by Joseph Gallagher

Created on: June 17, 2008

Television allows for millions of people all across the nation and world to watch whatever they want directly from their house. However, at the same time, TV stations need to constantly improve their entertainment, so as to keep their ratings out and pull ahead of competing TV stations. So, while basketball has been televised for decades, in today's society, people don't want to watch just basketball. Instead they want something more exciting, even more entertaining, then the already competitive sport brings with it.

On February 28th, 1940, the first basketball game was televised from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game was played between the colleges of Fordham and the University of Pittsburgh. The final score was 57-37 in favor of the Pitt Panthers. In the following 68 years, television would bring forth thousands of basketball games for people to watch all across the nation.

What started as the original 5v5 full court basketball game has developed greatly over the past 68 years, and television has played a great part of it. The general concepts and rules of the game are still there, but the athletes are better, the competition is better, and then entertainment is much, much better than it was before. Not only do we have the basketball game, but we have the all star game, the slam dunk competition, team challenges, 3 point challenges, streetball, the AND 1 mixtape tour, and much more. Basketball can be watched 24/7, 365 days a year if wanted. The sport of basketball remains the same as it was back in 1940, with the exceptions of an added 3 point line, slam dunks becoming a big part, and of course, no more short shorts. The dunks have been increasing in difficulty as well, adding just a little bit more to the entertainment aspect. And who can forget the Harlem Globetrotters?

The slam dunk, developed through the likes of Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul Jabaar, and Wilt Chamberlain. It is without a doubt the most anticipated shot of a basketball game, and by far the most entertaining. The slam dunk contest is held during All Star Weekend every year, and features some of the NBAs premier dunkers. In years past, new dunks have been introduced to the contest, including between the legs dunks, 360 dunks, no look dunks, the "superman" dunk, jumping over obstacles including people...dunk, and many more. The competitors are rated on a scale of 1-10 by a couple judges, as well as by the crowd. During games, the dunk is something that not only fuels the team,

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