Basketball and Mardi Gras - February 17

Full Court Press

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Today is Mardi Gras, Chinese New Year, Fat Tuesday, International Pancake Day, Paczki Day, Cabbage Day, Cafe Au Lait Day, Indian Pudding Day, Random Acts of Kindness Day, and Public Science Day.

Black History Month Resource of the Day: Alvin Ailey

PBS NewsHour - The Legacy of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater

Today's Birthdays
Songs of the Day
Today's Theme: Basketball

ON THIS DATE.

1801 - The House of Representatives chooses Thomas Jefferson as president after a 73-73 electoral tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
1863 - The International Red Cross is founded in Geneva
1904 - Madama Butterfly premières at La Scala in Milan.
1933 - Newsweek magazine is first published.
1968 -The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1996 - World chess champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.
2009 - President Barack Obama signs a $757 billion economic stimulus package into law.

BIRTHDAYS

1874 - IBM founder Thomas J. Watson
1879 - Education reformer and activist Dorothy Canfield Fisher
1942 - Activist and Black Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton
1963 - Basketball player Michael Jordan
1981 - Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt
1991 - English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran

SONGS OF THE DAY

Mariia Callas - Madame Butterfly - Un Bel di Vedremo - LISTEN

THEME: Basketball

Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street - Basketball, "What If" (1:26) - VIEW
Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street - Elmo Makes His Shot (2:51) - VIEW
Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street - Practicing Basketball (1:51) - VIEW
Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street - The Harlem Globetrotters - The Number 3 (1"24) - VIEW
Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street - Rebecca Lobo and the Letter O (1:52) - VIEW
Grades PreK-2 - Let's Go Luna - A Game of Basketball (1:11) - VIEW
Grades PreK-2 - Molly of Denali - Playing Basketball on Snow (2:32) - VIEW
Grades PreK-3 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Angles - What's Good (3:56) - VIEW
Grades PreK-3 - PBS LearningMedia - KidVision - Basketball (8:57) - VIEW and DO
Grades 3-6 - PBS LearningMedia - Cyberchase - WNBA Supermom (4:13) - VIEW and DO
Grades 4-8 - NHPBS LearningMedia - STEM in 30 - Basketball in Space (2:00) - VIEW
Grades 5-8 - PBS Learning Media - Dragonfly TV - Basketball Physics (5:38) - VIEW, READ, DO
Grades 5-8 - PBS LearningMedia - Aiming For the Basketball Hall of Fame - Using Ratios (4:38) - VIEW and DO
Grades 6-12 - Poetry in America - Fast Break (9:53) - VIEW
Grades 8 - Thinkport - Basketball and Functional Relationships Collection - VIEW and DO
Grades 9-12 - PBS LearningMedia - Class C: The Fort Shaw Women's Basketball Team (3:04) - VIEW and DO
Grades 9-12 -NHPBS Video - Something in the Water: A Kinston Basketball Story (26:46) - VIEW

THEME: Mardi Gras

Grades K-5 - PBS LearningMedia - All About the Holidays - Mardi Gras (1:36) - VIEW
Grades 4-8 - PBS LearningMedia - Jazz: A Brass Band Performance - When the Saints Go Marching In (2:10) - VIEW
Grades 4-12 - NHPBS Video - Mardi Gras (2:51) - VIEW
Grades 5-12 - NHPBS Video - Float Building (27:45) - VIEW
Grades 8-12 - NHPBS Video - Art Rocks! The Series - Artist Herb Roe (28:39) - VIEW

About New Hampshire PBS: New Hampshire PBS inspires, educates and connects all Granite Staters every month—on-air, online, on mobile, in classrooms, and across our communities. From award-winning local and national programs to innovative education and community initiatives, we’re turning stories into action and ideas into impact across the Granite State. Driven by passion. Fueled by you. We are 100% community funded.

Station Management

Peter A. Frid
President & CEO
pfrid@nhpbs.org
603-868-1100

Dawn DeAngelis
Vice President & Chief Content Officer
ddeangelis@nhpbs.org
603-868-1100

Pressroom Contact

Carla Gordon Russell
Director of Communications
crussell@nhpbs.org
(603) 868-4339