NY Knicks Basketball - You've Got To Be There!

At the end of this month, One To World is giving students a unique opportunity to attend a Knicks vs. Pistons game at Madison Square Garden – complete with private box seating and VIP access to the pre-game players warm up. After having not made the playoffs in 6 years, things are finally starting to look up for the New York Knicks who are in a good position to make the playoffs.

Considering that the Knicks suffered their worst home loss at Madison Square Garden against the Dallas Mavericks nearly a year ago to date, the upcoming matches seem to be much more promising and are sure to be exciting to watch. At the very least, the probability of another devastating 50-point loss seems to be essentially nonexistent given the Knicks’ performance this season!

Perhaps with this season’s arrival of the talented Amar’e Stoudemire, the New York Knickerbockers will be able to recapture some of their former glory days – a period between 1968-1875 where the Knicks made four 50+-win seasons, three Eastern Conference Championships, and two National Basketball Association (NBA) titles. However, regardless of whether the Knicks are able to repeat past accomplishments from their “golden era,” the simple fact that they’re doing so well this season has garnered them a generous amount of attention, not surprisingly so since Americans have a cultural fascination with the game of basketball.

But the reason behind basketball’s popularity in America might simply be because the game was first created in the USA. In December 1891, Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian physical education professor, created basketball to occupy the gym class that he was teaching at Springfield College, located in Springfield, Massachusetts. The game quickly spread through the US, and subsequently to Canada, thanks to its prevalence in YMCA’s throughout the US; it quickly gained a following in colleges and high schools throughout the nation.

In fact, one of the reasons why basketball spread so quickly to so many – even establishing itself on an international stage - is because of its minimal equipment and personnel requirements. In the 2008-2009 academic year, for example, over 900,000 students in over 17,000 high schools throughout the US played basketball competitively. The sport has also inspired a number of movies for children and adults alike: if you can remember back to your childhood days, you might recall Hoosiers, Space Jam and Air Bud movies; and more recently, Coach Carter and Glory Road.

 What role do sports play in your home community? How do U.S. sports fans compare with fans in your home country?