Dr. James A. Naismith

Author's Note: This piece was written as a research piece on Dr. James Naismith, the creator of basketball and inventor of the football helmet.

Dr. James A. Naismith

                Have you ever played sports in your life? If you have then you are like millions maybe even billions of people who play sports each day. Every single sport has been developed to become safer, more exciting, etc. But without the original founder of the game, none of these amazing games would be possible. Take basketball for instance; it is played worldwide by hundreds of millions of people, and still it’s growing faster than ever thanks to its founder Dr. James A. Naismith.

Naismith was a teacher/professor at a Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA (James Naismith). Naismith’s boss, Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick Jr., asked him to create a game that would be interesting, easy to play in a cold winter gym, and easy to learn. Gulick gave James 14 short days to come up with such a game. Naismith knew in order to create a new game he would need the help of other games to give him ideas. One of his ideas came from the game Duck on a Rock. During a game of Duck on a Rock the goal was to knock a rock off of a larger rock or tree stump (Duck on a Rock). Naismith played this game with his friends when he was a young boy. This game inspired him to think of the “shoot the ball into the hole” aspect of the game.

The first game of basketball was then played in the Springfield YMCA. The final score was an exciting 1-0 (James Naismith). The game immediately started getting more popular, yet Naismith wondered why. He thought that he had only invented a simple activity to occupy students, time, but he had in fact started a revolution and invented a game that many people play and love today.

Dr. Naismith also invented the football helmet. He played center on a football team and the helmet allowed every player to be much safer while not disrupting their level of play at all (Dr. James A Naismith Biography). Without the invention of the football helmet many more people would get hurt playing football.

Overall, anyone could say that Naismith has made as big an impact on sports as anyone in the world has. He invented one sport and made another sport a whole lot safer. Dr. James A. Naismith was a great man and an unbelievable innovator.

Bibliography

"Dr. James A Naismith Biography." Bio. True Story. 29 5 2013 <http://www.biography.com/people/james-a-naismith-9420059>.

"Duck on a Rock." Wikipedia. 28 5 2013 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_on_a_Rock>.

"James Naismith." Hoopedia. 28 5 2013 <http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=James_Naismith>.

Books vs Movies

Author's Note: This is an essay on the difference between books, and their respective movies, or screenings. This is also my DWA.

Books vs Movies

Typically if I go to see a movie based on a book, I have an image in my head about how everything will look. Although, often times when I go the movie based on a book it doesn’t turn out very well. Producers and directors often try to do too much when making the movie, rather than sticking specifically to the book’s storyline. When making a movie, the producer should try to consult with the author of the book.

There were many things wrong with this film "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"; the first and most obvious was when the movie showed the old man. He was sitting in a bright indoor café, in the story it says he is sitting outside of the lighted cafe and in the shadow of some leaves. This is a very important part of the story because it is a symbol that gives the story great meaning. The symbol of the old man sitting in a shadow shows that he is in the latter years of his life, and he is in the darkness.

Another thing wrong with the screening was the language. Towards the end of the movie after the older waiter walked to the bar he starts saying certain things in English. At one point in the book he keeps saying nada, nada, nada nada, nada, etc. But in the movie you hear nothing, nothing nothing, nothing, nothing nothing. In addition, during this scene in the movie the older waiter asks for a small or little cup. In the book he asks for the cup in Spanish saying copita. The whole thing takes away the foreign aspect out of the story and makes that final scene feel very creepy.

The final thing that stood out to me that I thought was wrong, was the fact that the café was a modern looking restaurant rather than a 1930’s or 1940’s café. The café should’ve been more rundown and old rather than a modern sparkling café. Although it was correct in having good lighting the café was a little too clean for the 30’s.

The Producer of this screening didn’t do the best job transforming the story into a movie. He did the most important part of the story wrong, the old man sitting in the café rather than outside, and that hurt the authenticity of this movie.