Sports

Posted in: Sports
Ron Pexa: What About That Call? December 11, 2008
By Ron Pexa
Dec 11, 2008 - 4:49:51 PM

The game of basketball, one of the big three in American sports along with football and baseball, is unique in that it has the distinction of being an intentionally invented game. Whereas football and baseball developed over time out of games such as rugby and cricket, basket ball, as it was first called with two words, has an almost exact birthdate, having been invented by one man in early December of 1891. Dr. James Naismith, a physical education professor from McGill University in Canada and instructor at the YMCA Training School (currently Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, sought to invent an indoor game that would keep his students fit during the long New England winters. The students were training to be P.E. teachers and were understandably bored by doing nothing but gymnastics and calisthenics when the weather forced them indoors.

Naismith combined elements of outdoor games like lacrosse and soccer and games of skill like hockey, with a game he’d played in childhood called Duck-on-a-Rock. The first game played using Naismith’s original 13 rules, involved nine players on a team shooting a soccer ball into a peach basket nailed to a balcony railing on a court that was just 50 by 35 feet. The final score of that first official game, played on January 20, 1892, was 1-0, the only goal being scored on a 25 foot(half-court) shot by student William Chase. Most early games were fortunately low scoring affairs, as the referee had to climb a ladder and retrieve the ball from the peach basket following each score.

The new game immediately caught on, having been taught to a group of 18 new P.E. teachers who took “basket ball” back to their hometown gyms. That original class included students from Japan and Canada as well as the U.S. and the game quickly spread. Two months after the game was invented, the first competitive game between two institutions was played with the Central YMCA and the Armory Hill YMCA playing to a 2-2 tie. The first intercollegiate game was played on February 9th, 1895, with the Minnesota School of Agriculture outscoring Hamline College 9-3.

Initially, the 13 rules did not specify the number of players who could play in a basket ball game. Some early games were played with as many as 50 players. As the game developed, the five player per team format was found to be the most workable. The first five-man college basketball game was actually played in Iowa City on January 18, 1896, during which the University of Chicago beat the University of Iowa 15-12. By the early 1900’s, basketball was being played at over 90 colleges, with most of them being in the east and midwest.

Some of the noteworthy rules changes that were introduced as basketball developed into the game we know today are:

1897 - Backboards were installed behind the basket in most gymnasiums (to prevent spectators in the balcony from interfering with the shot).

1909 - The dribbler was permitted to shoot.

1914 - The bottom of the basket (or net) was cut open to permit the ball to fall through,

1922 - Running or “traveling” with the ball was changed from a foul to a violation.

1933 - The ten second center court line was introduced to cut down on stalling.

1936 - The three second rule was introduced to prevent a player without the ball from standing in the free-throw lane for more than three seconds.

1938 - The center jump after every score was eliminated to promote more continuous play.

1945 - Defensive goaltending was banned. Big men could no longer swat the ball away from the basket once a shot had started it’s downward path. Five personal fouls now disqualified a player. Unlimited substitution was introduced (from two times).

1957 - The free throw lane was widened from six feet to twelve feet.

As is apparent, basketball has come a long way, from it’s original conception in the mind of one man through the numerous tweekings by the rules committees of the various governing bodies, to become the world’s most popular team sport played and watched by male and female, young and old alike.

This weeks question was asked by Rick in Oxford, who gives the following scenario: “Team A has the ball at the sideline for a throw-in at their offensive end of the court. The throw-in is towards team A’s basket, where it is first touched by a Team B player when the ball is above the cylinder of Team A’s basket. The referee called goal tending, awarding two points to Team A. How can this be a shot, when the ball was thrown from out of bounds?”

The referee’s call awarding two points to Team A was a correct one. Although a “shot” cannot be attempted from out of bounds, the ball becomes alive when it is first touch by a player from either team. In this case, first touching and goaltending by the defense were simultaneous, and since the ball was alive and touched when it was in flight above Team A’s goal, two points are awarded to Team A. A play similar to this was actually in the official rulings and interpretations section of the NCAA basketball rule book several years ago.

A comment by former NBA great Charles Barkley a few years ago, when asked about his physical style of play, revealed alot about how intimidation has become a factor, even in a “non contact” sport like basketball. “If I weren’t earning three million a year to dunk a basketball”, Barkley deadpanned, “most people on the street would run the other way if they saw me coming.”

Send your questions to ref@eiherald.com or write to P.O. Box 336, Victor, IA, 52347.

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