Basketball Follies

November 27, 1905, Oshkosh Northwestern

From the sound of it, it appears the Menasha players were up to some shenanigans on the court with fainting and stall tactics.  I was taken with the phrase "playing for wind" and did a bit of research on the term.  It appears in early 20th century sports-related news items and I even found it in a 1923 book devoted to "physical culture" which was the term for physical fitness or lifestyle back then.  Essentially it means taking a break, an odd use of a phrase when one word would do.  And I could be wrong but the low score makes me think they were still playing with closed bottom peach baskets; it was around this time or a year or two later when nets were finally introduced.  This ended the era when the game needed to be halted to summon a janitor with a ladder to retrieve the ball.