Spotlight: Handball

In light of the upcoming exciting festivities to be held in China, the wondrous Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games, it should be natural to get excited, right? Not simply the event itself, but also the event's location and setting offer an entire new world of sporting experience. And in breaking with the sports media tradition of close-mindedness dominated today by ESPN, NBC and it's affiliated networks are working to broadcast over 3,000 hours of sport over the span of slightly more than two weeks. This feat, incredibly awe-inspiring in itself, provides truly unique opportunities for average American sports fanatics to indulge in a level of athletic viewership which is, in its vast expanse, completely new and foreign to them. Among these opportunities is one that no self-respecting die hard should miss: the chance to witness the live webcast of international handball competition. Breathtakingly invigorating to the athletic mind, I know. So, to ensure maximum enjoyment in the revel that is international handball, here is a brief yet spirited introduction to a fascinating world sport which has somehow managed to largely elude the general American consciousness to this day.

As baffling as it may be that America partially disapproves of soccer, why Americans refuse to enjoy and support handball is simply confounding. Think of soccer, okay people, I know many of you don't want to, right? Excuses abound...it's boring, no scoring, little physical contact, yada, yada, yada. I'll tell you right now: Handball is your cure. Think soccer played with hands, a smaller field, contact sometimes akin to that of rugby, and athletes who all list BALCO's lab as number one on their speeddial chucking balls voraciously around the court with the aim of, you guessed it, scoring a goal.

The sport is fast-paced with a lot of action and scoring, and it achieves a happy medium between basketball, where possessions are deemed failures if points aren't scored, and soccer, where a single goal might be the clincher of a victory. It is normal for teams to score around 25 points in the game, which is composed of two 30-minute halves. The ball moves around constantly via passing and bouncing, and, in an interesting spirit directly opposite of soccer, the players may hit the ball with any part of the body at or above the knees.

Thinking about the reasons why many Americans claim to dislike soccer, handball should be the perfect antithesis. So, given this chance by NBC's insansely deep and expansive coverage, maybe America will witness and embrace this sport. If only its primetime hour wasn't 3:30 AM.