Every four years, the Olympics roll around to remind squash of its terminal insignificance in the wide world of sports. Tug-of-war was once an Olympic sport; so was water skiing. BMX cycling, whatever that is, is an Olympic sport. But squash has been locked out since making a one-time appearance at the 1908 London Olympics. It says a lot about the sport that Britons won all six medals contested (singles and doubles) and that Jacob Astor—no, not that John Jacob Astor —won two of them.

What happened? The Lords of the Rings, like almost everyone else, still perceive squash to be a posh sport of limited popular appeal. This isn’t really true in countries like Great Britain, Australia, Pakistan and India, but it’s a tough rap to shake. Furthermore, squash is not telegenic. The World Squash Federation, headed by Pakistan’s legendary Jahangir Khan, commissioned a promotional video to support their latest, failed, Olympic bid. Take a look at it. I suspect it will convince you that squash is hard to televise and, yes, hard to understand.

Squash Magazine reported earlier this year that two Olympic bureaucrats visited a squash tournament and had trouble figuring out what was going on. Even Jeanne Blasberg, the chair of U.S. Squash Rackets Association, allows that you might want to attend a match "with a host who can explain some things. For a newcomer, seeing a let and seeing a stroke might be confusing." As in tennis, a let calls for the point to be replayed. A stroke awards a penalty point to one of the players.