Let's just pretend for a second that you are a college-aged (or thereabouts) individual. Let's also pretend that you love contact sports, and that you're looking to stay active this coming academic year. And while we're at this whole pretending thing, let's just say that you can't play football (the horror!). You could play rugby, by gosh-darnit there's just so many rules! You need a game that's easy to learn, fast-paced, hard-hitting, and a helluva a lot of fun. My friends, let me introduce you to... GAMEBALL!

Now this sport is a new one, but its simple appeal is causing it to grow fast, and it might soon be the favorite sport at your university if you spread the word. I only began playing this game a week ago after my housemate, Alana, convinced me to give it a try. She described it to me as "you try to score, and there are no rules." But surely there was more to it than that! No, there wasn't. And that's what makes it so fun.

Here's how the game works. You set up two goals (we used lacrosse nets, but any small goal will do) about a soccer field's length apart. There are no boundaries, no lines, no restrictions on where a player may go. The game starts off with a player from each team wrestling for the ball (a mini soccer ball, about 4 inches in diameter) in the center of the field while teammates must stay 10 feet clear until one of the two players gets the ball and stands up. Then all hell breaks loose...

There are very few rules to this game; with the exception of "don't be a douche" and "tap out or pass out" (referring to a wrestling tap out if an opposing player has you pinned), anything goes. You can throw the ball, kick it, pick it up, put it down, or anything else you can think of. A team scores by getting the ball into their opponents' net any way they can. You can tackle anybody (even if they don't have the ball), you can block, you can hold them down, just "don't be a douche."

Oh, and one more thing: the ball is always live. Changes of possession are spontaneous, and there are no timeouts or breaks. The game ends when one team has scored 10 times (should last less than half an hour).

Maybe you're still not buying it, that's fine. But watch these clips below from our last game (filmed in rural north country New York), and maybe you'll see something you like...

You can see my miniscule rookie contributions at the :40 mark (I block with my face) of video #1 and 1:42 in the third video where I get my shirt ripped in half. (Okay, the second isn't a contribution, so to speak...) Plus there's some great hits. Enjoy.

I hope this has done something to spread the word of Gameball, but if not then I just wasted all of your time and mine. Thanks!