Before there was Phog Allen, there was Dr. James Naismith — a Canadian grad student from Springfield College in Massachusetts, who scribbled down the 13 original rules of basketball in the winter of 1891 as an assignment for one of his classes and hatched a global movement.

For Naismith, the assignment was part of his classwork in Springfield, at what was then-called the YMCA International Training School.

The original rules created a game that looks far different than the one we recognize today, including nine men on the court per team at a time, and a lack of dribbling. Regardless of how it looked when it was first played in Springfield, there was little question that, by the time Naismith brought it to the University of Kansas in 1898, there was no stuffing the genie back into the bottle.

Not only did Dr. Naismith bring the game to Lawrence, but he also coached the school’s program from its inception in 1898 to 1907. Make no mistakes, Naismith made his home right here, from the moment he arrived in ’98 until his death at age 78 in 1939. He might not have been from here, but he sure did make himself of here.

I’ve heard some sports fans argue about where, in fact, the game was invented.

That’s so silly. Historians and real hoopheads know that the game’s birthplace is in Western Massachusetts, which, appropriately, is also the site of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame — the game’s unquestioned shrine right in the middle of its Garden of Eden.

What is not silly is that Naismith’s original 13 rules are available for viewing on the KU campus in Lawrence. Quite frankly, it’s a nearby sports field trip that you must take. The display and pageantry surrounding the history document is stunning. And while we might not have been the place where the game was born, we do boast it’s most important historical document.

Do yourself a favor and check them out. It’s an incredible experience, and one every sports fan should have.

And if this kind of stuff really gets your juices flowing, check out the ESPN 30 for 30: “There’s No Place Like Home,” which follows the 13 rules document on its unlikely journey to Lawrence.