WHY!?

Here in the Philippines, basketball is the most popular sport. Everywhere you go, there is a basketball court. Everybody here in the Philippines loves basketball that much. All of them perhaps are addicted to the sport because of the excitement of the sport and cool finishes like dunks and insane dribbling. As the basketball became more and more popular here in the Philippines as time goes by and people here idolize the great Michael Jordan also known as “MJ”.

I thought about it, why is it that basketball became popular that fast? I think that because basketball is really easy to play and affordable I guess. Exciting finishes like dunks and super fast hands makes the sport more impressing to the eyes and made the sport so popular. Moving on, basketball only needs a pair of gym shoes, clothes, a ball and the willingness to play the game then a very huge basketball court. It doesn’t need very high-end shoes and very expensive ball. Playing the game is very nice if you have friends along with you and share the moments with each other while competing.


As I was mesmerized about the sport I came across this site.http://library.thinkquest.org/10615/no-frames/basketball/history.html It talks about the history and basketball and how it was formed. As I was reading this, I was shocked and at the same time impressed because Dr. James Naismith the one who invented the game used a soccer ball and a wooden basket patched in the wall. I think that it was really awesome because it’s not that easy to come up with a sport like that. And the number of players per team is just insane.


Olympics in Barcelona began and the US wants to have pure dominance in the Olympic basketball. That was the time the term “all-stars” was invented. According to this article http://www.livestrong.com/article/364098-why-is-the-game-of-basketball-so-popular/, the team featured the great Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and a number of other huge stars. As they fought against other countries, they dominated their opponents and the game itself and later on brought home the bacon for the United States to celebrate. And that was the first “Dream Team” of the United States of America.

 
Back in the Spanish days, all we know is all about cockfights and forms of social gambling. As far as I know, Spain was not into sports except Arnis—the stick fight thingy that is why the main influence of Spain is our religion, gambling and Arnis.

Just as I said a while ago, Basketball is perhaps the most popular sport here in the Philippines. Basketball is one of the main influences of the Americans on the Filipinos. As I was researching about the history of basketball in the Philippines, I saw this article http://suite101.com/article/a-brief-history-of-philippine-basketball-a349662. The invasion of the Americans in our country was the birth of Basketball. Filipinos embrace it whole-heartedly because of its competitive and action packed nature. As I was reading this article I was really amazed because back at the Stone Age, Filipinos can also dominate in the field of Basketball. We can really compete in the game with solid stuff. According to the article, The Philippines also participated in the first ever Olympic basketball tournament, finishing fifth with a 4-1 win-loss record. The Philippine team won against Italy, Estonia, Mexico and Uruguay but failed to upset the eventual champion Team USA.


As the Philippines were embracing the game, college and universities also used the game as a sports curriculum and later established the National Collegiate Athletic Association also known as “NCAA” and the University Athletic Association of the Philippines also known as “UAAP” were established in 1924 and 1938 respectively.