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ballcourt as a pathway into the spiritual underworld: it can do so both physically by resembling a path and spiritually by being the site of sacrifice and ritual. Furthermore, religion in Mayan Mesoamerica was a part of daily life: indeed, the very days were named for the gods and activities were dispersed throughout the days according to their controlling gods (Thompson, 84). As such, the ballgame was not merely a form of recreation, or even of social ritual. It was a literal recreation of the exploits of the hero twins of Mayan lore, who were believed to have shaped the world into a suitable form for habitation.

Beyond religion and architecture, a primary difference in thinking must be grasped. In Mayan culture, it is very likely that terms like good, evil, winner, and loser, if they existed at all, existed in an entirely different context and conveyed a very different message (Alexander, 710). Whether it was the winners or the losers of the ballgame who were occasionally sacrificed is, at best, unclear, yet modern notions of success and failure do not seem to apply here. While victory certainly brought prestige and a sense of accomplishment (Why else would the game have still been played, sans human sacrifice, when it was observed by Spanish explorers?) (de Borhegyi, 84), the same could be said of sacrifice: one's own life and blood were being offered to renew the gods and their lasting impact on the world. Given that blood sacrifice was such a prominent facet of Mayan life, right up to Mayan royalty, this ultimate expression of such may not have even seemed in the least bit frightening or odd (Maya: Blood of Kings).

Equipped with such knowledge, the sacrificial aspect of the ballgame comes into greater focus, but it is not alone as an expression of Mayan thought in ritual. Politically, the ballcourts in major Mayan centers often divided the town down family lines, establishing sectors under control of various clan-like entities (Fox, 1991, 218-224). According to Fox, these ballcourts were also used as centers for social ritual. Here, it is likely the wealthy gathered, bringing foodstuffs and jugs of fine drink to celebrate. Indeed, large caches of such things have been found buried beneath or near many Mesoamerican ballcourts, and their location in many of the most culturally rich Mayan sites furthers their image as a prime example of Mayan social architecture. However, as before, this concrete use (As a gathering place and site of social interaction,

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