So, as I watched the last 90 seconds of Mississippi State’s overtime victory over Ole Miss last Saturday night at Starkville, I got to thinking: What would Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, think?
I had plenty of time to think. Because of video reviews, timeouts, fouls, free throws and more replay reviews, the last 90 seconds of playing time lasted 17 minutes of real time. The game itself took two hours, 41 minutes. That’s 161 minutes if you are keeping score, which is roughly four times the length of time the ball actually was in play.
I think I know what Naismith would think. I believe he would think: You know, this is not really what I had in mind.
Some historic perspective is necessary here. Dr. Naismith was not yet a doctor when he conjured up the game we call basketball. Later to become a doctor of both divinity and of medicine, Naismith was a recently hired YMCA training school instructor at Springfield (Mass.) College in December of 1891, 134 years and change ago. His boss, Dean Luther Gillick charged Naismith with the task of developing a new indoor sport to fill the void between football and baseball seasons. Seems the Springfield students were terribly bored with gymnastics.
Gillick told Naismith he wanted a sport that required skill and sportsmanship. He wanted a game that provided exercise for the whole body, yet a game played without extreme roughness causing damage to players and equipment. Had they watched the Rebels and Bulldogs last Saturday night, Gllick and Naismith might have covered their eyes. Extreme roughness and physicality ruled the night.
But all in all, Naismith did fairly well. Take last Saturday night, for example: Certainly none of players, nor the more than 9,000 fans at The Hump, were the least bit bored, except for during the numerous replay reviews.
Given his advanced degree in divinity, Naismith probably would admit he was fortunate in some ways. For instance, after sketching out his idea for the sport, Naismith sent a janitor in search of two 15-inch by 15-inch boxes to hang at either end of the gymnasium. Basketball was almost boxball. Hoops was almost squares. The janitor couldn’t find the appropriate boxes and returned to Naismith carrying two peach baskets. And, yes, the baskets had bottoms. Initially a ladder was needed to retrieve the ball after made baskets.
Naismith’s class had 18 students. So it was the first game of basketball matched nine against nine. Tacking, pushing, holding and tripping were prohibited, but, then, so was dribbling. Clearly, as Bob Cousy, Pete Maravich, Juju Murray and Josh Hubbard have illustrated, the game would evolve. The first game, played with a soccer ball, ended with the score one to nothing. Accuracy has evolved, too.
Naismith’s game quickly grew in popularity, especially In the northeast. Naismith became something of a hero. In fact, some folks suggested the new sport be called Naismith-ball. To his everlasting credit, Naismith flatly rejected the idea.
You, as I, may wonder how some of the terms we use in basketball today came about. For instance, the player who patrols the area closest to the goal is often called the post-man even though there is no mail involved. Sometimes, he plays the low post. Sometimes, he moves farther away from the basketball and plays the high post. Why post? Glad you asked. Back in Naismith’s day, most gyms, including the one in Springfield, had posts in the middle of the courts to hold up the ceilings. The players had to maneuver around the posts. The player who played near the posts closest to the baskets was called the post-man.
Back then, many of the courts were elevated and doubled as stages (think Memorial Coliseum at Vanderbilt). There was an inherent danger of players falling off the stages and breaking legs, arms and noggins. Netting was often put up around the courts to protect the players from such danger, giving the playing floor the visual effect of a cage. And that’s why basketball players are often still referred to a cagers. Now you know.
Women took to the sport from almost the very beginning. The first women’s game was played in 1892 at Northampton, Mass. Men were not allowed to attend because the women played the game in bloomers. Uniforms, too, have evolved.
“Basketball,” Naismith wrote, “is a game to play. You don’t coach it.” Chris Jans and Chris Beard, two guys who make millions, surely would disagree. But maybe Naismith had the right idea. All that coaching – which happens mostly during TV timeouts – is part of what makes the last 90 seconds of a close game last more than 10 times that long.
In his book about basketball, Naismith wrote, “Let us all be able to lose gracefully and to win courteously; to accept criticism as well as praise; and, last of all, to appreciate the attitude of the other fellow at all times.”
Dr. Naismith, we can reasonably surmise, would not have appreciated the numerous refrains of “Go to hell Ole Miss” and “ref, you suck” last Saturday night.
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