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Unrecognized reminder of globality from the focus of ball games


Engaging with Elusive Connectivity and Coherence (Part #10)

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The considerations above are relatively abstruse -- as with the cognitive implications of "globalization", "unity" and "integration" to which reference is so frequently made, There is however considerable irony to the trace of such forms to be found in the designs of balls used in the most common ball games. Although "global" may be an elusive concept for many, if not most, this is no hindrance to the attraction of a ball and its use in ball games. There is a sense in which one is effectively mirrored in the other -- and the pleasure derived from kicking, hitting or throwing a ball, and possibly of catching it, which (in a condution of global crisis) might otherwise be considered perverse.

The forms discussed above are evident to a degree in the patterns of stitching and seams in the common association football, the baseball cover, and the tennis ball -- and presumably in the possible design and manufacture of balls for other sports:

Tennis ball Soccer ball (with icosahedron) Rugby football (with oblate and prolate spheroids)
Images reproduced from Wikipedia

The Sissler study of tennis ball prototypes and their characteristics is especially suggestive in the light of the argument above. It includes the following images.

Tennis ball prototypes
(studied in relation to spherical polyhedra)
Tennis ball prototypes in relation to spherical polyhedra
Reproduced from Sissler (2015)
Parametrization of baseball seam
(views from z-axis and y-axis)		 Yin-Yang construction curve design for the baseball seam
(leading to patent by Jackson in the 1860s)
Parametrization of baseball seam Yin-Yang construction curve design for the baseball seam
R. Thompson, Designing a Baseball Cover (1998) Cameron Browne, Tanji Variations (2007)

There are studies of preferences for gaming styles (especially video games), although seemingly not for preferences for ball-games, especially in terms of the balls used (Bart Stewart, Personality And Play Styles: a unified model, Gamasutra, 1 September 2011; Allen R McConnell, The Psychology of Sports Fandom, Psychology Today, 13 July 2015; Eric Simons, The psychology of why sports fans see their teams as extensions of themselves, The Washington Post, 30 January 2015). Are such preferences -- through the form of the ball and how it is played -- in some way correlated with cognitive engagement with any "global" dimension and the opportunities for "uplift" it offers?

To what extent do the constraints on ball design and manufacture reflect constraints on the conception, design and implementation of global strategies, as discussed separately (Nature of the "ball" in game-playing and governance? 2016). Especially intriguing is the possibility that preferred ball-games, with their respective ball designs, may reflect preferred comprehension of global strategies. From that perspective the design of the rugby football, as a major preference of some Western countries (notably the USA), exemplifies a very particular preference for global polarization in terms of an oblate/prolate spheroid.

Is the nature of globality, as it may be comprehended, essentially associated with the dynamics of some form of play -- and cannot be effectively understood otherwise? Aspects of this question are discussed separately (Playfully Changing the Prevailing Climate of Opinion: climate change as focal metaphor of effective global governance, 2005; Humour and Play-Fullness: essential integrative processes in governance, religion and transdisciplinarity, 2005; Enacting Transformative Integral Thinking through Playful Elegance, 2010). Reference to Dante's Divine Comedy is then especially appropriate,

It is intriguing to note the heavy investment and identification in two-team ball-games, whose dynamics are well-recognized as being echoed in the dynamics of political and military system -- for which they offer formative experience. Despite the evident challenge of any third actor, every effort is made to reframe the dynamic n binary terms -- with every effort by the dominant party to suppress or eradicate the other. This does not bode well for the Triple Helix model or any analogue to it (right-wing, left-wing, centre). There is little appreciation of 3-sided games, despite one innovation as 3-sided football. Given the accepted sexist distinction made between male and female ball-games, despite the vigorous challenge to such distinctions in other contexts, the possibility of 4-sided football -- with male and female teams playing "across" each other -- has not been explored (Destabilizing Multipolar Society through Binary Decision-making: alternatives to "2-stroke democracy" suggested by 4-sided ball games, 2016).

There is however an additional irony in that technology is now widely used to map and explain visually the dynamics of the evolution of any ball-game -- especially in terms of movement of the ball between players and teams ("passing patterns"). There seems to be no apparent effort to map the dynamics of any dialogue, whether in parliamentary assemblies or conference panel sessions. The question as to why this not done -- given the purportedly desperate quest for effective dialogue -- has become far more relevant than the fact that it is not done. The question is especially pertinent in a country like France, which is in process of organizing a Grand Debat regarding its governance. The current regume in France lays specific claim to having a deep commitment to development and adoption of digital technology.

The potentially fundamental nature of such questions is evident in the Cloverleaf model of tRNA. The tracery on the tennis ball, and its relation to the forms discussed above, is especially evident when interlocking of the implied tori is rendered evident

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