How We Play

Like dialects of a language, sports are played differently depending on where you are in the world — from nation to nation, and even state to state. Since most of us haven’t played hockey in Russia, or baseball in Puerto Rico, or football in North Dakota, we asked the athletes who actually have to tell us how they do things in their corners of the world.

ALL STORIES

How We Play Football in Louisiana

If the Texas heat and the Florida humidity got married and had a baby, it would be Louisiana.

How We Play Rugby in New Zealand

America, you gotta look up this video. It’s everything that makes Dan Carter a legend. He stiff-arms one defender like Marshawn Lynch.

How We Play Basketball in Poland

When you pick up a ball for the first time at age 17, there’s a lot of catching up to do.

How We Play Football in the AFC North

It was always a dogfight. That’s AFC North football. Old-school slugfests. The kind we grew up watching.

How We Play Hockey in Switzerland

In Switzerland, the winters are long. which meant we could make a lot of one thing. Ice.

How We Play Football in Seattle

I don’t play football for the money. I’m playing to prove people wrong.

How We Play Hockey in Russia

Four days with no hockey, I get so depressed. I can’t even sleep. Just sit watching YouTube of Kovalev and wait.