*Scottish town feels pull of centuries-old blood sport*
*By Eli Saslow* /The Washington Post/
KIRKWALL, Scotland — William Thomson's family had played this sport for centuries, so he understood that he needed to choose between two strategies for the annual Christmas Day ba' game.
The scrawny 17-year-old could fight for the ball in the center of the riotous scrum, where more than 300 men would function as a human juicer, turning his face red, then purple. He would be scratched, punched, kneed and bitten. His ribs might break. He could pass out unconscious.