How basketball might save the world

 Basketball was the result of a request to find an activity for "incorrigible " men during the winter with limited space.  It wasn't thought it might solve all the world's problems, but the author David Hollander feels it sets a model the rest of us would profit to follow.  He offers a mix of politics, psychology and sociology well reasoned that I cannot do justice to with this post.  I will cover a number of points raised and suggest it is worth reading even for non basketball fans.

Within a week of its invention women were invited to watch and shortly after Naismith himself encouraged them to take part.  Within a very few years through the YMCA network it spread to China, India, France, Australia, Brazil and all over North America.   In some quarters some men would not play the game as women also played it.  Times have changed  and some credit must be given to women themselves.

 A goal was to make the game affordable and accessible.  Naismith noted that many sports used small balls such as cricket, hockey, lacrosse and tennis, but required another piece of equipment to maneuver that ball, so opted for a ball to be handled by hand.  The sport could be played in a gym with a basket nailed at each end.  Apparently he was aware of a Mayan game using a hoop turned on its side.

The ease of accessibility allowed many to play basketball who had felt excluded from other sports.  Jews, Catholics and a wide variety of immigrants flocked to the game.  Naismith is credited with mentoring two successful basketball coaches, Phog Allen and a black man, John McLendon.  In the U.S. many blacks found basketball as an outlet.  

Balance of individual  and collective with each player having the same opportunities and responsibilities.

Play has been discarded by many, but is essential for human happiness and even productivity.  Johan Huizinga is referred to.  Basketball being accessible and affordable is one significant source.

Wynton Marsalis when asked to explain affinity between basketball and jazz (two activities associated with African Americans); "<when> improvisation meets form in the context between a groove and rhythm ... done well all players in the ensemble transmute, creating something and being something none could be without the others".

PeacePlayers International  was formed after Stanley Tuohey went to Belfast, Northern Ireland to play professional basketball and run clinics for Protestants and Catholics.  A local policeman was so impressed with how the two factions played together and suggested this might work in South Africa.  Together with his brother they formed PeacePlayers International in 2001 and went to South Africa where they found similar results.  They have also set up clinics in Cyprus, Israel/West Bank and the United States with over 70,000 participants.  They have learned that diverse groups can learn to get along and respect each other with basketball as an important tool. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo personifies an interesting phenomena.  His parents left Nigeria for Greece and were in reality non documented.  Giannis was limited in his freedom but found solace in basketball.  He proved to be of great talent sought by the N.B.A.  To facilitate his family were declared Greek citizens.  Recently he played for the Greek national team at the recent Olympics.  

During the COVID pandemic the 2020 election appeared to be very difficult to manage.  Mail in voting was perfectly legal, but Trump had commanded the postmaster general to remove postal boxes and declared mail voter fraud to be guarded against.  LeBron James launched a non profit organization, "More than a Vote" to find ways to make it more comfortable to vote.  He helped set up arenas and stadiums as safe places to vote.  He also signed up over 10,000 volunteer poll workers.

Somalia has a scary reputation with violent gangs who do not believe in the rights of women.  Sports in general and basketball in particular were regarded as illegal and sacrilegious.  Some women defy death threats to play basketball.  Ilwad Ellman, daughter of peace activist Ellman Ali, has formed the Ellman Peace Centre that concentrates on helping women who had suffered from gender abuse.  Basketball plays a significant role.  A clinic attended by 500 females was partnered by Giants of Africa, a group formed by Masai Ujiri, president of the Toronto Raptors.  His support for the Nigerian women's basketball team that surprised their opponents at the recent Olympics.  Basketball is having a rippling effect in Africa.  

Mao Zedong- when in power in 1949 expelled everything western except basketball.  Basketball was a key component in the Chinese military.  NBA programs are shared by about 640 million Chinese, more than the entire American population.  In 2019 Daryl Morey offended the Chinese government by supporting the Hong Kong protesters, a major dispute resulted.   A lot of heads rolled, but the author thought an opportunity was lost.  The game was in the middle of struggles regarding freedom, but was loved by all parties.

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were one of the NBA's rivalries that spurred tv. ratings.  Larry Bird was white and raised in a poor rural area.  Magic Johnson was from a poor urban background.  As rivals they avoided knowing each other.  A tv. project brought them together and encouraged them to see each other  and even become friends.  Of course what they had in common was a great love of basketball and talent that let them rise to the top.  It is easy to understand poor blacks would pursue something as accessible as basketball, but poor whites had similar ambitions.

Jonestown is remembered as the site where religious fanaticism resulted in mass suicidal death.  However a few escaped drinking the Kool-Aid in Guyana.  One group formed a basketball pickup game to escape the insanity.  Traveling for a game, they refused to return and tried to persuade others not to participate.

The author ends with this; "Yes we know gravity is part of our earthly condition.  Yes we must jump in order to fly.  It is high time for us to jump".

One example of adaptability not mentioned was to allow a wide variety of handicapped players a classified system developed to maintain competitive balance.  If a player or players were substituted it was necessary to replace with a player or players with the same classification or lower.  A professional league tried to use a total team height restriction so that tall players could be balanced with shorter players. 

Yes I am very biased and I do believe basketball is an activity to encourage, but a few other things will have to be done to fix the mess we are in.   David Hollander is a very intelligent man who has gathered a lot of politics, psychology and sociology and tied to basketball.that is very interesting http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/06/my-60-year-love-affair-with-basketball.html

My basketball projects Part one

Looking at a 5'7" overweight, middle aged Canadian guy you might not guess I have had a fifty year love affair with basketball.  Even if you are not concerned about basketball, you might enjoy some of the adventures it led me on.  Some people think I am just a contrarian and that I rebelled against hockey and looked for something different.  Hockey was a big part of my youth and still retains some interest for me.

School sports were an outlet for me as I had little involvement with organized sports.  A Sunday school teacher, John Moffatt gave me  my first taste of basketball.  Years later his brother Peter was the presiding minister for my mother's funeral in another city.  A lot of friends played basketball through the schools so it was a natural activity.

Sports can build self-confidence, keep you physically fit, develop some social skills and keep you out of mischief  All those factors benefited me to some extent.  Over time you learn about yourself. Being only 5'7"" there was an obvious limit.  However I was faster and quicker handed than most of my peers and developed timing so that my biggest thrills were blocking shots from many taller players and even more often stealing rebounds where positioning and timing were important.  My quick hands could take the ball from many a cocky ball handler.  My shortness probably contributed to a strong sense of balance that sometimes gave me an edge.  I could generally get down the floor faster than most.  My son was similar in playing soccer--he loved to score goals, but he also loved stopping other people from scoring so he was constantly running both ends of the field which eventually resulted being placed at mid fielder.

As people are not conscious of being colour blind it was quite awhile before I recognized my own visual limitation.  I was born cross eyed, but it didn't seem to affect my reading skills and felt pretty normal visually.  After an operation at about age 7 other people commented that I looked better, but to be honest I don't remember much difference.  In high school basketball practice it finally hit me I wasn't able to see a ball coming at me from the left side.  A more basic problem was that one eye had become very dominant.  Judging distance is normally handled by binocular vision, but I had relied reasonably well on size (smaller meant further away) and muscle memory.  When it comes to shooting a basketball, or hitting a baseball  binocular vision is critical.

Another minor problem is that even for my height I had small hands which was first pointed out to me in music class.  Hands allow control over basketballs.

Ok, these are all just excuses.  I had enough success at lower levels that I enjoyed playing basketball mindless hours every week and always thought I would become good enough to be noticed.  Simcoe Hall in Oshawa was the scene of most of my sweating.   In reality I was a small part of the grass roots that every sport requires to develop elite athletes.

In high school I wasn't good enough for the teams at Oshawa Central, but became a very big fan--they won most of their games so there was a lot of cheering.  My last two years of high school at Haliburton Highlands Secondary School were better as far as actually playing.  At the University of Guelph I had to content myself with intramural basketball, but closely followed their varsity team coached by all star football player, Garney Henley.  They didn't really win big until after my graduation and I watched it on tv as they won the national inter collegiate championship with a buzzer beater.  I did play a little recreational basketball, but I gave it up as my work cut off evening recreation and then I became involved with my children's athletics.  You can read about my volunteer activities at http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2013/06/my-career-as-sports-volunteer.html

One of my jobs took me to Fort Erie and on impulse I decided to cross the bridge to watch a Buffalo Braves game just after a heavy snow storm.  My first taste of the NBA live got me hooked.   At first like a lot of people I was drawn by the opposition teams such as the Boston Celtics and Pistrol Pete Maravich.  I started listening to the local Buffalo radio station to games and commentary.  Stan Baron was very entertaining and I became interested in the Buffalo players.  I watched a few games there, even dragging a few others to watch.  Once went on a double date with my wife and another couple from work.

I actually phoned up radio stations to push basketball coverage.  I was told that really they just responded to what their listeners and readers wanted.  I am sure many found me annoying pointing out that a least a few of their listeners did care.

I was pretty self-righteous and naive, and finally spotted an opportunity when Harold Ballard went to jail allowing his son Bill to take over Maple Leaf Gardens.  I wrote letters justifying the pursuit of an NBA team.  There were a lot of other factors involved in the decision to bring the Buffalo Braves to play a few regular season games.  I am sure there were some cash flow concerns at both ends of the decision.  Bill Ballard had no hangups about basketball being a sissy game, just an opportunity.  Ken Twigg called and offered me a chance to sell tickets.  I  included a newspaper carrier contest where I worked at the Oakville Journal Record and also hit upon a few acquaintances, both fans and non fans.  I also paid for an ad (getting an employee discount) which was soon adopted by Maple Leaf Gardens.  I had stolen the idea of a 24 second shoot em up.

Canadians were so locked into hockey that they couldn't appreciate the athleticism and drama in basketball. The Toronto Maple Leafs had their moments, but I think their glory days were diminishing and I was struck by how upset some fans were.  I don't think they understood that their intense love for the game and the team was why the management felt they didn't have to spend the money to procure a winning team.

Hockey got overwhelming support (free advertising) from newspapers and other Canadian media Basketball needed some support to have a chance.  I was especially struck with how ignorant Canadians were, but the biggest indignity was that most saw it as an "American" game.  Most of the people I sold tickets to were NBA fans and chose games by their interest in the opponent.  It took quite awhile before the Toronto fans developed loyalty to the Buffalo team after they recognized that the Braves included all stars like Bob McAdoo, Jim McMillian and Ernie Di Gregorio.  My favourite was Randy Smith.

A book seemed like a good idea.  Nobody else seemed to be concerned about the basic problem of ignorance.  This led to quite an education.

The biggest part of my adventures with basketball lies ahead, but hopefully this has set the stage.  I learned a lot from research, not sure much was accomplished, but as it was such a big part of my life it is one of those things I don't want to forget.

You can read Part two at: http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/03/my-basketball-projects-part-two.html