With the more "geeky" elements of its culture being so prominent, many could be forgiven for assuming that the people of the Aerican Empire have little interest in sports. In point of fact, few and far between are the citizens who do not either play, watch, simulate, bet on, or sabotage some form of competitive physical activity.
Football:
The single most widely played sport within the Empire is football, known in North America as Soccer. The Aerican Football League organizes online and local competitions between citizens and also co-ordinates celebrations during international championships.
Silly ball:
The most quintissentially Aerican of sports, Silly ball is not so much a game as organized chaos. The game is played as follows: Participants are divided into two reasonably equal teams (usually, games are one-on-one, but larger games are viable). The area is set up approximately 10 feet squared per participant, and while the field may be any shape or configuration, a 2:1 rectangle is most common. At each end of the field there are two hoops, oriented horizontally so that the top of the net points directly at the players. A team must get the ball (a soft, squishy, and very bouncy sphere the size of anything from a few inches to a full meter across), and get it into a hoop on the opposing team's side. Legal moves with the ball include tossing it to other players on either team, bouncing it off of walls, the ground, or other players, rolling it on the ground, or throwing underhand. When a team has scored, they get on point, and whoever grasps the ball first begins the next play, with the next goal having to be scored on the opposite side of the field. Opposing players can use any means necessary to stop a player carrying the ball, but may not intentionnaly cause physical harm. Psychological harm is acceptablle, and it is generally taken as a given that a game of Sillyball will involve taunts, riddles, insults, and generally distracting mockery.
Others:
Given the Empire's love of science-fiction technologies, leagues have sprung up for various improbable games. Sports such as Zero-G Rugby and Frictionless Hockey obviously cannot currently be played on real playing fields, but computer and dice-based simulations have been created and are played with great enthusiasm across the Empire.
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