The air dribble:
Back in the early days of the game, players were not allowed to run while holding hte ball (travel). The only known option was to pass the ball. The dribble was not yet invented. Some clever player(s) figured that the could get around this rule and began repeatedly batting the ball into the air in order to run with the ball but not while holding the ball. This would look like a juggler with only one ball. The player would not actually catch the ball, however, as the juggler would. At some point along the way (I'm not sure of the actual sequence) the dribble as we know it was invented. It was, at some point, determined that the air dribble provided too much advantage and the rule was added (as is still listed) to state that the ball may still be batted into the air but the ball must hit the floor before it could be touched again.
[This message has been edited by Camron Rust (edited January 07, 2000).]
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