On a scorching hot day in July 1936, thousands of people cheered as the U.S. Olympic teams boarded the SS Manhattan, bound for Berlin. Among the athletes were the fourteen players representing the first-ever U.S. Olympic basketall team. As thousands of supporters waved Aerican flags on the docks, it was easy to miss th eone courageous man holding a Boycatt Nazi Germany sign. But it was too late for a boycott now; the ship had already left the harbor. 1936 was a turbulent time in world history. Adolf Hitler had gained power in Germany three years earlier. Jewish people and political oppponents of the Nazis were the targets of vicious mistreatment, yet were unaware of the horrors that awaited them in the coming years. But the Olympians on board the SS Manhattan and other international visitors wouldn't see any signs of trouble in Berlin. Streets were swept, storefronts were painted, and every German citizen greeted them with a smile. Like a movie set,it was all just a facade, meant to distract from the terrible things happening behind the scenes. This is the incredible true story of basketball from its invention by James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891 to the sport's Olympic debut in Berlin and the eclectic mix of people, events, and propaganda on both sides of the Atlantic that made it all possible. --