I loved the Olympics when I was a kid. During the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, I think I watched every minute of programming (amazing to think it was even possible to do that back then, what with NBC's planned 3,600 hours of coverage of the Beijing Games). There were two sports that fascinated me as a kid that I caught during those games, so much so that I decided to try them out in my backyard. One was the steeplechase - I stacked some of my Dad's old coolers up to form a giant hurdle, and then dug a hole out in the dirt part of our backyard and filled it with water to make a hazard.
If steeplechase was unusual, the other one was downright bizarre - team handball. I cold not get enough of it from the scattered hours here and there that they showed on ABC's coverage. I got a book out of the library that had the rules, and actually set up a practice field in my backyard, with markers for various spots on the court, and tape on the side door to the garage to mark the goal. I thought that maybe this could be my ticket to the Olympics - since almost no one played Team Handball in the US, maybe I could make it just by actually playing it. I used to try and get my friends over to play games, but...well, let's be honest here, the kid who gets hooked on Team Handball is going to be lumped in with the paste eaters and glue sniffers when you are eight years old.
Well, I never made it to the US Olympic Team Handball squad (and in fact, the US actually had abandoned the sport as an Olympic competition until recently). But it still fascinates me, and I'd watch it a lot of it was on TV in the US. But it isn't except for once every four years, which is the main reason I care about the Olympics. Ask me if I have a Wish List on my Tivo for Team Handball, and you'd be frightened to know the answer.
What is Team Handball? Well, it's kind of like a mixture of basketball, soccer and lacrosse. The goal is to get the ball (a handheld version of a soccer ball) into the other team's goal (about the size of a lacrosse goal). You dribble like basketball, but you can't get to within a certain distance from the goal - at least, you can't touch the ground inside that area. But you can jump as get as close as you want and shoot the ball before you land. Which leads to a lot of crazy, acrobatic plays:
Do yourself a favor: set your Tivo this week and catch at least one Team Handball match. You won't be disappointed.
