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Switch Swats
New York Yankee Mark Teixeira has switch-hit home runs 13 times in the same game, a major league record. Overall, Yankees' players have done this more than any other team, including 10 by former great Mickey Mantle.
Internal Rivalry
Because they both lost so many players to WWII military service, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles combined to become the Steagles during the 1943 season.
Getting High
Ewa Wisnierska, a German paraglider, survived lightning, pounding hail, minus 40-degree temperatures and oxygen deprivation after a storm system sucked her to an altitude higher than Mount Everest. Wisnierska passed out due to a lack of oxygen and flew ...
Soccer Hooligans
In 1969 a brief battle broke out between Honduras and El Salvador. Although tensions had been rough between the two countries for some time, the trigger for the skirmish was El Salvador's victory over Honduras in the World Cup Soccer playoffs. Emotions were ...
Maybe Being Lazy Isn't So Bad
While trying to get fit and lose weight, approximately 30,000 people are seriously injured by exercise equipment every year.
This Seems Wrong...
It's well known that Roger Bannister was the first man to break the four-minute mile. However, it's less commonly known he did not set this mark in an actual race. On May 6, 1954, he ran 3:59.4 while being carefully paced by other runners. (Bannister's quarter-mile ...
Endurance
It's a documented fact that humans are the best long-distance runners on the planet, able to beat horses (and everything else) in marathon distance races.
Pent Up Aggression
It's said that legendary boxer Cassius Clay - later known as Muhammad Ali - once went two months without sex before a big fight, claiming it made him unbeatable in the ring.
Mr. Good Wrench
Boxing great and heavyweight champion Jack Johnson also invented the household wrench in 1922.
Not Morning People
Surprisingly, track athletes are most likely to break records late in the day, when their body temperatures are at their highest.
Change is Good
Did you know that until 1937, the referee tossed a jump ball after every basket in a basketball game? Good thing they changed that rule!
Avast!
At one point in August 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates became the first professional baseball team to field nine players who were either black or Latino. Coincidentally, this was the same year they won the World Series.
October 30th, 2001
On this day in 2001, Michael Jordan returned to the NBA with the Washington Wizards after a 3 1/2 year retirement. Despite His Airness, the Wizards lost 93-91 to the New York Knicks.
Long Glide
Hang gliding records are sanctioned and the world record(s) for "free distance" is held by Manfred Ruhmer with 700.6 km (435.3 mi) in 2001 and Michael Barber flew a distance of 704 km (437 mi) on June 19, 2002 in Zapata Texas.
Platform Diving
Platform diving (also called high diving) is usually done from a tower 10 m (32 ft 10 in.) high that is not flexible and that projects nearly five feet (1.5 m) over the water. The height of the tower permits more involved acrobatics during descent; it also ...
Springboard Diving
Springboard diving is done from a flexible plank made of aluminum or steel and measuring 16 ft (4.9 m) long by 20 in. (51 cm) wide. It extends horizontally over the water at a height of 1 m (about 3 ft 3 in.) or 3 m (about 9 ft 10 in.). The flexibility of ...
Triple Backflip
The gymnast that first did a triple backflip during a gymnastic floor exercise was Valery Liukin. This is an insanely impossible move to do and is worth 4 tenths of a point bonus for Olympians.
October 25th, 1964
On this day in 1964, Jim Marshall of the Minnesota Vikings had one of the most famous gaffes in sports history. Marshall was a great player who once appeared in 282 straight games, then a record. But Marshall is most remembered for an unfortunate play in a ...
Fly Like an Eagle
The longest official ski jump was made by Norwegian Johan Remen Evensen. His soaring leap was measured at 246.5m or 809 feet in February 2011 at Vikersund, Norway.
Downhill Cycling
If we analyze records using a serial production bicycle, as opposed to prototype bicycles, the record holder is Markus Stöckl from Austria. He set a world speed record in 1999 on snow, descending at 187 km/h (116 mph) at Les Arcs. On 14 September 2007, Stöckl ...
Rodeo Records
Fastest time in the barrel racing: 13.52 seconds run by Brandie Halls in Round 8 of the 2006 NFR in Las Vegas*. Highest score(s) in bull riding: 100 points, a perfect score, Wade Leslie in Central Point, Oregon in 1991. *Note: Arena sizes and conditions ...
The Real Sport of Kings
With the easy accessibility to firearms at the beginning of the 18th century Falconry slowly faded into obscurity, until there was only a handful of people left practicing the ancient sport. Ironically, the first rifle type gun invented was called a "Musket". ...
Love on Skis
Skiing has been bringing couples together since the 1700′s, when a girl from Merager Norway, skied to Bestaden Norway to have a tryst with her man. That's a round trip distance of 160 kilometers! That’s true love. It kinda makes one wonder why they couldn’t ...
A Tough Way to Celebrate
After the Greek victory over the Persians in 490 B.C., legend says that soldier Pheidippides ran 25 miles from the battlefield in Marathon, Greece, to Athens to deliver the news. After he arrived, Pheidippides yelled out, "Rejoice, we are victorious,” then ...
Get a Grip
The toe pick - the jagged sawlike teeth at the front of the blade of an ice skate - helps give an ice skater more control. The V-shaped grooves of the toe pick keep the skater from slipping on the ice. Figure skaters use the toe picks to push off the ice or ...