How old are our favorite sports?

HOW OLD ARE OUR FAVORITE SPORTS? PEOPLE HAVE RUN AROUND HITTING THINGS, KICKING THINGS OR CHASING ONE ANOTHER SINCE THE DAWN OF CIVILIZATION -- BUT WHEN DID GAMES BECOME SPORTS? AND WHEN DID SPORTS BECOME THE MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INSTITUTION WE KNOW IT AS TODAY? LET US TAKE YOU ON A JOURNEY THROUGH THE ADVENT OF MODERN-DAY ATHLETICS. 8 OLYMPICS 776 Beginning with a single running event, the Olympics expands to include boxing, wrestling, chariot racing, discus, javelin and long jump over the next 400 years. BC MARATHON 490 Greek soldier Pheidippides runs 25 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce a victory in battle, then collapses and dies. Marathon вс Athens O SOCCER 1424 Though varieties of the game have existed for some time, the first official appearance of the word "football" is in a Scottish statute banning the game. TENNIS 1530 With origins dating back to the 12th century, tennis becomes widely popularized as King Henry VII| constructs a court in Hampton Court Palace. BASEBALL 1744 First mention of "baseball" appears in A Pretty Little Pocket-Book, actually referring to the sport of rounders. GOLF 1744 Despite several nations claiming to have invented the sport back beyond 1200, the oldest surviving rules for the game stem from this year in Edinburgh, Scotland. A WRESTLING 1830 Somewhere around this time, the first professional wrestling circuit is introduced in France, with competitors nicknamed "steel eater," "bone wrecker," or "ox of the low Alps." Sound familiar, WWE fans? O SOCCER 1836 Rugby football and association football branch apart in England, with the Football Association becoming the first-ever governing body of what Westerners now refer to as soccer. BASEBALL 1846 A game played on June 19, 1846 in Hoboken, New Jersey using "New York Rules" is likely the strongest case for the birth the sport. Abner Doubleday? Myth. GOLF 1860 The Open Championship or, "British Open", holds its first official tournament THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHa BASEBALL 1869 The oldest MLB team -- the Cincinnati Red Stockings is formed. REDS 1876 The National League is formed. TENNIS 1877 The first Wimbledon is held, with the U.S. Open holding its first championship only four years later (1881) ELIOO НОСКEY 1880 A year after two students devised the sport's first official rules, McGill University fields the first recognized hockey team. BASKETBALL 1891 James Naismith invents basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts. НОСКEY 1893 Lord Stanley Preston, Canada's Governor General, awards a silver cup, that will eventually bear his name, to the champion of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. MARATHON 1896 The marathon is introduced as an Olympic event in Greece. 1897 Boston holds its first race, making it the world's oldest annual marathon. Boatan Marathor The distance is extended to 42,195 m (or 26 miles, 385 yd), just so the marathon course at the London Olympics can run from Windsor Castle to the royal box at the Olympic stadium. Some say the Princess of Wales wanted her children to watch the start of the race from their home. 1908 FOOTBALL 1920 The American Professional Football Association is formed in Canton, Ohio. O SOCCER 1930 The first World Cup is awarded in Uruguay, marking soccer's ascent into the most global of all team sports BASEBALL Scientists create a synthetic form of testosterone that will later be classified as anabolic steroids -- a milestone that would come to play a significant role in the history of the sport. 1930s BASKETBALL 1945 The formation of the National Basketball Association of America marks the inauguration of professional basketball Oklahoma A&M center Bob Kurland becomes 1946 the first person to perform a "dunk shot" НОСKEY 1961 Wayne Gretzky, hockey incarnate, is born. FOOTBALL The Green Bay Packers win the first-ever Super Bowl, marking the beginning of modern-era American football. 1967 GOLF 2012 MEMBER The Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, home of The Masters, admits its first female members Designed by anibalinfographics visual.ly Sources: Football: scarletknights.com (The First Intercollegiate Game -- November 6, 1989), britannica.com (National Football League). nfi.com (Super Bowl History): Baseball: baseball-reference.com (Knickerbocker Baseball Club Of New York), 1869reds.com (History), mib.com/news (MLB Carries On Strong. 200,000 Games Later), cesar.umd.edu (Steroids); Basketball: espn.com (Newly Found Documents Shed Light On Basketball's Birth), hoopedia.nba.com, sportsillustrated.cnn.com (Burning Question: Who Was The First Man To Dunk?); Soccer: fifa.com/classicfootball (History); Hockey: olympic.org (Ice Hockey Equipment And History). time.com (A Brief History Of The Stanley Cup), Wikipedia.org (Wayne Gretzky): Golf: usgamuseum.com, scottishgolfhistory.net (Royal Ancient Golf Club Of St. Andrews), cnn.com (Augusta National Admits First Female Members); Tennis: cnn.com (A Short History Of Tennis: Henry VII To Federer The Great): Marathon: time.com (A Brief History Of The Marathon); Wrestling: fila-official.com (Roots And History Of Olympic Wrestling), olympic.org (Ancient Olympic Games)