A Brief History Of The Interesting Game of Basketball

Basketball is a team sport, where the objective of each team being to shoot a ball through a horizontally positioned basket to score points, within a set of well-defined rules. The measurements and time limits may vary according to the format of the game. Usually, two teams of five players play on a marked rectangular court with a basket at each shorter end. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports across the whole world. One reason for this popularity could be the fact that a basketball match is shorter than most other sports, taking less than an hour of actual playing time. Another reason could be that the game is fast paced and rarely is there a dull moment during a match between well-balanced teams.

It is said that the game is the brainchild of a 19th century physical education professor and instructor who devised it as a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and fit during the long winters. Dr. James Naismith attached a peach basket to a 10 ft. elevated track into which students threw soccer balls. Unlike the present-day baskets used in NBA events, the peach basket retained its bottom till players realized that retrieving the ball from the basket after each successful shoot was an activity that was not very enjoyable.

The game evolved into the present day format in the following year, with many more people contributing to or editing the rules first written by Dr. Naismith. The peach baskets came to be replaced by metal hoops during the first decade of the 20th century. The ball used in the game, right from high-school basketball to international events like the Euroleague, also evolved to the present-day orange ball during the late 1950s so as to allow the ball to be visible from all corners of the stadium.

The global popularity of the sport is reflected in the nationalities represented in the NBA. Players from all six inhabited continents currently play in the NBA. Top international players began coming into the NBA in the mid-1990s. The extremely popular NBA Playoffs is an elimination tournament among sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, which decides the final four teams who will play in the Conference Finals.

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The Latest From The NBA – Kobe Bryant passing Wilt Chamberlain (Los Angeles Lakers Vs. Sacramento Kings)

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the best in men's professional basketball league and one of the Big Four major sports leagues in North America. It has thirty franchised member clubs (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is widely considered to be the chief men's professional basketball league in the world. It is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by FIBA (aka the International Basketball Federation), as the national governing body for basketball in the United States. It has the distinction of having players that are some of the world's best paid sportsmen (by average annual salary per player).

The NBA playoffs aim at determining the champion team begins in late April. These follow a tournament format.Each team plays an opponent in a best-of-seven series, with the first team to win four games advancing into the next round, while the other team is eliminated from the playoffs. The final playoff round is known as the NBA Finals, and is held annually in June. The victor in the NBA Finals wins the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. Each player and major contributor—including coaches and the general manager—on the winning team receive a championship ring. In addition, the league awards the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award to the best performing player of the series.

One of the stars of the NBA, Kobe Bryant joined the Lakers in 1996 and has won 3 NBA Championships in a row from 2000-2002. He also won the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his 13th season, in 2009 and is a sure shot to join the Hall of Fame of the NBA.

Recently, Kobe Bryant made a piece of history by overtaking Wilt Chamberlain (who had amassed an impressive 31,419 points in his sensational career) to move to the 4^th position on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Kobe achieved this feat in a game where he scored 19 points against the Sacramento Kings on March 30^th, 2013. The Lakers defeated the Kings 103-98 in this historical match. What made the win even more sensational was the fact that the Lakers were not poised to win even till half-time. They were trailing by 12 points after the first quarter and reduced the point difference to 4 at half time. Dwight Howard contributed to the win with 24 points while Pau Gasol put in a solid performance scoring 12 points. On the Kings team, the top scorers were Evans (21 points) and Cousins (19 points). Although it was only a regular season encounter between these two California teams, this match will have its place in the history of sports news given the significance of Bryant passing Chamberlain’s milestone.

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Grand Prix – The Racing Events That Make Audiences Go Wild

Formula 1 is a racing phenomenon that is broadcast in each and every country in the world. Only the Football World Cup surpasses it in popularity and viewership. All the teams have great fans, at least in their own countries, not to mention those who cheer for the team they feel is the best, regardless of which country they belong to. For example, Ferrari is popular not only in Italy. There are many other nationals who cheer for Ferrari, even if their own countrymen are driving another car in the competition. The same goes for BMW from Germany and McLaren from UK. Ferrari, BMW and McLaren are the most popular teams in all the Grand Prix events.

The reason for the popularity of F1 racing could be due to the futuristically designed, customized and highly priced cars that are used in the races. Another probable reason is the high and strict standards that all these cars and drivers have to comply with so as to be able to qualify for these championships. The Grand Prix is a series of races that are run on tailor made courses or sometimes even on public roads – both of which are strategically designed to have deep right and left turns. Some of these world famous circuits around the world are the streets in big cities.

The MotoGP is another world class racing event for four-stroke bikes. These Grand Prix motorcycles are custom-built racing machines that are neither available for purchase by the general public nor can be ridden legally on public roads. It was started in the year 1949 and has risen to a popular sport. The Riders' World Championship is awarded to the most successful rider over a season, as determined by a points system based on Grand Prix results.

When these racing events are being held in any part of the world, they easily eclipse all other kind of sports news. The thrill of watching an F1 or MotoGP race in person is unparalleled. Even if you are following the series on the television or on a website, these races are sure to give you a nail-biting finish.Regardless of what attracts you to the sport, could be the high speeds, or the 4 and 5 Gs pulled by courageous and calculative F1 drivers, races are the most thrilling of sports to get addicted to.

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The Wimbledon Story

My family has always loved sports, some of us prefer cricket and some are passionate about soccer news, but what draws the entire family to the TV is no doubt –Tennis. It was during one of those nerve wrecking moments that my three year old wanted to know about the genesis of Wimbledon.  As I opened my mouth to wax lyrical about how it all began at Wimbledon, I was startled to realize that I had no clue! Hence my little dig into the past and this humble attempt at keying some interesting tidbits for the tennis fans.

The Wimbledon story says that since the Middle ages, monks and kings are believed to have played a game that was a lot like tennis. However, it was the 19^th century by the time tennis acquired the form we recognize today. In about 1873, an Englishman adapted the indoor tennis to be played on grass, giving it a tongue twister of a name “sphairistike” after a Greek game.  The game quickly grew in popularity but the burning question was -how it was to be played?  The All England Croquet Club located near Wimbledon decided to answer this by holding the first tennis championship. The real reason behind this championship was to raise money to buy a pony drawn roller for its croquet lawns! Never would the organizers of this championship have dreamt that within some years, those very same croquet lawns would be all but obsolete, with tennis becoming the fore runner with the world agog for the latest tennis news!

This Championship saw a young 27 year old local surveyor, Spencer Gore taking the first gentlemen’s single title in 1877. In a final that was delayed for days by rain, Gore easily won the match in less than 50 minutes before a crowd of 200 spectators who had paid a shilling each to watch the match. What was most surprising is the fact that the first champion wasn’t too impressed with the game himself, he much preferred cricket over it. What’s more, he was of the opinion that lawn tennis was a bit borings and would not catch on!

Tennis, however, didn’t only “catch on”, it soon spread like wild fire. The All England Croquet Club went on to drop the “Croquet” out of their name, but for sentimental reasons, it was restored. Even today, among the lush tennis lawns, there exists a croquet lawn.

The Wimbledon Championship is the oldest tennis championship in the world and is informally known as the “British Opens.” It is considered the most prestigious and the biggest of all tennis tournaments, and has witnessed great tennis action immortalized forever in the form of some amazing sports videos. Wimbledon remains the only one Major, where the game is still played on grass, the original surface of the game which gave its name of “lawn tennis”. Some traditions which mark this Championship, setting it apart from all other championships is the eating of strawberries and cream by the spectators and Royals, a strict dress code for the competitors and a distinct lack of sponsorship advertising around the court.

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Genesis Of Basketball

Most sports buffs today, catch a game of soccer or just the tennis highlights on TV, if we aren’t fortunate enough to watch the match in the stadium. Some of us make do with the highlights on sports news. Ever wondered who invented these games, why did they do it and how? Well, the story behind each of these games is very interesting to say the least. Take basketball for example, an amazing story indeed.  Let’s take a quick peek into the December of 1891 to get story on basketball.

Imagine a bunch of young men, used to burning off all excess energy on the football field or some such strenuous pursuits, cooped up indoors in the dreary winter season. It is a recipe for boredom and more. Catching a game or sports videos on TV was not an option! To be fair, the gymnasium did offer the young college students activities like marching, calisthenics, apparatus work but these activities simply weren’t a match for the more exciting and energetic games of football and lacrosse that could be played in fairer weather conditions.

This was the challenge that landed squarely on the lap of James Naismith, a 31 year old graduate student, who was studying physical education under the capable guidance of Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick. While Naismith was mulling over this challenge, his mind flashed back to the class discussions with Dr.Gulick, where, Dr.Gulick had talked about the need of an indoor game that would be interesting, and easy to play indoors.

Naismith had a compelling challenge at hand. It was to create a simple game, but complex enough to interest the players. He also needed to take into consideration that, as it was an indoor game, to be played in a confined space, it should not be too rough, so as to avoid injuries and yet it must be such that it could involve several players at once. It sure was not the easiest of tasks and took a lot of time, effort and thought to create this amazing game – basketball.  The game included many elements of American football, hockey, soccer, English and American rugby. For the goal post, Naismith contemplated using eighteen-inch square boxes and enlisted the janitor to find a couple of them for him. But he had to make do with peach baskets instead! He nailed these baskets to the lower rail of the gym balcony at the height of ten feet, opposite each other.  Volunteers were enlisted to throw the ball to the players, each time a player made a basket. It would be several years before someone, ingeniously opened up the bottom of the basket!

James Naismith came up with thirteen rules that governed the game. These rules are still in play today, barring a few modifications. This game conceived by James Naismith soon gained popularity across US and Canada, and soon spread to other places. The World War II saw the US servicemen popularizing this game in other countries as well. By 1905, basketball was officially recognized as an official winter sport. The next time you are watching the basketball highlights with a couple of friends, zap them with some basketball trivia.

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The Sad Trend Of Spoil Sports In Football

If there is anything that binds all the continents together, it is the love of football. The game boasts of a fan base that easily exceeds 5 billion globally. It first became extremely popular when the inaugural World cup was staged in 1930 and has since remained a major source of excitement across the world. It is a beautiful game where individual excellence needs to be coupled with selfless team spirit for a side to win. It is no wonder that entire nations breathe as one during a world cup match when their respective team is playing. The amount of money involved in advertisements and sponsorships for football is unrivaled by any other game, earning football the epithet of being the biggest money-spinner in the world of sports.

There are, however, a few spoilsports that are a cause for concern for football fans and other stake holders and kill their interest and enjoyment of this amazing game:

Football News

·         The most common spoilsport to a good football game is hooliganism in and around the stadium, which is frequently part of football news. Fans all over the world are so passionate about the game and about their teams that they sometimes forget the basic principle of sportsmanship, which states that the best team must win. These fans sometimes lose their self-control and become violent. It is very assuring to note that FIFA has taken very stringent steps towards eliminating all kinds of violence and hooliganism from football stadiums across the world.

·         Referees play an important role in deciding the pace and direction of the game. Any footballer knows that it is best to play the game according to the referee’s directives. Whatever may be the level of the game, arguing or disagreeing with the referee will not help the team’s prospects in any way. However, many a football video clip can showcase situations where players argue with referees and sometimes these altercations turn sour. In other cases, given that referees can only see and control so much, players fall deliberately trying to get the referees attention to award their side a penalty. This sort of behavior is deplorable and again FIFA has tried to place corrective measures to curb this behavior.

·         The third and perhaps the biggest issue affecting popular games across the world today is that of match fixing. It is a process where people who bet on the outcomes of a match connive with players and referees to ensure that they win their bets. If you watch football match highlights you might notice some glaring instances where suspicions might arise that the matches may have been fixed.Recently, it has been suspected that match fixing in football is one of the most profitable branches of organized crime throughout Europe and an inquiry has been launched into the matter. It is indeed a very sad state of affairs and one that needs to be curtailed before it eats into the fabric of this beautiful game of football and destroys it beyond repair.

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All You Need To Know About Soccer

Soccer is another name for Association Football, also called simply as football. It is a game played between two teams comprising of eleven players each with a spherical ball. It is played on a rectangular field of grass or green artificial turf, with a goal in the middle of each of the short sides of the field. The object of the game is to score by driving the ball into the opponent’s goalposts. Each score is called a goal. The goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms, while the other players have to use only their feet to kick and maneuver the ball, occasionally using other parts of their legs, their torso, or their head. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition.

Association Football is governed internationally by FIFA—Fédération Internationale de Football Association (English: International Federation of Association Football). The term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an abbreviation of the word "association". Now this term is used to signify the sport only in Canada and the United States, while the rest of the world uses the term ‘football’ or other local names. So whether you call it soccer news or football news, you will get the same news about the same games.

Games revolving around the kicking of a ball have been played in many countries throughout history, from the Roman Empire to Australia and China. The history of football in England shows records from the 8th century onwards. Today, football is played at a professional level all over the world. Millions of people regularly go to football stadiums to follow their favorite teams, while billions more watch soccer highlights or the game on television or on the internet. A very large number of people also play football at an amateur level. According to a survey conducted by FIFA published in 2001, over 240 million people from more than 200 countries regularly play football. Football has the highest global television audience in sport.

The popularity of football is such that many terms have been included in spoken English that refer to certain situations in or brought on by the game. For instance, the term ‘football widow’ refers to a woman (generally) whose partner is too engrossed in football news, the match highlights or the game itself to pay attention to her needs or wants. Both the term as well as the fact that it is commonly used bears witness to the tremendous popularity of the game.

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