# What Olympic sport am I watching? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2004, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775 "2004-08-27T12:38:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/1 "2004-08-27T12:38:19Z")
OK, Croatia (huzzah!) is beating Bulgaria, 25-21 as I watch this ‘sport’: -Maybe 6 players per team. -Indoors, on a roughly basketball-sized court. -Hockey-like net at either end. -Dudes running around, throwing some big softball/small volleyball looking ball around. What sport is that? ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/2 "2004-08-27T12:39:53Z")
[Handball?](http://www.usateamhandball.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/3 "2004-08-27T12:41:10Z")
That’s it; Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![BadBadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BadBadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBadger)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/4 "2004-08-27T12:41:41Z")
Handball? [Europe Handball Site](http://www.eurohandball.com/) Check out the gallery… ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/5 "2004-08-27T16:43:56Z")
That’s called handball?? Sacrilege! Handball is played in a court, like squash or racquetball, but without a racquet. My god, is that … thing what the Olympic handball results have always been about? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/6 "2004-08-27T17:12:30Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > That’s called handball?? Sacrilege! > > Handball is played in a court, like squash or racquetball, but without a racquet. My god, is that … thing what the Olympic handball results have always been about? In the US, it’s usually referred to at “team handball” to differentiate. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/7 "2004-08-28T02:36:11Z")
It looks suspiciously like dodge ball! You boys will watch anything! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/8 "2004-08-28T15:45:41Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > That’s called handball?? \Then what’s the one where chicks whale on each other?\ ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/9 "2004-08-28T16:26:51Z")
**MikeS** Foxy Boxing… (sorry, couldn’t remember which character said it, Lisa?) I can’t believe (team) handball is an olympic sport. I used to rule at that when we played it in gym in high school. Damn, I coulda been an Olympian. ---
**Author:** ![teleute12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@teleute12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teleute12)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/10 "2004-08-28T20:49:15Z")
That’s handball? In my elementry school, handball was was a two-player game involving smacking a ball against a wall. How is that game related to the team handball played in the Olympics? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/11 "2004-08-28T22:42:26Z")
It’s the soccer/football confusion again. Handball is a very big sport in Europe. I find it extremely boring to watch, but that’s just me. And don’t be fooled. It’s not dodgeball and certainly not a kiddie/sissy sport. It’s tough and rough and if you check pics, they’re not wearing any protective gear. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/12 "2004-08-28T23:44:26Z")
We called it “hand soccer” when we played it in high school. It was a blast. I always looked forward to “hand soccer” days in gym class. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/13 "2004-08-29T06:00:14Z")
Next thing you know, “Speedball” will be an olympic event. That sport is more confusing than any other game, save Cribbage. Oh, and let’s nip one thing in the bud, I refer to an actual physical game that takes US Soccer and Team Handball and wraps those two sports into one. I think a college in Mich. invented it. Then again, if all sports went according to plan, Micheal Jordan would be the king of Crate-ball. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/14 "2004-08-29T07:48:30Z")
[QUOTE=Nametag] Handball is played in a court, like squash or racquetball, but without a racquet.QUOTE] Eh? That’s Fives. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/15 "2004-08-29T08:26:53Z")
> [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > Eh? That’s Fives. Nah, that’s [US Handball](http://www.ushandball.org/), which is similar to [Fives](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fives) but can be played on a single-wall, three-wall, or four-wall court. AFAIK there are no Fives courts in the US, either of the **Rugby** (four plain walls), **Winchester** (four walls with a sloped buttress on the left-hand wall), or **Eton** (three walls, with a buttress, a step in mid-court, and various sloping ledges on the walls, based on part of the exterior of the chapel at Eton College) variants. You can see a photo of an Eton Fives Court at [this link](http://www.etonfives.co.uk/about.fives/brief.introduction.html), by clicking on the hyperlink labeled “The Eton Fives court”. (Sorry no direct link, it’s behind a Javascript popup). ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-olympic-sport-am-i-watching/261775/16 "2004-09-02T01:45:37Z")
As an American, I’m embarrassed (but not surprised) to admit that the European naming convention in this regard is logical: Move the ball across the field and into the opponent’s net with your feet: Football. Move the ball across the field and into the opponent’s net with your hands: Handball. Me, I’ll stick with good 'ol American sports: Throw and Charge Ball; Bounce and Throw Ball; and Batball. Peace.