Basketball, anyone?
By Armando Ricardo J. Aguado

History It was the year 1891 when James Naismith, a physical education instructor from Springfield, Massachusetts, had a sudden idea for a new game. He had tried the sport of rugby and disliked the roughness of the game. Thus, he wanted to come up with a team game that would not have too much physical contact. Inspired by his idea, he asked the help of a janitor and hung two peach baskets from the balcony of the gym. And instead of the basketball that you now know of, Naismith used a soccer ball to try out his very first game. Incidentally, if you’re wondering how he got the ball down from the basket, Naismith used a ladder.

As the years rolled on, metal baskets were then substituted for Naismith’s original peach baskets and in 1906, the first metal hoop was introduced wherein a bag of braided cord netting was attached to the hoop. Soon after, the backboard was introduced and eventually, the soccer balls were replaced with slightly larger leather balls, similar to the basketballs that we see today.

Basketball in the Philippines. It was in the early 1900 that this much-loved game came to our country and in 1904, we gained the opportunity to join the international competition in the Berlin Olympics. Despite the tremendous height advantage of the players from the other countries, we were still able to beat Mexico, Lithuania, Poland and Italy. Since then, the game of basketball has gained so much popularity. Many organizations have been established such as the MICCA, NCAA, UAAP and the PIBA which we now know as the PBA. It was the PBA that gave birth to the different basketball teams that we have come to love. Two decades ago saw the formation of the Crispa and Toyota teams. Presently, we have a number of great-playing teams such as Alaska, Ginebra, Purefoods and Red Bull Thunder, to name a few. Soon after, the introduction of live nationwide television and radio coverage even further popularized the sport and in 1998, the MBA was established.

Now, to all you basketball enthusiasts out there, let’s see just how well you know your sport. Try out this simple basketball trivia tester and test your knowledge of basketball. There are 25 questions for you to answer. Answers can be found at the bottom so no cheating, okay?

Scoring:
Pro…………………….         21-25
College………………..         16-20
High School…………..         11-15
Grade School………….        6-10
Take up another sport…    0-5

a. 2 ft.              c. 4 ft.
b. 1 yd.            d. 2 yd.

a. soccer ball             c. tennis ball
b. football                   d. golf ball

 

a. 70 ft.           c. 100 yd.
b. 30 yd.         d. 94 ft.

a. 12 in.          c. 18 in.
b. 15 in.          d. 21 in.

 

a. 1918                       c. 1954
b. 1936                       d. 1972

a. 1956                       c. 1972
b. 1960                       d. 1988

a. 1891                       c. 1909
b. 1900                       d. 1918

a. 3 min.         c. 10 min.
b. 5 min.         d. 12 min.

a. 15-17 oz.    c. 20-22 oz.
b. 18-20 oz.    d. 23-25 oz.

a. 6 min.         c. 10 min.
b. 8 min.         d. 12 min.

a. 10 ft.                       c. 15 ft.
b. 12 ft.                       d. 10 ft.

 

17. How much is one free throw worth?

a. 1 point        c. 3 points
b. 2 points      d. 4 points

 

a. 8 min.         c. 12 min.
b. 10 min.       d. 15 min.

a. 6 in.             c. 8 ½ in.
b. 7 in.             d. 9 ½ in.

 

a. 8 min.         c. 15 min.
b. 10 min.       d. 20 min.

 

Congratulations!! You have completed the Basketball Trivia Test. Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? Check your answers and see if you made it to the Pro’s.

1. c      2. a      3. b      4. c      5. b      6. d
7. c      8. c      9. b.     10.c     11. a   12. b
13. c    14. b   15. c    16. d   17. a   18. d
19. a   20. c    21. d   22. a   23. d   24. a 25. b