(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

OPINION

Tomorrow marks the start of the 84th annual “March Madness”…a competition to determine the national championship of college basketball.

The three-week, single-elimination tournament pitting the 64 best men's college basketball teams against each other lives up to its name.

Not only does the overall tourney have a brand, the thirty-two winning teams from the first-round move on to the “Sweet 16”, with the winners then playing in the “Elite Eight”, with those winners moving on to the “Final Four”. The two winners in the “Final Four” play in the National Championship…often before upwards of 100,000 fans…with hundreds of millions more watching on television.

Brent Musburger, a longtime sportscaster for CBS, referred to “March Madness” during the NCAA playoffs in 1982, borrowing the term from Henry V. Porter, who coined the phrase in a 1939 essay about the Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship.

The “Final Four” was coined in 1978. “Sweet Sixteen” was trademarked by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association in 1988 as the name for its annual championship, and “Elite Eight”
was coined by the Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship in 1956…both organization’s negotiated with the NCAA to use and own both trademarks.

James Naismith - a Canadian-American - who invented basketball in Springfield, MA would not likely recognize the sport he started in 1891...or the path to today’s championship. After completing the Physical Director Training Program at the Springfield YMCA, Naismith stayed on to teach others.

His boss, Dr. Luther Gulick, the head of physical education, charged Naismith with inventing an indoor game during the brutal New England Winter to keep the YMCA track and field athletes in shape.

Naismith’s so-called “original 13 rules of basket ball” evolved over time, but even he had misgivings when the inaugural game ended with several black eyes, one separated shoulder and one player knocked unconscious. There was no dribbling…and it was played with a soccer ball. There were 9 players on a team…and they all played at the same time.

Naismith asked the janitor - a Mr. Stubins - to find two square boxes, but he brought back two round peach baskets instead…earning himself a footnote in the sport’s history. There was a balcony around the entire gym floor…where Stubins hung the two peach baskets at opposite ends of the gym. They were exactly ten feet above the floor…a measurement that remains between floor and rim today.

The rules…well, not what most of us ever played by. The game was much shorter…two fifteen minute periods with a five-minute rest…there was no clock stoppage. If the ball went out of bounds…it belonged to the team member who got there first. You could not run or bounce the ball…dribble wasn’t even a word.

Finally, “no shouldering, holding, pushing, tripping, or striking in any way the person of an opponent shall be allowed; the first infringement of this rule by any player shall count as a foul, the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made, or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game, no substitute allowed.”

The old game was basically somewhere between rugby, lacrosse and a brawl…especially with 18 players from two teams on a court smaller than today’s. The rules changed over time…first you could dribble once, then twice…today unlimited. Foul shots were allowed until eights years after the first game…and they were from 22 feet rather than today’s 15 feet.

Naismith went on to coach at the University of Kansas, ultimately becoming athletic director. While there, Naismith coached Phog Allen, who would eventually become the basketball coach of the Kansas Jayhawks for 39 seasons. Allen and Kansas became the breeding ground for future Hall of Fame Coaches, including Dutch Lonborg, Adolph Rupp, Ralph Miller and Dean Smith.

On Dec. 10, 2010, a Kansas alumnus paid $4.3 million at a Sotheby’s auction for Naismith’s original “13 Rules of Basket Ball”…and donated the historic document to the University of Kansas.

The university built the $18 million DeBruce Center - which includes meeting and dining facilities for students, faculty and visitors…as well as trophies, awards and the Naismith “13 Rules of Basket Ball”. This year - like most years - the Kansas Jayhawks are in the running for a national championship.

Between 60 million and 100 million fans try to guess the perfect “March Madness” winning bracket every year…picking the winner in every game…it has never been done. There are lots of prizes, but Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and Quicken Loans offer a $1-billion payoff for the perfect bracket…but seriously, you’d be more likely to predict the total Winter’s snowfall on the Coquihalla Summit.

Last year, I finished with the 12,342nd best bracket…not bad among 7 million players on the CBS Sports bracket. Of course, the earlier your “winning” pick becomes a loser…the worse your bracket is wrecked.

As you read this, I’ve made my picks for tomorrow, and with all the confidence I could muster, I’ve already started my shopping list, just in case I win that $1-billion prize. By the way, I’m going with 154” on the snowfall on the Coquihalla…which wins no money…just bragging rights among Weather Channel fans.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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