I had never seen a handball game before and was excited to be able to go online and watch Denmark play in the men's World Championship final (like the FIFA World Cup) in Sweden. Unfortunately, France won in overtime, 37-35, successfully defending its title.
Handball was historically played in several places, but because the modern rules originated here the Danes are given credit for its origins. It is played by teams of seven men or women and is a bit like soccer, basketball, and ultimate frisbee, but is not like American handball. Many towns have leagues and results for both sexes are published in the paper. The Danish women have won Olympic gold three times in the last four Games.
I don't see it becoming popular in the US because there aren't enough commercial breaks. There is a fair amount of contact and it is a high scoring game (teams usually score at least 20 and often even 30 points), so maybe it will catch on.
Bo and I saw handball at the Olympics in Atlanta. Very exciting game. U.S. Had a team only because they were the host country. We spoke to some of the players who said they were recruited from soccer teams by the US Olympic Committee, since there were't any US teams.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting that you were able to see that. We thought it was amazing how fast the ball is thrown and how often players were hit in the face and other body parts that looked painful!
You have had so many new experiences. Good thing you have this great diary of it all to reread later and to share with all of us