There is a good chance that many of the stars competing for the NCAA basketball championship this past four weeks don't know who Dr. James Naismith was. With all the conversation about possible Cinderella teams, the 'one-and-dones' from Kentucky and Duke's early departure from March Madness, his significance gets short shrift.
But of course my fellow Canadian Dr. Naismith invented the game of basketball one hundred and twenty one years ago. Naismith was first and foremost an innovator. He is also credited for inventing the first football helmet.
Naismith's invention of the game allowed for only passing, no dunking and focused on team play. He created the game to provide an indoor outlet for athletes who were forced inside during the long winters of the northeast USA.
In 1891 there is no way he could have envisioned the sport the way it is today with 300 million participating worldwide. It is unlikely he foresaw the enormous commercial circus that has now become March Madness. I like to think the game he designed was built more for a John named Wooden than one called Calipari... more for a John Stockton than a LeBron James. A game that builds character beyond the arena. A game that would develop leaders, rather than celebrity stars. And a game that could allow the genius of a Pistol Pete Maravich to fire the imagination of thousands of young fans.
For now, the Madness that was March actually concludes in Asylum April. This year the Kansas Jayhawks, the school Naismith first started into the sport made the final. The best team won, the losing team gave it all... and a most valuable player hoisted a trophy named after a man that, by those who could not hear the music... perhaps thought him Mad.
