[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by DownTownTonyBrown

As I understand the original rules

http://www.ukans.edu/heritage/graphi.../naismith.html

"#3 A player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, allowance to be made for a man running at good speed."

A player could throw the ball to himself!... basically dribbling in the air rather than off the floor.

I thought I had seen the "air dribble" term used somewhere else but can't fnd it now. I don't know that this was the case but I believe I read somewhere on the net that the "air dribble" was an allowed part of the original game.

Many moons ago, when little dinosaurs first started to roam the hardwoods, the term "air dribble" was used to define the act of (illegally) touching the ball twice while it was in the air on the same dribble. If I remember right, the FED dropped that terminology and inserted a casebook play that is still in use. This is what used to be called an "air dribble":

Casebook play 4.15.4SitD(a)-- "While dribbling, A1 bats the ball over the head of an opponent, runs around the opponent, bats the ball to the floor and continues to dribble.-- RULING: Violation...because the ball was touched twice by A1's hand(s) during a dribble, before it touched the floor".