Conclusion and Bibliography

 

In conclusion a Canadian cultural tradition can be outlived and etched out of our collective memory if we don’t write about it or reflect on it as I am doing here. James Naismiths contributions to the game of basketball were ultimate as he is the one who invented the game. However his life chronicles a man who not only invented the game of basketball but also invented a Canadian cultural tradition regardless if something that was honoured in his name has been removed due to the nature of capitalism. Children and adults all around the world play the game of basketball, professionally, for leisure and competitively—it is not a tradition virtually as there is video games that allow you to play basketball. There is wheel-chair basketball for people with disabilities. And the sport is not gender bias, even though at one point in time it was, however we have evolved as a species that is on its way slowly but surely leaving the mindset of the patriarchal male. Some common sentiments surrounding Corporate nationalism is what some say is teh reason for the downfall of the Naismith cup, like Stephen Jackson who also wrote about auto plant shut downs once upon a time. The Naismith Cup might be gone but basketball is not gone, as you can tell through the Sub-Urbias of North –America and their driveways, that basketball nets still hang around almost every other house in your typical sub-urban area, let alone in gyms, at schools and arenas. As long as we have the dynamics of a cultural tradition such as geography, history, art and literature, entertainment, science and nature, sport and leisure—the cultural tradition will never die because it will be in our hearts and minds forever and with the advent of the internet- storage of a cultural tradition past and present, is that much easier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibiliography

Dewar, John Duncan. “THE LIFE AND PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF JAMES NAISMITH.” Order No. 6515453 The Florida State University, 1965. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 8 Dec. 2014.

“Fighting for the Naismith Cup in a Perfect World – Sportsnet.ca.” Sportsnetca Fighting for the Naismith Cup in a Perfect World Comments. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. <http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/fighting-for-the-naismith-cup-in-a-perfect-world/&gt;

Rains, Rob, and Hellen Carpenter. James Naismith: The Man Who Invented Basketball. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP, 2009. Print.

Web. 8 Dec. 2014. <http://books.google.ca/books/p/temple_univ_press?q=James Naismith The Man Who Invented Basketball Search the full text of this book Foreword by Roy Williams Rob Rains with Hellen Carpenter &hl=en_US&vid=ISBN:1-4399-0133-3&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=y>.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naismith_Cup

Raptors win naismith cup. (1999, Oct 19). Sudbury Star Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/348794673?accountid=9894

 

 

 

 

 

History

 

 

 

Canadian- American Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891 while looking for an alternative to bring his students outdoors for gym class in Springfield Massachusetts. Dr. James Naismith was visible member of his community in Almonte, Ontario. Writer Billy Packer said in his review of , The Man Who Invented Basetball’ by Rob Rains and granddaughter of Dr. James Naismith Helen Carpenter, that “Dr. Naismith was so much more than the inventor of the sport and James Naismith: The Man Who Invented Basketball is a well written documentation of his outstanding attributes as an educator, religious scholar and leader of young people. Naismith lived his entire life without regard for personal glory or financial rewards, but rather for setting examples of integrity and perseverance for all to follow. Everyone who reads this book will have a better understanding of the evolution of the game, but more importantly, they will realize that when we follow Dr. Naismith’s general life principles, we and the game become the real winners.”(Rains)

Originally he had a peach basket set up high up on a wall of some sort and someone would have to use a ladder to grab the ball from up inside the basket up until shortly after Dr. Naismith had created the open basket concept by cutting the bottom of the peach basket. Today the sport of basketball has come a long way in regards to the other half of its scoring device the net- from peach baskets used as nets/ today there is fiber glass backboards with a net made of solid composite metals screwed on the wood, metal (usually orange in colour also known as the ‘rim’), or fiber backboards connected to a wall or the high part of a metal pole. Regulation height for a Basketball is approximately 10 feet.

Entertainment

Entertainment

‘The Naismith Cup’ as a Canadian cultural tradition c. 1995 – 2000. It was an annual game between the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies in which after one 48 minute game the winner at the end would receive the ‘Naismith Cup’. The Naismith Cup was a huge form of entertainment for Canadians during a short period of time. The match would usually fall around Canadian thanks giving weekend that way everybody was around to watch while being amongst friends and family. The CBC was a number one sponsor; I personally remember the James Naismith heritage minute advertisement being played during commercial breaks surrounding the match.

Geography

 

The short Canadian Cultural tradition at hand the ‘Naismith Cup’ was held at neutral sites across Canada between 1995-2000; The first game ever played was held in Manitoba and other games followed being played all across the nation from British Columbia, Ontario, and to the east in Nova Scotia. The last year the annual Naismith happened was held in October, 12, 2000 in Ottawa, Ontario at the former Corel Center which is now known as the Scotia Bank place or Place du Scotia in French.The game of basketball that James Naismith invented is played all around the world in every continent throughout all types of seasons indoor and outdoor and amongst many different ages participating at the local, provincial, state, college, professional and international levels of play.

In regards to the Geogrpahy in which Dr. James Naismiths history surrounds, well, he is originally from Almonte, Ontario. But since Dr. James Naismith time was around the same time sweeping accounts of social reform and social gospel were happening from 1863-to the early 1900s’ with human science and phenemonens like eugenics. Here is a map of Ramsey county bordering the Mississippi river in and around Bennies corners and Almonte according to an1867 Map of Canada West (Upper Canada), showing the location of Lanark County, Grand Calumet Island and Fort Coulonge.

I have inserted an Image of the Corel Center in Ottawa because thats where one of the Naismith cup games were held in October 12, 2000. I also wanted to show the changes in ownership of the building from the nineties till now. You can tell the last two owners were not that far apart. The Palladium (1996), Corel Centre (1996–2006), Canadian Tire & Scotiabank Place (2006–2013).

The province of Almonte – two women walking the boardwalks of a trainstation.

Almonte bordering Mississippi River

Corel Centre in the 90s

No more Corel Centre — Canadian Tire Centre towards the end of the first decade in the in 2000.

The most recent aquisition of the home of the Ottawa and senators is the Scotia bank place till this today.

Art and Literature

 

In regards to Art and Literature we know that Naismith wrote the first thirteen rules to the game of basketball that consisted of double-dribbling( picking- up your dribble and dribbling again), travelling( moving with the ball without dribbling) are just a couple of rules in the form of violations that the game has as a part of its structure. The Heritage minutes dedicated to James Naismith for the invention of Basketball is one piece of Art commerating him that is attached to my Canadian cultural tradtion which is the ‘ Naismith Cup’. There is a statute at the basketball hall of fame in Springfield Massachusetts of Naismith holding the iconic peach basket. ‘With unprecedented access to the Naismith archives and documents, Rains and Carpenter chronicle how Naismith developed the 13 rules of basketball, coached the game at the University of Kansas—establishing college basketball in the process—and was honored for his work at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin.’ In the biography of James Naismith ‘ The Man who Invented Basketball.’

Connection to readings–

In “Death by Landscape.” Margret Atwood highlights the fears that come with the notion of Nordicity and that the one thing aside from people that will make us or break us is our landscape and the lengths of disconnect we have with the land in defining us as ‘ Canadian.’ In linda Jessups piece about the famous group of seven some would like to call them infamous for downplaying modernity in the name of art and a peculiar type of Canadian Nationalism.

In a way the fate of the Vancouver Grizzlies was dependont on Market interest based on audiences and also location.  Geographically we naturally shift to locations were there is usually something of interest to us or we beleive there is at least. And this was the case of the lost Vancouver Grizzlies amounting to the loss of and disappearance of the ‘Naismith Cup’

Book By James Naismiths granddaughter and Rob Rains

Margeret Atwood

Death By Landscape?

Did the Landscape kill the Naismith Cup???

Science and Nature

 

The game of Basketball can be played outside. The science behind the game in Dr. Naismith layed a foundational set with the first 13 rules to the game has evolved. However the Science and Nature behind the Naismith cup is a Sociological one of remembrance and nationalism induced paraphernalia with mediated coverage of it on CBC throughout the early part of the new millennium.

Sport In Canada

Dr. James Naismith– Born Nov,6th 1891- and died at the age of 77, Nov, 28th, 1938.

             Sport in Canada

‘The Naismith Cup’ as a Canadian cultural tradition c. 1995 – 2000 . It was an annual game between the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies in which after one 48 minute game the winner at the end would receive the ‘Naismith Cup’. Overall when I look at sport, sometimes I take an anthropological stance and see sport, when it is played, resembles how society plays out; politically, socially and culturally especially, culturally. In regards to the social history of sport there were some people throughout history who took sport as seriously as they took religion and even tried to equate the two rendering religion the as tough as the toughest boxer. Religious drivers of society like the famous Reverend Billy Sunday once said“Christ was no dough-faced lick-spittle proposition, but the greatest scrapper that ever lived… [we do not want or need] a flabby-cheeked, brittle-boned, weak kneed, pliable, plastic, effeminate, and ossified 3-carat Christianity”- Rev. Billy Sunday. You can tell there is a masculine sentiment hinting that sports ought to only be for men with using words like ‘effeminate’ to describe the undesirable type of Christianity.

The Stephen Jackson article that talks about globalization and the effect it has on sport really speaks to my ex-Canadian cultural tradition of the Naismith cup. Where the interests of capitalism allows for the geographical shift of sport teams and therefore the destruction of an annual event like the Naismith cup which is also a form of commemorating a great social player in the history of Canada. Corporate Nationalism is more important than cultural tradition is what we can get out of the fall of the Naismith cup if we apply the position of Stephen Jackson’s paper during this course.

Don Cherry and Ron Maclean broadcasting H.N.I.C

Encouraged the concept of ‘Muscular Christianity’

Canadas national sport contextually historical.

Ex-Annual Naismith Cup.

ex- Naismith Cup game in action, shows Shareef Abudr Rahim going for a one-handed slam against the Raptors in 1997.

Introduction

This event only lasted for five years considering one of the Canadian teams got bought out by an American city Memphis. What I would like to uncover is the nature of cultural traditions and how longevity can be challenged by the nature commercial desires and interests that drive cultural traditions into extinction, like the Naismith Cup. In regards to what is a Canadian cultural tradition and also my 400 word introduction; a Canadian cultural tradtion should embody historical aspects of the tradtion at hand—so certain historical contexts that make that cultural Canadian entitiy significant, for example ‘when a Canadian cultural tradtion becomes a tradtion depends on when it is first started. The second would be the Science and Nature behind the cultural tradtion at task. How does it operate, who is involved, what does it mean, and where does it take place and how is it seen by other cultures, and ethnicities? I would also consider Geography to be very important for a cultural tradition to occur and is most likely shaped by its region or location. Certain customs are done by people all around the world that do not math other areas of the world. According to the world cultural traditions can shift geographically from one place to another. Christmas is not only celebrated in North America but in the rest of the world via different customs attached to the tradition and in different languages. After a hard day of working or working at home, us humans need a break and this is where leisure plays a big role and is part of our cultural traditions. Some of us like to simply listen to music while others would enjoy a rigourous game of basketball or football or maybe a run. Whatever it is that we do on our time off , its part of our recovering and rejuvenation process that is important to our health. Entertainment is important as it coincides with leisure, so is Art and Literature. Art and Literature help us capture life in put it in a still time capsule in the form of language arts or visual arts and much more artistic expressions. All that being said in the name of Canadian cultural traditions my definition of cultural traditions, with the help from classmates is as such; ‘Canadian cultural traditions are shared interests and norms that are defined by physical and social boundaries and are based on customs or invented traditions, through Canadian geography and shared experiences.’