You wouldn't have wanted to watch a ball game at the close of the season in the ancient Mayan city of Copan.

Oh, sure, the views from the towering pyramids would have been just fine, and the ball court itself would have been a show: angled stone walls to keep that ball flying fast from elbow to elbow, chest to chest, player to player, one end of the court to the other.

Then at the end of each game, the best player from the winning team -- not the worst, no, that might make sense -- got sacrificed.