Before television comes along,

689
00:48:25,050 --> 00:48:27,010
people are watching boards in Times Squares

690
00:48:27,010 --> 00:48:31,850
where light bulbs light up to represent a ball or a strike.

691
00:48:31,850 --> 00:48:34,390
And it's like how can that be interesting?

692
00:48:34,390 --> 00:48:36,580
But the thing is, it is interesting

693
00:48:36,580 --> 00:48:39,570
because it's the story unfolding.

694
00:48:39,570 --> 00:48:41,760
When all you've got is just basically numbers

695
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:44,510
in front of you, it still works.

696
00:48:44,510 --> 00:48:47,830
That's what modern sport offers.

697
00:48:47,830 --> 00:48:49,403
You don't have to see it.

698
00:48:52,020 --> 00:48:53,310
Matthews slams a double

699
00:48:53,310 --> 00:48:54,430
down the right field line.

700
00:48:54,430 --> 00:48:55,877
It bounces.

701
00:48:55,877 --> 00:48:57,840
Baseball and American football really gave rise

702
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:00,600
to the whole idea of the broadcast of sports

703
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:04,550
and they're perfect for that medium of radio and television.

704
00:49:04,550 --> 00:49:08,770
Mass media transformed the act of watching play

705
00:49:08,770 --> 00:49:12,370
into, perhaps, the greatest collective experience

706
00:49:12,370 --> 00:49:13,845
in human history.

707
00:49:13,845 --> 00:49:18,845
(horns bellowing)
(crowd cheering)

708
00:49:28,761 --> 00:49:31,610
Television was used to broadcast soccer

709
00:49:31,610 --> 00:49:34,500
around the entire globe so it's a little ironic

710
00:49:34,500 --> 00:49:36,100
that this medium that came out

711
00:49:36,100 --> 00:49:40,240
of these intensely American and quantified sports

712
00:49:40,240 --> 00:49:42,930
became the device for turning soccer

713
00:49:42,930 --> 00:49:45,390
into the most popular sport on the planet.

714
00:49:45,390 --> 00:49:48,660
More people watched the last soccer world cup

715
00:49:48,660 --> 00:49:50,913
than have ever belonged to any religion.

716
00:49:53,580 --> 00:49:57,710
Technology is this amplifier that allows us

717
00:49:57,710 --> 00:50:00,393
to satisfy our urge to play.

718
00:50:01,340 --> 00:50:03,160
You're watching the most exciting game

719
00:50:03,160 --> 00:50:05,250
you will ever see on your TV set.

720
00:50:05,250 --> 00:50:08,330
Telstar by Calico with three different games.

721
00:50:08,330 --> 00:50:10,470
Telstar handball, tennis, hockey.

722
00:50:10,470 --> 00:50:12,480
All three at an exciting low price.

723
00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:16,193
The ball has pride of place in video games.

724
00:50:17,050 --> 00:50:21,050
The world's first commercially successful video game, Pong,

725
00:50:21,050 --> 00:50:24,910
was an almost platonic reduction of table tennis

726
00:50:24,910 --> 00:50:29,620
into two white bats and a square blob of ball

727
00:50:29,620 --> 00:50:33,420
bouncing potentially endlessly between them.

728
00:50:33,420 --> 00:50:37,060
And all the instructions it offered its users

729
00:50:37,060 --> 00:50:41,743
was one iconic phrase, avoid missing ball for high score.

730
00:50:42,950 --> 00:50:46,772
Playing was the cutting edge of computer experience.

731
00:50:46,772 --> 00:50:49,605
(energetic music)

732
00:50:50,870 --> 00:50:53,037
(beeping)

733
00:51:09,829 --> 00:51:11,723
(crowd cheering)

734
00:51:11,723 --> 00:51:12,714
Goal!

735
00:51:12,714 --> 00:51:14,131
Fantastic header!

736
00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:17,400
Play had this magic ingredient.

737
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:20,520
It turned the computer from being something difficult

738
00:51:20,520 --> 00:51:25,300
and obtuse like a maths puzzle into something like a ball.

739
00:51:25,300 --> 00:51:27,830
Something that you picked up and played with.

740
00:51:27,830 --> 00:51:30,830
And this deep fundamental fascination

741
00:51:30,830 --> 00:51:33,910
continues throughout the history of technology.

742
00:51:33,910 --> 00:51:37,580
And in this sense, our newest and most dazzling tools

743
00:51:37,580 --> 00:51:41,830
are just like rocks picked up by our distant ancestors

744
00:51:41,830 --> 00:51:43,680
thousands and thousands of years ago.

745
00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:51,250
In modern ball games, what makes them so compelling

746
00:51:51,250 --> 00:51:53,480
to watch and play is precisely the fact

747
00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:55,270
that they are highly organized.

748
00:51:55,270 --> 00:51:58,680
They're organized around rules that are understood

749
00:51:58,680 --> 00:52:00,599
and highly repeatable.

750
00:52:00,599 --> 00:52:01,897
And undoubtedly, you know,

751
00:52:01,897 --> 00:52:04,230
if you play highly competitive games,

752
00:52:04,230 --> 00:52:06,880
if you play video games you get better.

753
00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:10,460
The consistency of rules, play and regulation

754
00:52:10,460 --> 00:52:13,260
repeated again and again allows players

755
00:52:13,260 --> 00:52:16,160
to perform greater and greater feats of excellence

756
00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:19,070
within those constrained variables of the rules.

757
00:52:19,070 --> 00:52:22,650
The football being played today is immeasurably superior

758
00:52:22,650 --> 00:52:26,013
to anything that was played in the 20th century, frankly.

759
00:52:27,940 --> 00:52:31,317
It has allowed us to create an extraordinary stage

760
00:52:31,317 --> 00:52:33,490
for the amazing aesthetic performances.

761
00:52:33,490 --> 00:52:34,633
It's fantastic.

762
00:52:38,530 --> 00:52:40,350
When you have that level,

763
00:52:40,350 --> 00:52:42,660
the questions of money and power arise

764
00:52:44,470 --> 00:52:46,290
because someone has to pay for the circus

765
00:52:46,290 --> 00:52:47,690
and someone's got to run it.

766
00:52:49,954 --> 00:52:53,760
You have to have that if you want to have professional sport

767
00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:56,020
but how do you stop them taking over.

768
00:52:56,020 --> 00:52:59,233
How do you stop it becoming a pathology.

769
00:53:00,170 --> 00:53:02,410
If you start trying to buy victory

770
00:53:02,410 --> 00:53:04,963
rather than achieving a win,

771
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:07,550
I mean you're not playing anymore.

772
00:53:07,550 --> 00:53:09,860
We're out of the realm of play

773
00:53:09,860 --> 00:53:12,593
and we're into the realm of politics and power.

774
00:53:16,950 --> 00:53:19,370
In the perfect world, there's a symbiotic relationship

775
00:53:19,370 --> 00:53:22,903
between these highly structured, commercialized games,

776
00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:28,133
and these unstructured ball games as kids play them.

777
00:53:31,150 --> 00:53:33,551
They both exist for a reason.

778
00:53:33,551 --> 00:53:36,551
(children shouting)

779
00:53:43,550 --> 00:53:45,190
It's a spectrum.

780
00:53:45,190 --> 00:53:46,450
What's the right mix.

781
00:53:46,450 --> 00:53:49,450
You know, what's a good balance, what's healthy, what works.

782
00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:52,940
What happens, unfortunately, is when one

783
00:53:52,940 --> 00:53:54,540
displaces the other,

784
00:53:54,540 --> 00:53:57,143
when those sandlot sports no longer exist.

785
00:53:59,950 --> 00:54:01,650
It's so impossible for a modern

786
00:54:01,650 --> 00:54:05,230
commercialized spectaculars to replicate the innocence,

787
00:54:05,230 --> 00:54:08,073
the presence of play in its most basic forms.

788
00:54:09,050 --> 00:54:12,743
We have to ask ourselves what's being lost in the process?

789
00:54:16,969 --> 00:54:20,052
(whistle screeching)

790
00:54:40,680 --> 00:54:43,290
We know that kids now are couch potatoes.

791
00:54:43,290 --> 00:54:45,060
Childhood obesity is high.

792
00:54:45,060 --> 00:54:46,960
It's like the first thing you want to do is encourage them

793
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:48,710
to go out and get some physical activity.

794
00:54:48,710 --> 00:54:51,490
Look at all this cool stuff you get to wear.

795
00:54:51,490 --> 00:54:52,323
I'll help you.

796
00:54:52,323 --> 00:54:55,220
But because simultaneously we also are living in a world

797
00:54:55,220 --> 00:54:57,460
where parents are freaked out that, you know,

798
00:54:57,460 --> 00:54:59,510
there's monsters hiding around every corner.

799
00:54:59,510 --> 00:55:00,760
Walking down a street

800
00:55:00,760 --> 00:55:02,810
you never walked down before.

801
00:55:02,810 --> 00:55:04,873
You never know what's around the next corner.

802
00:55:04,873 --> 00:55:07,230
Some of the things might be terrible,

803
00:55:07,230 --> 00:55:09,353
so be careful turning corners.

804
00:55:10,210 --> 00:55:12,760
One solution has been to overcome that

805
00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,350
is well, let's get kids involved in various kinds of sports.

806
00:55:16,350 --> 00:55:17,183
So, you're on a sports team.

807
00:55:17,183 --> 00:55:19,310
You're playing football, you're playing cricket,

808
00:55:19,310 --> 00:55:20,350
you're playing baseball,

809
00:55:20,350 --> 00:55:22,233
depending on what country you're from.

810
00:55:23,740 --> 00:55:27,480
Children are more likely to play in AYSO sponsored games

811
00:55:27,480 --> 00:55:30,440
of soccer than they are to grab a bunch of kids

812
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:32,413
and set up their own game.

813
00:55:35,790 --> 00:55:38,180
Think of the difference between a pick up game

814
00:55:38,180 --> 00:55:40,543
and an adult-directed game of little league.

815
00:55:42,742 --> 00:55:44,070
In structured sports,

816
00:55:44,070 --> 00:55:46,140
somebody else has made the rules for you.

817
00:55:46,140 --> 00:55:48,260
Little league is good for learning skills.

818
00:55:48,260 --> 00:55:50,460
It's good for learning how to swing a bat,

819
00:55:50,460 --> 00:55:52,260
maybe how to throw a curve ball.

820
00:55:52,260 --> 00:55:55,703
Ready, set, release.

821
00:55:56,690 --> 00:55:58,890
But how important for most people,

822
00:55:58,890 --> 00:56:01,010
ultimately, are those skills?

823
00:56:01,010 --> 00:56:01,843
Keep your eye on the ball.

824
00:56:01,843 --> 00:56:02,860
Remember, eye on the ball.

825
00:56:03,720 --> 00:56:05,740
They will still exercise their bodies

826
00:56:05,740 --> 00:56:07,070
and engage with others

827
00:56:07,070 --> 00:56:11,060
but it's not the same as the free play that allowed Sultan,

828
00:56:11,060 --> 00:56:14,090
the chimpanzee, to put the two sticks together.

829
00:56:14,090 --> 00:56:16,720
Being able to get into somebody else's mind

830
00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:18,190
to solve your own problems.

831
00:56:18,190 --> 00:56:21,820
To take initiative, to create rules collaboratively

832
00:56:21,820 --> 00:56:22,853
with other people.

833
00:56:29,810 --> 00:56:31,640
These pick up ball games or sandlot sports

834
00:56:31,640 --> 00:56:33,770
are based upon sports that we know

835
00:56:33,770 --> 00:56:36,600
but the rules are innovative and tailored

836
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:39,400
in the moment of play to reflect the specific needs

837
00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:41,050
of this community or that community

838
00:56:41,050 --> 00:56:43,250
or this group of kids or that group of kids.

839
00:56:44,890 --> 00:56:48,910
The kids have to create the rules because they're playing

840
00:56:48,910 --> 00:56:50,920
on whatever ground they're playing on.

841
00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:52,830
It's not a real baseball diamond.

842
00:56:52,830 --> 00:56:55,580
You have to set a rule that you can't hit it

843
00:56:55,580 --> 00:56:57,650
where it's gonna possibly break a window.

844
00:56:57,650 --> 00:57:00,253
You can't go running out into the street.

845
00:57:01,230 --> 00:57:05,050
There's all this negotiation, understanding,

846
00:57:05,050 --> 00:57:06,830
figuring things out.

847
00:57:06,830 --> 00:57:08,160
What's the game we're gonna play?

848
00:57:08,160 --> 00:57:09,540
What rules are we gonna follow?

849
00:57:09,540 --> 00:57:11,560
What are the consequences if you don't follow them?

850
00:57:11,560 --> 00:57:13,900
How many times is somebody allowed to break a rule

851
00:57:13,900 --> 00:57:16,890
before they're excluded from the game, right.

852
00:57:16,890 --> 00:57:18,490
The kids have to decide that.

853
00:57:18,490 --> 00:57:21,530
All of which are extremely important skills

854
00:57:21,530 --> 00:57:22,910
for all of life.

855
00:57:22,910 --> 00:57:26,640
There's no substitute for that kind of process

856
00:57:26,640 --> 00:57:28,780
where the kids are not only given the physical exercise

857
00:57:28,780 --> 00:57:31,430
but they're actually getting the brain training

858
00:57:31,430 --> 00:57:34,350
to actually design a social world

859
00:57:34,350 --> 00:57:35,783
that they can now negotiate.

860
00:57:38,221 --> 00:57:40,971
(bells jingling)

861
00:57:42,688 --> 00:57:45,794
(children chattering)

862
00:57:45,794 --> 00:57:47,947
(rooster crowing)

863
00:57:47,947 --> 00:57:50,364
(cow mooing)

864
00:57:55,364 --> 00:57:58,770
One of the great classics on children's games is,

865
00:57:58,770 --> 00:58:01,411
Piaget's book on marbles.

866
00:58:01,411 --> 00:58:03,994
(gentle music)

867
00:58:08,570 --> 00:58:11,580
It's about how children's moral development occurs

868
00:58:11,580 --> 00:58:13,263
while playing marbles.

869
00:58:18,210 --> 00:58:20,870
Showing how they develop a sense of fairness,

870
00:58:20,870 --> 00:58:24,010
a sense of competitiveness within rules.

871
00:58:24,010 --> 00:58:27,200
With adults around, they see the rules

872
00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:30,330
as sort of something that comes down to them

873
00:58:30,330 --> 00:58:32,090
on the basis of authority.

874
00:58:32,090 --> 00:58:34,760
It's as if the rules are God given.

875
00:58:34,760 --> 00:58:36,660
They get a little older and they start thinking,

876
00:58:36,660 --> 00:58:38,220
well, wait a second.

877
00:58:38,220 --> 00:58:41,240
We can make the rules different if we want to.

878
00:58:41,240 --> 00:58:44,690
They are realizing that if it's not fun and fair,

879
00:58:44,690 --> 00:58:45,890
you can change the rule.

880
00:58:47,730 --> 00:58:49,570
In these interactions with each other,

881
00:58:49,570 --> 00:58:52,053
they'll develop their own sense of morality.

882
00:58:53,580 --> 00:58:56,270
Once again, we see that the ball is at the center

883
00:58:56,270 --> 00:58:58,680
of this social dynamic.

884
00:58:58,680 --> 00:59:02,090
Balls produce unpredictability because you literally

885
00:59:02,090 --> 00:59:04,433
don't know where the ball is gonna bounce.

886
00:59:05,510 --> 00:59:09,610
The actual variability of play is the key to its value.

887
00:59:09,610 --> 00:59:11,003
It confers flexibility.

888
00:59:13,440 --> 00:59:15,930
Having to adapt the rules and to be sensitive

889
00:59:15,930 --> 00:59:19,300
to other people in the context of play is a natural part

890
00:59:19,300 --> 00:59:23,310
of these unstructured freer ball games as children play them

891
00:59:23,310 --> 00:59:24,990
and is exactly what connects them

892
00:59:24,990 --> 00:59:26,953
to rough and tumble play in animals.

893
00:59:28,721 --> 00:59:31,554
(dramatic music)

894
00:59:41,672 --> 00:59:44,339
(heavy panting)

895
00:59:48,820 --> 00:59:51,090
I look at a ball as being equivalent

896
00:59:51,090 --> 00:59:52,673
to like a social catalyst.

897
00:59:53,790 --> 00:59:56,270
It gets animals to play with one another,

898
00:59:56,270 --> 00:59:58,510
interact with one another.

899
00:59:58,510 --> 01:00:02,083
Play is about a relationship between risk and security.

900
01:00:03,700 --> 01:00:05,150
The name of the game and what we inherit

901
01:00:05,150 --> 01:00:07,440
from other animals is that play is risky.

902
01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:08,750
But they don't get hurt that much

903
01:00:08,750 --> 01:00:11,580
because you've got the rules that don't allow them

904
01:00:11,580 --> 01:00:14,220
to bite another animal or kick another animal

905
01:00:14,220 --> 01:00:17,193
or slam into another animal too hard.

906
01:00:18,622 --> 01:00:21,150
You watch a kid begin to have to share

907
01:00:21,150 --> 01:00:23,270
or a kid that punches another kid too hard

908
01:00:23,270 --> 01:00:26,370
and the other kid cries or a kid pushes another kid down

909
01:00:26,370 --> 01:00:29,120
and that kid is all bent out of shape.

910
01:00:29,120 --> 01:00:31,790
And then you yourself get pushed down or punched hard.

911
01:00:31,790 --> 01:00:35,766
You begin to have a sense of what it's like to be the other.

912
01:00:35,766 --> 01:00:37,890
It's my ball!

913
01:00:37,890 --> 01:00:41,580
We have to rehearse the dark stuff and the violent stuff

914
01:00:41,580 --> 01:00:44,820
as much as we rehearse the sociable stuff.

915
01:00:44,820 --> 01:00:46,320
And when you don't get to play

916
01:00:46,320 --> 01:00:47,810
like that from within yourself,

917
01:00:47,810 --> 01:00:49,380
when you don't make some mistakes,

918
01:00:49,380 --> 01:00:52,710
you're really devoid of a kind of an internalized sense

919
01:00:52,710 --> 01:00:54,210
of what it is to have empathy.

920
01:00:57,079 --> 01:00:58,390
Think fast!
<v ->Oh!

921
01:00:58,390 --> 01:01:01,040
Children that hadn't had lots of play,

922
01:01:01,040 --> 01:01:02,680
they are the ones that are more likely

923
01:01:02,680 --> 01:01:04,403
to be violent criminals.

924
01:01:05,950 --> 01:01:08,010
They simply do not understand

925
01:01:08,010 --> 01:01:10,660
what's happening other people's minds.

926
01:01:10,660 --> 01:01:12,750
Maybe they don't care as much.

927
01:01:12,750 --> 01:01:14,710
By denying kids that free play,

928
01:01:14,710 --> 01:01:17,620
that social free play in particular, what we're denying them

929
01:01:17,620 --> 01:01:20,033
is the opportunity to really push their frontal cortices

930
01:01:20,033 --> 01:01:22,530
to the maximum of their ability.

931
01:01:22,530 --> 01:01:24,770
And it's just gonna have devastating effects

932
01:01:24,770 --> 01:01:28,950
on interpersonal interactions and communication.

933
01:01:28,950 --> 01:01:31,550
And I think we're actually doing the exact opposite

934
01:01:31,550 --> 01:01:32,810
of what we should be doing.

935
01:01:32,810 --> 01:01:35,200
You begin to see this is really pretty important

936
01:01:35,200 --> 01:01:36,423
to being fully human.

937
01:01:37,717 --> 01:01:40,467
(wind whistling)

938
01:01:45,197 --> 01:01:48,943
(children shouting)

939
01:01:48,943 --> 01:01:51,693
(dramatic music)

940
01:02:12,656 --> 01:02:15,510
I do have a sense that preparation for the unexpected,

941
01:02:15,510 --> 01:02:20,380
and the search for novelty and openness to new forms

942
01:02:20,380 --> 01:02:23,943
are really necessary to survive in an ever changing world.

943
01:02:25,980 --> 01:02:29,510
Humanity is engaged in a gigantic experimental crisis

944
01:02:29,510 --> 01:02:33,063
and we simply do not know what is coming our way.

945
01:02:34,690 --> 01:02:35,580
We've had glaciers.

946
01:02:35,580 --> 01:02:37,340
We've had volcanic eruption.

947
01:02:37,340 --> 01:02:39,750
We've got global warming, over population.

948
01:02:39,750 --> 01:02:42,180
I mean these are things that require flexibility

949
01:02:42,180 --> 01:02:44,423
and innovativeness to solve.

950
01:02:45,500 --> 01:02:49,000
We are going to have to be incredibly spontaneous

951
01:02:49,000 --> 01:02:52,810
and incredibly inventive and we are going to have to think

952
01:02:52,810 --> 01:02:56,730
collectively if we are to have half a chance,

953
01:02:56,730 --> 01:02:59,080
not of stopping these problems,

954
01:02:59,080 --> 01:03:02,230
but of dealing of the consequences and the uncertainty

955
01:03:02,230 --> 01:03:04,373
that we have unleashed upon ourselves.

956
01:03:06,070 --> 01:03:07,430
I think that's why play is there.

957
01:03:07,430 --> 01:03:10,390
To give problem solving capabilities and novel ways

958
01:03:10,390 --> 01:03:12,983
of looking at the world that we wouldn't get otherwise.

959
01:03:15,890 --> 01:03:19,043
Play is the imagination of new worlds.

960
01:03:23,340 --> 01:03:28,133
It's extending the reach of mind and possibility.

961
01:03:35,053 --> 01:03:36,522
(whistle screeching)

962
01:03:36,522 --> 01:03:39,522
(children shouting)

963
01:03:42,280 --> 01:03:45,947
We will come up with some idea to rescue us.

964
01:03:47,010 --> 01:03:51,238
That's where it will come out of.

965
01:03:51,238 --> 01:03:53,138
It will come out of the realm of play.

966
01:03:56,681 --> 01:03:59,514
To open yourself to spontaneity,

967
01:04:00,670 --> 01:04:03,910
uncertainty and caprice of the ball,

968
01:04:03,910 --> 01:04:06,360
it's an extraordinary thing.

969
01:04:06,360 --> 01:04:10,080
What we don't know is whether we have the heart

970
01:04:10,080 --> 01:04:13,763
and the wit and the guile to bring it under control.

971
01:04:15,720 --> 01:04:16,573
Let's hope so.

972
01:04:20,240 --> 01:04:21,842
(whistle screeching)

973
01:04:21,842 --> 01:04:24,656
(children chanting)

974
01:04:24,656 --> 01:04:26,800
There are worse ways of exploring it

975
01:04:26,800 --> 01:04:30,541
than watching people play a game of football.

976
01:04:30,541 --> 01:04:33,458
(children singing)

977
01:04:54,250 --> 01:04:57,083
(energetic music)

978
01:07:47,814 --> 01:07:50,397
(gentle music)