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Posts Tagged ‘History’

College sports are some of the most watched and enjoyed events in the entire sporting industry.  People are passionate about their colleges, and there are few sports that have as much pride and traditions as these ones do.  One school that is rich with history and tradition is that of the Pittsburgh Panthers and their men’s basketball team.

The men’s basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh is part of the NCAA Division 1 intercollegiate sports program and they compete in the Big East conference against many other top teams.  The team is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is often referred to as “Pitt”.  The team plays all of their home games in the Peterson Events Center where they enjoy a huge fan base from the University.

Throughout their time in the division they have been able to get 15 selections from the first team All-American, as well as win two of the Helms Athletic Foundation National Championships.  They have been in the Final Four once, and have appeared in the NCAA tournament 22 different times.  They still have yet to clinch a national championship, but they usually recruit enough talent that they are a threat each and every year.

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The men’s basketball team was first formed in 1905 and was coached by Benjamin Printz.  There were two years around 1910 were the University did not actually have a team, but they have had one ever since.    In the 1920′s, the team was coached by Henry “Doc” Carlson and he helped lead the team to their two national championships (before the NCAA).  The team was then led by their all-star player Charlie Hyatt who has since been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.  These were some of the glory years for Pitt and continue to be looked upon fondly.

Over the next century, the team passed through a variety of different coaches and players including all-American Billy Knight who helped get the team to the Elite Eight in 1974 and an chance to compete in the NIT a year later.

In 1982, the team entered into the Big East conference.  During this time, the team was led by Paul Evans as head coach and with the help of all-Americans Jerome Lane and Charles Smith they were able to capture the Big East Championship twice.  Even with these great players, the team failed to meet expectations in the post season.

Most recently, the team is led by Jamie Dixon who has been the head coach since 2003.  In 2009 the team was ranked as the number one time for a total of three weeks.  During that season, the Pittsburgh Panthers also beat two other formerly number one ranked teams that season and became only the seventh team in NCAA history to do so.  In 2010, the team continued their success and ended up losing in the second round to Xavier but still finished with a record of 25-9.  Pitt fans are looking forward to this next season to see what Jamie Dixon can do with the newly recruited talent that they got over the summer.

10 Tallest Players in NBA History

1.) Manute Bol
Height: 7’7”   Weight: 225 Pounds
Manute Bol played 10 seasons in the NBA (1985-1995). He played for four different teams: Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, and Philadelphia 76ers. He averaged 18.7 minutes played per game over his career, but only 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 points per game. Considering all he has to do is catch the ball and lay it into the basketball without jumping, how come he only averaged 2.6 points per game? He was known for his blocked-shot ability. He set a rookie record in his 1985-1986 rookie season blocking 397 shots. He is also tied for the most blocked shots in one-half with eleven and is tied for the most blocked shots for one quarter with eight, in which he accomplished twice. He still holds the record for most blocked shots per minute with (.176). He also played with Muggsy Bogues during the Bogues 1987 rookie season pairing the tallest and shortest players in NBA history in one season. He is also the only player in NBA history to block more shots then he has scored.

2.) Gheorghe Muresan
Height: 7’7”   Weight: 303 Pounds
Gheorghe Muresan played only 6 seasons in the NBA (1993-2000). He played for two different teams, the Washington Bullets and New Jersey Nets. He averaged 21.9 minutes per game over his career, but only 6.4 rebounds and 9.8 points per game. Another big man, yet a fairy low rebounds/per game average. Some of you might remember Gheorghe Muresan from the movie “My Giant” (1998), where he starred with Billy Crystal and Kathleen Quinlan.                                         

3.) Yao Ming
Height: 7’6”   Weight: 310 Pounds
Yao Ming played 6 full seasons and is still currently in his 7th season in the NBA (2002-Present). He has played for the Houston Rockets his whole career in the NBA. He averaged 32.6 minutes per game, while ripping down 9.2 rebounds and scoring 19 points per game till this day. Unlike the 2 tallest centers in the NBA, Yao Ming has been a workhorse and knows how to tally a stat sheet and is the only player in the top 10 tallest NBA players that is still playing.                                                                     

4.) Shawn Bradley
Height: 7’6”   Weight: 275 Pounds
Shawn Bradley played 12 seasons (1993-2005). He has played for three different teams:Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, and Dallas Mavericks, where he spent the majority of his career. He averaged 23.5 minutes, 6.3 rebounds and 8.1 points per game during his career. Although he did average 2.5 blocks per game over his career, he has been known for a “Giant” who got dunked on many time.

5.) Chuck Nevitt
Height: 7’5”   Weight:250 Pounds
Chuck Nevitt played 9 seasons in the NBA (1982-1994). He did not play in 3 seasons over the 12 years of his career. He played for five teams throughout his career: Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, and San Antonio Spurs. He did not play more then 45 games in any season and just averaged 5.3 minutes, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.6 points per game throughout his career. Throughout his career he basically got play time during garbage minutes meaning his team usually had a big lead or was down to much to make a comeback, especially in Detroit. While in Detroit, the fans called Detroit’s blow-outs, when Nevitt was able to get his minutes, “Nevitt Time”. His nine seasons of minutes played totaled up to be about the length of 18 full NBA games.                  

6.) Slavko Vranes
Height: 7’5”   Weight: 275 Pounds
Slavko Vranes only played three minutes in one game with the Portland Trailblazers during his entire NBA career (2003-2004). He was drafted by the New York Knicks in 2003, but was released during the season, not playing one minute of any Knicks game. The Portland Trailblazers signed him a month after his release from the New York Knicks to a 10-day contract, where he played his only three minutes in the NBA.

7.) Mark Eaton
Height: 7’4”   Weight: 290 Pounds
Mark Eaton played 11 seasons in the NBA (1982-1993) and spent his whole career with the Utah Jazz. He averaged 28.8 minutes, 7.9 rebounds, and 6.0 points per game throughout his career. Mark Eaton was known for being a monster on defense averaging 3.5 blocks per game over his career and during his third season in the NBA he averaged a whopping 5.6 blocks per game.

8.) Rik Smits
Height: 7’4”   Weight: 265 Pounds
Rik Smits played 12 seasons in the NBA (1988-2000). Just like Mark Eaton, Rik Smits played his NBA career with one team, the Indiana Pacers. He averaged 26.6 minutes played, 6.1 rebounds, and 14.8 points scored per game during his career. Similar to Ralph Sampson and Mark Eaton, Rik Smits has had very a productive career.                                            

9.) Ralph Sampson
Height: 7’4”   Weight: 235 Pounds
Ralph Simpson played 9 seasons in the NBA (1983-1992). He played for four different teams: Houston Rockets, (where he spent the first half of his career), Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, and Washington Bullets. He averaged 29.8 minutes played, 8.8 rebounds, and 15.4 points per game throughout his NBA career. He was teammates with another 7-foot player ,Hakeem Olajuwon, they were nicknamed the “Twin Towers”.Throughout the middle of his career he battled knee injuries because of his big frame and when he was traded for the Rockets he was never able to stay healthy for a full season of games battling with knee and back injuries.                       

10.) Priest Lauderdale
Height: 7’4”   Weight: 325 Pounds
Priest Lauderdale only played 2 seasons in the NBA (1996-1998). He played one season with the Atlanta Hawks and one season with the Denver Nuggets. During his two-year career in the NBA, he averaged 7.1 minutes, 1.9 rebounds, and 3.4 points. After he left the NBA, he went to play basketball in Bulgaria.

What is it about basketball that makes it soo popular? Why are there so many people who take interest in being part of the game? Wherever you go, you will spot people both young and old who get hooked on basketball. They say it is cool to be playing the game but aside from that there are several values and disciplines that one can derive from basketball. But how did basketball start out? Let us take a glimpse of the history of basketball.

Dr. James Naismith is known to be the father of basketball who came up with the concept in the year 1892. The very first basketball game was held on April 8, 1893 in Beaver Falls Pennsylvania. The first two competing teams were the Geneva College and New Brighton YMCA. It then popularized so that by the year 1914, there were at least 360 basketball teams formed by different colleges. The very first NCAA Men’s College Basketball Championship was then held in 1939 and was bagged by the University of Oregon.

Due to the conflict of interests, professional basketball teams were then molded. These teams started playing for money. It was in 1898 that the National Basketball League or NBL was produced and spearheaded by Barney Sedran and Ed Wachter. Within the course of basketball pro teams, the first teams to have a taste of success were the Celtics and the Buffalo Germans followed by the Harlem Globetrotters and New York Renaissance in the 1930s. It was also in these times when basketball for women started booming with the exemplary star players such as Alline Banks Sprouse and Babe Didrikson.

In the 1940s, the very first basketball games in the colleges were broadcasted on national television. The first to be shown was the game that was contested by Fordham and Pittsburgh at the Madison Square Garden. This then heightened the popularity of the game. Its fame spread like madness and was obviously watched by the whole of the United States especially the tournament that was played by 350 American college basketball teams for the NCAA championship.

On a yearly basis, there were new basketball teams that surfaced to be the most favorites of the crowd. And all through the years, the game enthusiasts continued to sharpen their skills and executed notable moves in the courts. To date, the history of basketball is revered and an inspiration to many.

Modern day basketball can trace it’s origins to early December 1891 when Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian physical education teacher and a local instructor at Springfield, Massachusetts’ YMCA Training School was desperately seeking an indoor game active and fit during cold, snowy New England winters. After trying several different games and finding them too dangerous or not quite suitable for gymnasiums, Naismith wrote down the essential rules of basketball, incorporating some of the rules of a popular children’s game of the era, “Ducks on a Pond,” and then nailed a peach basket on an upraised track, ten feet above the playing surface. Of course, since the peach baskets still had closed bottoms, retrieving a ball after a player scored a basket was terribly inefficient – unbelievably, the game had to be stopped for someone to retrieve the ball with a dowel. And although the first official game was played in January of 1892, at the YMCA gymnasium Naismith’s handwritten diaries at the time indicate that he was extremely nervous about the new game he invented, fearing that his basketball wouldn’t take.

Oddly, in that first official game of basketball, there were nine players on a side and the winning team won a close fought 1-0 battle with a 25-foot shot – on a court barely half the size of the modern day court! By 1897 teams of five had become standard. Around the same time, women’s basketball was developed at nearby Smith College when Sandra Berenson, a physical education teacher at the college modified many of the rules for women to play. As it turned out, Berenson was fascinated by the values of teamwork, fair play and vigorous exercise that basketball promoted and began organizing some of the first women’s basketball games by 1893. By 1899 Berenson’s rules for women’s basketball were published and by the turn of the century, she was the editor of A.G. Spaulding’s legendary Women’s Basketball Guide which spread her version of basketball across the country to countless physical education instructors across the country. In fact, with the help of many YMCA instructors, basketball was promoted throughout the United States and Canada, paving the way for the game to be established as a varsity sport at many high schools. Sadly (and perhaps ironically), the YMCA began to discourage basketball by 1905, fearing that rowdy; belligerent crowds and rough play distracted from the organization’s mission. But that didn’t matter much as amateur clubs, colleges, high schools and even several short-lived professional basketball clubs and leagues not only filled in the void but also helped promote the game. Basketball was becoming so popular that the forebear to the NCAA, known as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States and the Amateur Athletic Union fought for control of the game’s rules and of its future.

A little known fact is that during those first decades, basketball was primarily played with soccer balls, which were difficult to dribble. Most games consisted of players passing the ball to each other in order to advance it up and down the court. It wasn’t for some time until a ball was specifically designed and made for basketball and frequently basketballs were irregularly made, creating an odd scene for modern basketball fans. It wasn’t until the late 1940s when college basketball was becoming insanely popular and viable enough to pave the way for the National Basketball Association’s popularity that Tony Hinkle developed the orange basketball that fans are so familiar with. Of course, it should not be forgotten that Naismith was also influential in the promotion and creation of men’s college basketball when he became the University of Kansas ’ first basketball team. And believably, many of Naismith’s first students and disciples became important in the history of college basketball including Amos Alonzo Stagg, Forrest “Phog” Allen, and Adolph Rupp.

For more information on basketball, visit http://www.basketballmicroblog.com and http://www.basketballmicroblogging.com.

For one to appreciate what he sees now, he must have a glimpse from the past. Here, we have gathered some data regarding the history of the National Basketball Association which became the symbol of Basketball.

From the combined efforts of the National Basketball League and Basketball Association of America, NBA was given birth in 1949. While the American public was quite skeptic on the game, history proves that this later became the most well-loved game in history that its story is marked by hundred of events that led us here now.

After World War II, American businesses boomed, more particularly the sports businesses. By this time, the only large-scale basketball league was the National Basketball League (NBL) in the mid-west.

The various owners of the indoor sports businesses then congregated to form the Basketball Association of America. There were just 13 cities that were given franchises however, two backed-out from the national league, the Indianapolis and the Buffalo. The 11 left were the following:

•    Boston Celtics
•    New York Knickenbockers
•    Philadelphia Warriors
•    Providence Steamrollers
•    Toronto Huskies
•    Washington Gardens
•    Chicago Stags
•    Cleveland Rebels
•    Detroit Falcons
•    Pittsburgh Ironmen, and
•    St Louis Bombers

While the new league was acknowledged in the cities, the take-off was still mediocre. Nevertheless, this debut league led to more popularity on the part of the National Basketball league as it was played in the larger cities. But everything was yet to unfold.

The first and second season of the BBA met dramatic changes which led them towards the acquisition of 4 teams from the NBL. With a decrease of 48 from 60 games from the first season and the dropping out of four teams, the BBA was forced to import Baltimore Bullets from the American Basketball League, a regional basketball circuit to meet the balance between the 7 remaining teams.

Apart from the loss of the four teams and the star George Mikan, NBL suffered a loss of public interest due to their failure to play in the cities that led them to their downfall in the 1948-1949 season. They packed up at the end of the season and dissolved.

During this time, the National Basketball Association was formed. The six remaining teams from the NBL joined the BBA. Indianapolis Olympians joined the league and both Indianapolis Jets and Providence Steamrollers backed-out. This set of seventeen teams went on to commence the NBA as we know it today.

Basketball, one of the most popular sports in the world, had very humble beginnings. Dr. James Naismith, a physical education instructor, created the game of basketball. The Canadian born Naismith, while at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, invented basketball in 1891, when looking for an indoor sport during the winter months – specifically to keep his football players in shape during the off season months.

The Invention

Naismith and his wife saw an article in a magazine from South America that featured an Aztec ball game called Ollamalitzli, and the Mayan game called Ulama, where the round bouncy ball had to go through a hole. He also read another article by Tom Ellison, a New Zealander, which described an ancient Maori ball game that involved a lot of handball skills, where the ball was passed aerially with speed and agility.

Taking these games into account, he and his wife devised a new ball game, to be played indoors in a gym. He developed 13 rules for his game, and divided his 18 players into two teams of nine players each. Two peach baskets were tied to the lower railing of the gym’s balcony. The idea was to throw the soccer ball into these peach baskets. As the bottoms of the peach baskets were intact, the game had to be stopped every time the ball entered the basket, for the janitor to get a ladder and retrieve the ball!

Of course, those days the games were very low scoring affairs. The very first basketball game ever played had an amazingly low score of 1-0. The first official game, played on January 20, 1892, was played on a court half the size of the modern National Basketball Association (NBA) court, involving the use of a soccer ball and two peach baskets for goal.

YMCA, which initially spread the game, later started to discourage playing it, as it was quite rowdy and rough, and deviated from its basic mission. The game however caught on, and it was picked up enthusiastically by other sports clubs, professional clubs, and colleges.

Basketball, of course, used soccer balls initially, and the first basketballs made for the game were brown in color. In the late 1950s, the orange color basketballs were introduced by Tony Hinkle, to make the balls easily visible to the players and the spectators.

Tickets

From such humble beginnings, basketball has grown into a game that is played by more than 300 million people worldwide. The legends of the game, such as:

Michael Jordan

Larry Bird

“Dr. J” Julius Erving

Magic Johnson

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Wilt Chamberlain

Bill Russell

Oscar Robertson or Robinson

“Pistol Pete” Maravich

have added richness to the game, over the years.

Basketball tickets, whether for the professional games or the collegiate games, are well sought after. You can arrange your basketball tickets for the games of your choice through legitimate ticket brokers.

Put in your request for the basketball tickets for the games of your choice and they will be delivered to you.

The Canadian, Dr. James Naismith, a physical education instructor, while at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, invented the game of basketball, in 1891. The following year, in 1892, he put together the rules of the game, and the first game of college basketball involved 18 players from YMCA, Springfield, who split into two teams of nine each. This was in 1893.

The first recorded instance when a basketball game involved at least one college team was between Geneva College and New Brighton, YMCA, on April 8, 1893, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, which Geneva College won. Geneva College calls itself ‘The Birthplace of College Basketball.’

It was on February 9, 1895, that two basketball teams from two different colleges – Minnesota State School of Agriculture, and the Porkers of Hamline College – played the first college basketball game. Minnesota won 9-3. Naismith’s original ‘peach basket’ rules were in force, and had nine players to each side.

The Modern College Basketball Games

The very first five to a side college basketball game was between the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa, played in Iowa City, Iowa on January 18, 1896. Chicago won 15-12. The first inter-collegiate basketball game was between Wesleyan University and Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, which Wesleyan won 4-3.

By the 1900s, many colleges all over the United States were fielding basketball teams. By 1906, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was formed in Chicago, and the first tournament of the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Championship was held in 1939 at Evanston, Illinois in front of an audience of 5,500 fans. Oregon took the first National Championship by beating Ohio State – 46 to 33. That was the only time Oregon has ever reached the finals of this tournament.

In 1940, the first televised college basketball games were played at the Madison Square Garden. Since then, there has been no end to the popularity of college basketball.

March Madness

NCAA’s Men’s Division I Basketball Championship is colloquially known as the March Madness, as the tournament is mostly held in March, each year. It is also called so as it ignites such frenzy among the followers of college basketball. This single elimination tournament takes place over a three-week period across the United States, and features 65 college basketball teams.

The term March Madness now refers to both – the men’s and women’s tournament. Traditionally, the semifinals and the finals of the Men’s championship is played on a Saturday and the following Monday, whereas the Women’s championship semifinal is played on a Sunday, followed by Tuesday, for the finals.

Florida won the 2007 NCAA Men’s Division I Championship beating Ohio State 84-75 at Atlanta Georgia, whereas the 2007 NCAA Women’s Division I Championship went to Tennessee, who beat Rutgers, 59-46, in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Tickets

The easiest way to procure your college basketball tickets is through the services of legitimate ticket brokers.

Legitimate ticket brokers have a reputation to maintain and ensure your college basketball tickets for the games of your choice are delivered to your door.

The game basketball has been one of the most renowned sports in the planet. Basketball sports products and wares such as basketball shoes, basket ball, portable basketball backboards and hoops and sportswear sell millions of goods every year. One of the richest athletes in the world are basketball players, like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Wilt Chamberlain, so are the basketball coaches too like Phil Jackson, Bob Knight and Pat Riley. Everywhere, you can see basketball courts in most corner of the neighborhood. And the youth and the old persons alike, handicapped or with two total pair of legs, ladies and guys, regardless size you qualify-everyone likes to play this game.
There are three basic equipment necessary for basketball. The hoop, the ball and the court. Unlike any other sports, basketball is distinct for it can be played both indoors and in the open. The first basketball game was just consisted of a circular ring mounted on a wall and a ball, and the rules were basic. Every team should try to have a score by shooting and throwing the ball through the hoop by following a set of rules. There are particular scoring systems to observe and fouls and violation to be avoided.
Consequently, these rules and regulations have been improved from the day it was first played. Today, considered to be one of the most common and permanent professional sports, certain set of rules and regualtions are required in order to play this game. The ball for example has to be 29.5 inches for men, and weighing 22 ounces, and 28.5 for women weighing 20 ounces. The basketball backboard is generally ten feet tall, nonetheless it may have variation. The basketball hoop should be 45.7 in diameters and the basketball court generally measures to 28 x 15 meters.
For non-competitive sports however, equipments can vary. Basketball players can be inventive with the backboard, some community courts only require a ring and an expansive place to dribble with. Some community courts and playgrounds also have portable basketball backboards, which can also be put up on backyard houses. Even the game itself can also diversify. Today we have six by six basketball, instead of five members. There is also the horseball which can be played whilst riding on a horse, and is a combination of rugby, polo and basketball. There is also the water basketball, wheelchair basketball and even unicycle basketball.
The women’s basketball has begun in 1892 and seven years afterward has become a recognized game because of the labors and pains of Senda Berenson. It’s also one of the sports that even the handicapped can do. True enough, basketball is considered to be both non-discriminatory and beneficial to improve physical agility and endurance as well as to sharpen thinking skills. It is also one of the main factors why parents want their kids to grow tall and stalwart, because one has to be at the least 6 feet high with clear-cut shooting skills in order to be a professional basketball player. That is why schools offer basketball courses to young kids and youngsters so they can better their skill while shooting on those portable basketball backboards.

What is it about basketball that makes it soo popular? Why are there so many people who take interest in being part of the game? Wherever you go, you will spot people both young and old who get hooked on basketball. They say it is cool to be playing the game but aside from that there are several values and disciplines that one can derive from basketball. But how did basketball start out? Let us take a glimpse of the history of basketball. Dr. James Naismith is known to be the father of basketball who came up with the concept in the year 1892. The very first basketball game was held on April 8, 1893 in Beaver Falls Pennsylvania. The first two competing teams were the Geneva College and New Brighton YMCA. It then popularized so that by the year 1914, there were at least 360 basketball teams formed by different colleges. The very first NCAA Men’s College Basketball Championship was then held in 1939 and was bagged by the University of Oregon. Due to the conflict of interests, professional basketball teams were then molded. These teams started playing for money. It was in 1898 that the National Basketball League or NBL was produced and spearheaded by Barney Sedran and Ed Wachter. Within the course of basketball pro teams, the first teams to have a taste of success were the Celtics and the Buffalo Germans followed by the Harlem Globetrotters and New York Renaissance in the 1930s. It was also in these times when basketball for women started booming with the exemplary star players such as Alline Banks Sprouse and Babe Didrikson. In the 1940s, the very first basketball games in the colleges were broadcasted on national television. The first to be shown was the game that was contested by Fordham and Pittsburgh at the Madison Square Garden. This then heightened the popularity of the game. Its fame spread like madness and was obviously watched by the whole of the United States especially the tournament that was played by 350 American college basketball teams for the NCAA championship. On a yearly basis, there were new basketball teams that surfaced to be the most favorites of the crowd. And all through the years, the game enthusiasts continued to sharpen their skills and executed notable moves in the courts. To date, the history of basketball is revered and an inspiration to many.

Modern day basketball can trace it’s origins to early December 1891 when Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian physical education teacher and a local instructor at Springfield, Massachusetts’ YMCA Training School was desperately seeking an indoor game active and fit during cold, snowy New England winters. After trying several different games and finding them too dangerous or not quite suitable for gymnasiums, Naismith wrote down the essential rules of basketball, incorporating some of the rules of a popular children’s game of the era, “Ducks on a Pond,” and then nailed a peach basket on an upraised track, ten feet above the playing surface. Of course, since the peach baskets still had closed bottoms, retrieving a ball after a player scored a basket was terribly inefficient – unbelievably, the game had to be stopped for someone to retrieve the ball with a dowel. And although the first official game was played in January of 1892, at the YMCA gymnasium Naismith’s handwritten diaries at the time indicate that he was extremely nervous about the new game he invented, fearing that his basketball wouldn’t take.

Oddly, in that first official game of basketball, there were nine players on a side and the winning team won a close fought 1-0 battle with a 25-foot shot – on a court barely half the size of the modern day court! By 1897 teams of five had become standard. Around the same time, women’s basketball was developed at nearby Smith College when Sandra Berenson, a physical education teacher at the college modified many of the rules for women to play. As it turned out, Berenson was fascinated by the values of teamwork, fair play and vigorous exercise that basketball promoted and began organizing some of the first women’s basketball games by 1893. By 1899 Berenson’s rules for women’s basketball were published and by the turn of the century, she was the editor of A.G. Spaulding’s legendary Women’s Basketball Guide which spread her version of basketball across the country to countless physical education instructors across the country. In fact, with the help of many YMCA instructors, basketball was promoted throughout the United States and Canada, paving the way for the game to be established as a varsity sport at many high schools. Sadly (and perhaps ironically), the YMCA began to discourage basketball by 1905, fearing that rowdy; belligerent crowds and rough play distracted from the organization’s mission. But that didn’t matter much as amateur clubs, colleges, high schools and even several short-lived professional basketball clubs and leagues not only filled in the void but also helped promote the game. Basketball was becoming so popular that the forebear to the NCAA, known as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States and the Amateur Athletic Union fought for control of the game’s rules and of its future.

A little known fact is that during those first decades, basketball was primarily played with soccer balls, which were difficult to dribble. Most games consisted of players passing the ball to each other in order to advance it up and down the court. It wasn’t for some time until a ball was specifically designed and made for basketball and frequently basketballs were irregularly made, creating an odd scene for modern basketball fans. It wasn’t until the late 1940s when college basketball was becoming insanely popular and viable enough to pave the way for the National Basketball Association’s popularity that Tony Hinkle developed the orange basketball that fans are so familiar with. Of course, it should not be forgotten that Naismith was also influential in the promotion and creation of men’s college basketball when he became the University of Kansas ’ first basketball team. And believably, many of Naismith’s first students and disciples became important in the history of college basketball including Amos Alonzo Stagg, Forrest “Phog” Allen, and Adolph Rupp.

For more information on basketball, visit http://www.basketballmicroblog.com and http://www.basketballmicroblogging.com.