Andy Sullivan: Against the Grain

Thu, 03/30/2023 - 8:05am — Diane Dyer

As March Madness concludes this weekend with the Final Four Saturday and National Championship Monday, I figured it’d be cool to touch on the origins of the game. Did you know that the game of basketball has farming roots?

James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball, grew up on a farm in Ontario, Canada. While he didn’t always excel in academics, he was a leader in his class as well as a promising athlete. Fast forward several years, as a great athlete in high school and college, once he graduated, he taught physical education. That role ultimately led him to YMCA.

In 1891, Naismith was a P.E. instructor in Springfield, Massachusetts, tasked with coming up a new indoor sport. The main objectives were to “make it fair for all players and free of rough play”. That “free of rough play” think didn’t exactly translate to today, does it? From that task, along with tapping into his favorite childhood game called “Duck on a Rock”, James invented basketball. He nailed a peach basket to

The agriculture ties don’t stop with just the birth of the sport. In 1975, Illinois farmer Arthur Ehrat created the breakaway basket rim. Ehrat managed Farmers Elevator Co. and had already invented two field spreaders. According to FarmWeekNow, his nephew, who was an assistant coach at St. Louis University, asked his uncle for ideas on a rim that wouldn’t break when players dunked the basketball.

Today, agriculture is still the root of the game. The NBA game ball, which is exclusivel sourced from the Horween Leather Company, is made of leather from cowhides. The company receives shipments of 3,000 cowhides per week, which then go through a rigorous three-week process to become basketballs. Coincidentally, all 68 teams go through a three-week process to become NCAA Champion. (www.agweb.com)

How’s my bracket, you ask? Well, I picked Houston as my national champion. Houston got bounced in the Sweet Sixteen. I hope you’re doing better than I am.

Check out my podcast Blendertainment from the links below.

https://open.spotify.com/show/61yTPt9wXdz37DZTbPUs16?si=w5jHghPVRmaTaP5Z...

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blendertainment/id1541097172

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