The time has come.

Since the day I started serving up these weekly Canadian Heritage Minutes I’ve been longing for the start of the NCAA Championship Tournament to unleash what is one of the greatest 60-second segments I’ve seen: Canadian James Naismith’s invention of the game of basketball.

Naismith was born in Ramsay Township, which is now known a Almone, Ontario, and attended McGill University in Montreal before moving to Massachusetts. While working at a YMCA in Springfield (now home of the Basketball Hall of Fame), Naismith invented the game of basketball as a way to keep athletes in shape and active during the northeast’s harsh winter.

Using a pair of peach baskets as the “goals,” Naismith put together his 13 basic rules for the game, and the rest is history.

In the video, Naismith teaches his American students the game and makes a couple of discoveries: 1) A player must be allowed a couple of steps without dribbling, and, 2) they had to put holes in the bottoms of the peach baskets.

Heritage Minutes are 60-second short films that are shown in between some TV shows in Canada — and they’re amazing. We’re planning to bring you a “Heritage Minute” every Thursday on COTW.

Enjoy.