Sports in the New Real

While sports such as Baseball, Hockey and Cricket, and even eSports tournaments, are commonplace in the New Real, the lack of space for stadiums and mix of all cultures across time and space has led to sports being played and viewed drastically differently.

One main difference is that stadiums are usually designed to accommodate multiple types of sporting events, and only the oldest stadiums on Gaia have seating for spectators; most sporting events are viewed entirely via television. eSports are usually played in the Library of Virtually Everything.

Basketball
A relatively recently-introduced sport, Basketball has grown in popularity on Gaia at least since James Naismith - the inventor of the sport - was resurrected in 11939 GHE, and probably earlier. It is usually played in markets and on pedestrian roadways.

Baseball
Baseball is commonly played by people who lived in post-War Japan, various Polynesian nations, Canada or the United States of America. Non-League games are often played on the rooftops of buildings due to the shape needed to approximate a Baseball diamond.

"European Soccer" and "Gridiron"
The sport known in the New Real as European Soccer, or just Soccer if the short version is socially acceptable, was renamed such due to arguments between football fans from across the world. As can be guessed from the name, it refers to "Football" as it was known in many countries in the Old Real, and "Soccer" as it was called in North America.

Also of note is Gridiron, formerly known commonly as "American Football"; while the two sports are otherwise unrelated and played completely differently, the confusion between the two types of "Football" played in the western hemisphere led to the name Gridiron becoming the "inoffensive" way to name the sport.

Hockey
Hockey goes back to at least 1773, with the sport's definition being vague enough that that the ancient Egyptians once played a game similar to modern hockey. The sport is commonly played in markets, on pedestrian roadways, and on frozen-over canals during winter in some older Gaian cities.

Ullamaliztli
Also known as "Ulama" or "the Aztec ball game", this is quite probably the oldest sport to have a league system. Played using only the hips, most newcomers to the New Real are surprised to learn that the winners of a match were the ones who would be (willingly) sacrificed to please the gods in the Old Real. With death being temporary in the New Real, and no actual gods having materialized to be sacrificed to, the game is still played as a pastime. Thanks to having picked up so many fans over the centuries, Ulama is probably the most popular sport on Gaia by a landslide.