Hi, Mrs.
Naismith. Is Jimmy home?"
"Well, hello,
Orville and Wilbur. Yes, he's in his room. Oh, Jimmy, the Wright brothers are
here."
"Hi, guys.
How're things at the bicycle shop?"
"Pretty good.
We've just hired a p.r. firm. These guys from New York say they can help us
move a ton of bikes. Gave us a slogan: QUIT HORSING AROUND—GET WHEELS. What do
you think?"
"Sounds good.
But I thought you guys were getting out of the bike business. What happened to
your airplane idea?"
"We've got
the flying part down. But I want to go no-frills, and Wilbur wants food and a
movie. I told him the food's got to be precooked, and the passengers will hate
it. But he says, if they don't like the taste, what're they gonna do, jump out
the window at 30,000 feet? But give us some time and we'll work it out. So
what's with you?"
"Nothing
much. Still tinkering on the game."
"Basketball?
Jimmy, baby, enough with the peach baskets already. I admire your instincts,
Jimbo. Sports are a gold mine. But baseball's got the market covered. Face it,
the Doubleday kid's got legs."
"I'm not
knocking baseball. But it takes up a lot of room, and you need 18 people to
play it. You can play basketball in the middle of the city, Orville, and you
can play one-on-one or three-on-three, as well as five-on-five. It's a much
better urban game. I can foresee a day when city kids all over America will be
dribbling...."
"Dribbling?"