I have a question to pose for you? This morning I showered and dressed, I chose a Nike tee shirt and Adidas basketball shoes. Can I wear the tee shirt and shoes without getting in trouble with Phil Knight (Nike)?

As much as I’ve cried and moaned Kansas City is not the first city (and maybe not the last) to lose its NBA franchise, several cities spread throughout the nation have suffered a similar fate, we‘ll explore a few. On the other side of the state is St. Louis (MO). Although St. Louis was not the original home of the Hawks they toiled in the Gateway City from 1956 through 1968. In 1969 they moved to Atlanta where they have since remained. The Los Angeles Clippers are not located in the city of their founding; they no longer carry the original team name. This expansion franchise took up residence in Buffalo (NY) and played there from 1971-1978. They moved to San Diego (CA) in 1979 and were re-named the Clippers, San Diego remained home through the 1984 season, The team moved to Los Angeles for the 1985 season where they have since remained.

You might remember at one time the NBA had two teams in Canada, the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies. Like the Raptors the Grizzlies were also an expansion team, they began play in 1996 however the franchise moved to Memphis (TN) in 2002. The present day Washington Wizards once played as the Baltimore Bullets, they were located in this Maryland city from 1964-1973. In 1974 the team moved to suburban Washington D.C. eventually into the city itself in 1975. The last city to visit is Seattle (WA) this city has the longest history connected to the NBA than any other, 41 years. The fate of this franchise has been well documented over the past several years, the team moved to Oklahoma City (OK) in 2009 under new ownership. This brief journey into the NBA’s past does not begin to provide a true picture of franchise movement over the years. One area not fully detailed, the NBA began a movement from small town America in the late 1940’s and ‘50’s to larger metropolitan areas. As for basketball the college game had a larger imprint in the publics mind then its big brother the National Basketball Association. (basketball-reference.com)

During the Olympics I heard a national sports talk host formulate an erroneous statement. In describing Team USA and its Olympic results I heard him say the game (basketball) was invented here. That part of his story is correct, continuing his dialogue I’m almost sure in the next breath he said James A. Naismith was an American, my ears perked up at this point---wrong. Wikipedia describes him as a Canadian-American while Bio.com in the first few sentences states Naismith was a Canadian and American sports coach and innovator.“ I think you can understand the direction I’m going here, much as we’d like to think the game was invented by an American it wasn’t, Naismith invented the game in 1891 here but he was still a Canadian citizen.

“At Springfield YMCA, Naismith struggled with a rowdy class which was confined to indoor games throughout the harsh New England winter and thus was perpetually short-tempered. Under orders from Dr. Luther Gulick, head of Springfield YMCA Physical Education, Naismith was given 14 days to create an indoor game that would provide an "athletic distraction": Gulick demanded that it would not take up much room, could help its track athletes to keep in shape and explicitly emphasized to "make it fair for all players and not too rough.” There are several other facts to point out regarding Naismith, “he wrote the original basketball rulebook, founded the University of Kansas basketball program and is often credited for the first football helmet“ To settle the heritage issue he was born in Almonte Ontario Canada in 1861. For you history students at the timeframe of his birth Canada was a province of the British Empire and not the independent nation of today, Naismith became a U.S. citizen in 1925. One other note, Naismith was the first basketball coach at Kansas University and the only one with a losing record. (Wikipedia)

The Wolves have been treading water for a number of years it seems. Poor and even strange draft choices, sometimes even stranger trades. Has the madness or miss-direction of the Wolves concluded? I have no clue but it does appear change is evident. Ricky Rubio proved to me and others he could play at this level, an injury shortened his rookie season. He’ll return to the lineup in December but he might have to introduce himself to new teammates. “From Russia with Love” 6-6 shooting guard Alexey Shved and veteran 6-9 NBA forward Andrei (AK-47) Kirilenko, both played for CSKA Moscow last season. Kevin Love and the balance of the crew should make for an improved Wolves team. Love had stated during the summer the Wolves had cleansed the roster of “knuckleheads. “ Are they a Western Conference threat, not likely this upcoming season but the future does look bright and improved?