Dec. 21: Happy Birthday to the Game of Basketball

1. On this day in history, Dec. 21, the first basketball game was played at Springfield (MA) College in 1891. James Naismith, a Canadian athlete and physical education teacher, invented the game. Given 14 days by his boss to create an indoor, winter game to occupy a class of bored and sometimes unruly young men at the Springfield YMCA, Naismith delivered.

Naismith nailed a peach basket to the lower rail of a balcony at both ends of the gym. He posted a typed list of 13 rules on the bulletin board and selected two men to be the captains. After they chose sides, Naismith tossed a soccer ball up between the two centers.

"It was the start of the first basketball game and the finish of the trouble with that class," Naismith later recalled.

For more information on this famous day in history, visit the MassMoments website.
 
2. Keeping with the topic of basketball, UConn basketball schedules can be found at these links: men’s season schedule and women’s season schedule. You can also find schedules, information and more about all UConn teams at the Husky athletics site.

3. If you have a basketball (or any other UConn sport) fan in your life, don't forget about the UConn Huskies fan shop. There are holiday gift ideas galore are on the site, and they will even guarantee shipping by Christmas, if you act quickly.

4. Wednesday will be rainy, with a high temperature near 50, according to the National Weather Service. Wednesday night will be cloudy with rain likely, and a low around 43. 

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