Thanks, Gary! And, another gift on the order of Lacrosse
would be just fine! Eh. 
Jim
Hey, Jim! Don't forget that it was a Canuckian who provided you, and us all, with ...
"James Naismith was a Canadian physical education instructor at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. In December of 1891, the director of the school, Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick, asked Naismith to find a physical activity to occupy a "class of incorrigibles." Naismith may have had other motivations as well. Naismith wanted to create a game of skill for the students instead of one that relied solely on strength. He needed a game that could be played indoors in a relatively small space. And he wanted to keep his football players in shape off-season. Naismith saw the feature article about the ball game called Ollamalitzli and the Mayan game of Ulama. He had also read articles by a New Zealander called Tom Ellison who wrote about ancient ball sports that required a lot of aerial handball skills. He took account of the hole that the round bouncy ball had to go through in the Central American games, and the excitement of the traditional Maori game where a round flax ball was aerially passed with speed and dexterity. With his supportive wife he then devised a game suitable for a gym. He carried on with the creation of the game.
Taking to the task, Naismith rounded up two peach baskets and a soccer ball. Next, he developed 13 rules for the new game. He divided his class of 18 into 2 teams of 9 players each (the team today would be the equivalent of 3 guards, 3 centers, and 3 forwards) and set about to teach them the basics of his new game of basketball. The object of the game was to throw the soccer ball into the peach baskets nailed to the lower railing of the gym balcony. Every time a point was scored, the game was halted so the janitor could lug out a ladder and retrieve the ball (the bottoms of the peach baskets were intact at first). The first public basketball game was in Springfield, MA, on March 11, 1892." (Wikipedia)
A bit better known than lacrosse, eh??
James NaismithOK, enough sports history. Have a great day, Y'all!
