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The Origin Story of Basketball, Part 1: James Naismith and the 13 Commandments

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This year is the 50th anniversary of the San Antonio Spurs. It’s also the 77th NBA season, so today I’d like to go back in time to the beginnings of this great game and perhaps educate the young and old on the game’s great — and sometimes hilarious — history. OK, the time machine is warmed up.

In the beginning, basketball all started with bad children. You have heard of James Naismith (he has a whole Hall of Fame named after him, afterall), but you might not know that he was a disciple of what was called “Muscular Christianity,” which meant physical fitness was important to his Christian beliefs.