In sports, wherever there are two opposing teams, there are traditions that surround their interactions. Both teams put on different coloured uniforms depending on where you are playing.
In sports, such as football and hockey, the home team will wear the colours of their team, while the away team will wear white. This is because it allows the home team to show their team spirit, while the visiting team wears a more boring white colour. But in basketball, there is a weird reversal.
In basketball, the home team wear white. To understand why the home team wears white in basketball, we’ll discover interesting facts about the history of sports. so why does the home team wear white in basketball?
Home teams
There is always an advantage for the home team. In most sports, the home team wins more often for many reasons. The team will have more fans cheering it on, giving them adrenaline, and they are more familiar with the space they are playing in.
Another advantage is that they can wear their team colours, which will only increase the team spirit. If teams do not follow the uniform rules, they will first be asked to change, and then will be fined. Uniforms are taken very seriously in sports.
Baseball: “Home Whites”
So why does the home team wear white in basketball? It all started with baseball. In the early days of Major League Baseball, the visiting team would not be able to do laundry.
With dirty uniforms, dark colours were the best way to hide all the dirt stains. Let’s all take a minute to imagine what the visiting team’s tour bus must have smelled like!
The home team, on the other hand, had access to laundry, and so they would wear white uniforms. Today in baseball, the home team will still wear white, or sometimes lighter coloured versions of their team uniform.
So, what’s the connection?
But how did we go from Major League Baseball to basketball? One thing that connects the two sports is their early popularity in the United States. Baseball was introduced to the U.S. from England around 1750’s.
Basketball was actually invented in the U.S. in 1891. With their long-standing tradition and their huge popularity, it would make sense that baseball uniform etiquette would carry over to basketball uniforms.
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Conclusion
In a way, it’s nice to see basketball’s home team wear white. The team’s uniform colour connects it to baseball in a surprising way. It also reminds us of a time when sports were played without full laundry services for both teams, a curious little fact!
Do you know who invented basketball?
A Canadian, Dr. James Naismith, invented basketball in Massachusetts in 1891, with the goal of finding a team sport that would be a lot of exercise and could be played indoors.
Video: Nerd Plays Basketball In The HOOD!
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I’m Natalie Garcia and I started this website to share my love of trivia, facts and fun knowledge tidbits. We cover things like celebrity gossip, historical facts, tv shows, world leaders and just odd and random fun things. I started this site to have some fun with my hobby and share some useful information with you, our community. Please feel to send me your suggestions and feedback through the contact form. And if you have suggestions for things to write about, please shoot me a message!