ON FOOTBALL

At USC, all of the familiar

faces at a new place

made the spring game

feel like a fever dream. D12

NBA PLAYOFFS

A career outing from

Grayson Allen helps the

Bucks grab a 3-1 series

lead over the Bulls. D3

KLMNO

SPORTS

MONDAY, APRIL 25 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

BY BEN STRAUSS

herkimer, n.y. — One afternoon

this spring, Scott Flansburg was walk-

ing past the once-stately 19th-century

brick buildings that line Main Street

here — a hotel, a grocery store, a bike

shop, all turned by time into a gyro

joint and empty storefronts. He was

looking for a building that wasn’t

there.

“Here it is,” Flansburg said, gestur-

ing to a parking lot. “You can kind of

imagine it.”

It was the site of the old Herkimer

YMCA, built in the 1890s but gone

since it burned down decades ago.

Flansburg and others in town are

convinced that this is where basket-

ball was invented — not, as the

famous story goes, by James Naismith

and his peach baskets 160 miles east

in Springfield, Mass., but by a 16-year-

old Swedish immigrant named Lam-

bert Will, who tossed cabbages into

crates.

Flansburg, 58, grew up in Herkim-

er. The busted windows of the now-

abandoned elementary school he at-

tended are visible from Main Street.

He was a math prodigy, making

appearances on “Oprah” and NBC’s

“Today” show and landing in the

Guinness World Records for doing

calculations so fast they called him

“The Human Calculator.”

For the past two years, though,

Flansburg and others here have been

dedicated to uncovering the truth

about the town’s role in basketball.

The true origins of the game matter,

SEE HERKIMER ON D7

Not so fast, Naismith

Small New York town makes b old claim that it is basketball’s real birthplace. Can it prove its case?

PHOTOS BY JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST

TOP: Herkimer, N.Y., is home to a semipro team called

the Originals. ABOVE: A clipping from 1 940 has a photo

of a Herkimer t eam from 1892, according to the caption.

wide receivers were in the

$20 million tier. The number

already has more than doubled,

and there’s still a banner 2019

draft class — which includes

Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, DK

Metcalf and Terry McLaurin —

eligible to negotiate extensions

that seem a lock to end with

them all comfortably above the

$20 million line.

For salary cap gurus, it is

insanity, even though a few could

have predicted this scenario. No

position in sports is rising in

value like the standout wide

receiver — not even the always

costly quarterback. It makes

sense because of the NFL’s

increased emphasis on speed and

the passing game, but with so

many needs on a football team,

there is still room for varying

opinions about how much elite

receiving talent should be

valued.

Draft week could clarify some

of the debate. Samuel has asked

the San Francisco 49ers to trade

him, according to ESPN. General

Manager John Lynch has called

SEE BREWER ON D6

In lieu of
desirable
quarterback
prospects, the
best pre-NFL
draft storyline
shifts to the state
of wide receivers.
It’s a lucrative but
complicated state, indicative of a
league bursting with talent yet
uneasy about the salary surge.
We’re in the era of the
$ 30-million-per-year wide
receiver. That’s a little misleading
when you look at the particulars
of the new contract Tyreek Hill
signed upon being traded to
Miami — everyone knows he
won’t get the $44.9 million his
contract lines up for him in its
final season — but agents won’t
see it that way. In a dizzying
offseason, the market has
transformed for pass catchers.
Six players have received new
deals averaging more than
$20 million per season. Two elite
wideouts, Hill and Davante
Adams, were traded from top-
notch offenses to get paid.
Before last season began, four

Wideouts are getting paid,

but that can’t last forever

Jerry
Brewer

DARRON CUMMINGS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nevada’s Carson Strong checks a lot of boxes for a quarterback prospect but has dealt with some injuries.

BY ANDREW GOLDEN

Dave Martinez is going with a

three-man bench, allowing him

extra bullpen arms, for his Wash-

ington Nationals. The risks of

that managerial strategy were on

full display Sunday at Nationals

Park, where the Nationals suf-

fered a series sweep with a 12-3

loss to the San Francisco Giants.

The Nationals have dropped

five in a row after opening the

homestand Tuesday with a dou-

bleheader sweep of the Arizona

Diamondbacks.

Third baseman Lucius Fox

vomited on the field during the

first at-bat of Sunday’s game and

promptly left with trainers —

Martinez said Fox had battled a

“stomach flu” before the game

but took fluids and felt well

enough to play. When he couldn’t

continue, the Nationals moved

Maikel Franco from first base to

third, where he normally plays.

Franco was filling in for Josh

Bell, who came out of Saturday’s

game after experiencing right

hamstring tightness and was

only going to be used in pinch-

hitting situations Sunday. Sud-

denly, the Nationals had no

choice but to use backup catcher

Riley Adams at first base, where

he had never played in a major

league game. Around the time of

the national anthem, Adams was

told by bench coach Tim Bogar

that he might be going in.

SEE NATIONALS ON D5

Sickening

start leads

to a sweep

of the Nats

GIANTS 12,

NATIONALS 3

BY SAMANTHA PELL

After crashing hard into the

end boards, Alex Ovechkin crum-

pled to the ice Sunday night at

Capital One Arena.

There was the face of the Wash-

ington Capitals, who is known for

his durability, looking shaken af-

ter he tripped over Toronto goal-

tender Erik Kallgren’s stick on a

breakaway and careened into the

boards early in the third period of

the Capitals’ 4-3 shootout loss to

the Maple Leafs. And for the first

time in a long time in the cap-

tain’s career — and with the start

of the playoffs just days away —

Ovechkin’s status was uncertain.

Ovechkin, who has 50 goals in

77 games, did not return, and the

team said he had an upper-body

injury. It was the first time this

season that he left a game be-

cause of injury. He has missed

two games, both when he was in

the NHL’s coronavirus protocols.

Coach Peter Laviolette offered

no update on his condition after

the game. The Capitals canceled

their scheduled Monday practice

but still will take the annual team

photo at the practice facility;

Ovechkin is expected to be there.

“I’ve never met anyone tougher

than that guy,” forward T.J. Oshie

said. “We all hope he’s fine. I just

talked to him, and I think he’ll be

all right. It’s always scary seeing

[Ovechkin] go down and lay on

the ice. He’s a tough guy. But if

there was anyone I would imag-

ine wouldn’t miss any more time

than he needs to, it’d be [him].”

After their captain went down,

the Capitals offered a strong re-

sponse by scoring two goals — by

Lars Eller off a nice feed from

Martin Fehervary at 3:32 and

SEE CAPITALS ON D3

Caps lose

Ovechkin

to injury,

blow lead

MAPLE LEAFS 4,

CAPITALS 3 (SO)

Islanders at Capitals

Tomorrow, 7 p.m., NBCSW

Marlins at Nationals

Tomorrow, 7:05 p.m., MASN2

BY NICKI JHABVALA

Gone are the days of two-quar-

terback rosters — for Ron Rivera,

at least.

Over the past four seasons, in-

cluding his final two as coach of

the Carolina Panthers, Rivera has

had to rely on three or sometimes

four quarterbacks each year be-

cause of injuries, performance is-

sues and, recently, the pandemic.

“Last year, who would’ve

thought our guy would get hurt on

the 16th play?” he said recently of

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Washington’s

Week 1 starter. “It really changed

the dynamics of who we were

going to be as a football team.”

The Commanders found their

starter in March, when they trad-

ed for Carson Wentz. Taylor Hein-

icke, their onetime quarantine

quarterback plucked off his sis-

ter’s couch two seasons ago, is

now a trusted backup who has

made 15 regular season starts

with Washington.

But Heinicke’s old job, third-

string quarterback, remains va-

cant. Perhaps Rivera will turn to

SEE COMMANDERS ON D6

Late-round task: Find another QB

Commanders might try to unearth a third-stringer as draft progresses

NFL draft, first round

Thursday, 8 p.m.,

ESPN, ABC, NFL Network