In 1891, a physical education teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts invented the game we would come to know as basketball. In setting the height of the baskets, he inadvertently created a design problem that would not be resolved for decades to come.
Yesterday
100 Objects #9: Missing Children Milk Carton
In 1982, a twelve-year-old paperboy, Johnny Gosch, vanished from a quiet Iowa street and sparked an unlikely campaign: the faces of missing children printed on milk cartons by the billions. Roman Mars and Annie Brown trace how a regional dairy campaign exploded into a national sy ... Show More
33m 53s
Jul 10
100 Objects #8: Billy Possum
In 1902, an American classic was born: the teddy bear. Named after President Theodore Roosevelt, the toy became a huge hit, and sparked an idea…maybe every president from then on should have their own viral stuffed animal. Jon Mooallem tells the story of the ill-fated billy possu ... Show More
36m 10s
Sep 2023
The Road to Modern Basketball, Part One: Naismith and "The Incorrigibles"
These days basketball is a billion dollar cultural phenomenon -- but where did it come from? In the first part of this week's series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the origins of basketball, starting with the moment a young James Naismith was asked to distract a bunch of "incorrigibl ... Show More
40m 25s
Sep 2023
The Road to Modern Basketball, Part Two: How Dribbling Became A Thing
As James Naismith's new sport became increasingly popular, more and more people looked for ways to evolve, adjust, or flat-out change Naismith's original rules. In the second part of this series, Ben, Noel and Max explore how basketball continued to change over time -- and how so ... Show More
50m 19s
Jun 2021
Listen up, Basketballs! It's Storytime.
The NBA is serious basketball, but sometimes, things get silly. Comedian Jamel Johnson regales you with short tales of hornswoggled hoops, bonkers ball, and naughty NBA shenanigans, then discusses what we’ve learned with comedy and basketball folks who watched or were there.
Epis ... Show More
1 m
Jun 2024
Who invented wheelchair basketball?
Less than a hundred years ago, wheelchairs were big clunky wooden chairs that couldn’t even fit through most doorways. But in the 1930s, a pair of engineers dreamed up a new kind of wheelchair that would change the lives of wheelchair-users dramatically. In fact, some of them inv ... Show More
29m 55s