James Naismith Described 1st Game of Basketball as an All-out Brawl

You've seen old, grainy basketball footage.

The high shorts; the teamwork. Everyone moving about smartly and saying "please" and "thank you" with every pass (probably).

This is what we picture when we think of the first basketball game, and it's completely wrong.

Because, according to James Naismith—the inventor of basketball—the first game of organized hoops was pretty much a UFC cage match.

During a radio interview in 1939, Naismith spoke about the beginnings of basketball and the first game of hoops ever played. Audio of the interview was recently unearthed by Kansas religious studies professor Michael J. Zogry (h/t the New York Times' Richard Sandomir).

According to Naismith, the first game of basketball took place when students at Springfield College were forced to hold their physical education class indoors due to inclement weather.

So Naismith, the school's P.E. teacher, nailed up some baskets and decided to try out this basketball game he'd dreamed up to keep the kids occupied. And, judging by his account, stuff got real fast:

"

I showed them two peach baskets I'd nailed up at each end of the gym, and I told them the idea was to throw the ball into the opposing team's peach basket. I blew a whistle, and the first game of basketball began. ...

The boys began tackling, kicking and punching in the clinches. They ended up in a free-for-all in the middle of the gym floor.

It certainly was murder.

"

Damn. That might be the streetest street hoops game ever played, and it happened the first time guys laced them up.

Naismith goes on to note that the fighting was a result of his rules, or lack thereof, that allowed players to run with the ball. Once he revised things so the kids couldn't charge with the rock, it settled down into a civilized game that Naismith said "didn't have one casualty."

And that's how a street fight birthed the game Steph Curry has transformed into poetry. It's funny how that works.

Dan is on Twitter. Metta World Peace would've been the Michael Jordan of original basketball.