Video: How to spin a basketball on your finger

Whether you’re working early mornings or late nights, at some point we all want to find a time to rest and get away from the 90-100 degree temperatures when freeway traffic becomes a hassle.

And, somewhere lying around the house or apartment, is a basketball begging to be spun.

With just a bit of obsessive dedication to mastering this skill, you’ll be amazing family members at the family cookout in no time. But before we go further into the impressive art of basketball spinning, here’s some historical context:

Mankind has a long-held fascination for spinning objects. The oldest known rotating tops, discovered in modern-day Iraq, were created in 3500 BC. More recently, French physicist Léon Foucault was credited with inventing the gyroscope in 1852.

But let us concern ourselves uniquely with the basketball. Spinning a basketball didn’t come about until 40 years after the game’s invention by William Naismith on Dec. 21, 1891, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The trick is largely credited to famed Harlem Globetrotters guard and featured star Inman Jackson, who played on the team between 1930 and 1945, according to “The Harlem Globetrotters: Clown Princes of Basketball” by Robbie Butler.

Today, the Harlem Globetrotters continue to showcase their feats of skill. And while this sports reporter isn’t himself a Globetrotter, he has nonetheless mastered the art, more or less. Here’s my technique:

• First, make sure your fingernails are trimmed short.
• Then, find your anchor, which is your main finger on your dominant hand.
• Next, figure out what works. Some spin the ball clockwise, others counterclockwise. Eventually, you get a feel.
• After that, count to three and see how long you can balance the basketball on your finger.
• Once you get to three seconds, then try to hold it just a bit longer. And then even longer.

Eventually, you’ll get an anchor and feel that allows you to keep the ball spinning.

Watch the video below for more advanced tricks.