The Lumberjack Bowl (Lumberjack World Championships) is held every year in Hayward, Wisconsin.
http://www.lumberjackworldchampionships.com/history/
Speaking of lumberjack championships, Nancy Zalewski holds the world record for Women’s Single Buck (sawing through a 16 inch white pine log) with a time of 11.61 seconds. Wow…
http://www.lumberjackworldchampionships.com/competitions/
Jason Wynyard and Dion Lane hold the record for the Double Buck (picture one guy on each end of a big-assed saw zapping a 20 inch white pine log) with a time of 4.77 seconds.
http://www.lumberjackworldchampionships.com/competitions/
One more… Brian Barlow holds the world record for the 90 Foot Speed Climb (up AND down a 90 foot tall cedar spar pole) in 19.87 seconds. Oh yeah, he also holds the record for the 60 Foot Speed Climb – 12.59 seconds.
http://www.lumberjackworldchampionships.com/competitions/
Moving on…
In 1898, the world land speed record was set by Gaston Chasseloup-Laubat of France driving an electric Jeantaud. The speed… 39.245 miles per hour.
http://phyvax.ir.miami.edu:8001/curtright/lsr_history.html
The current (1/08) land speed record holder is Andy Green of Great Britain in the jet-powered ThrustSSC with an average two-run speed of 763.035 mph (Mach 1.020…).
http://www.roadsters.com/750/#teams
By the way, the fastest man on two wheels is Chris Carr who drove (rode?) his BUB Enterprises streamliner to an average two-way speed of 350.844 mph. And no, that’s not your run-of-the-mill crotch rocket…
http://www.amadirectlink.com/news/2006/speed3.asp
NASCAR (The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) is the number one ranked spectator sport in the U.S. and holds 17 of the top 20 sporting events attended in the U.S.
http://www.nascar.com/guides/about/nascar/
The first NFL Super Bowl held in 1967, was referred to as “The NFL-AFL World Championship Game”. Apparently the “Super Bowl” name is derived from that little super bouncy piece of rubber – the Super Ball. “Super Bowl” became the official name for the championship game in 1969.
http://www.superbowlhistory.net/superbowl/index.php
The team with the best Super Bowl record is the San Francisco 49ers. They won all 5 of their Super Bowl games. The Dallas Cowboys have played in the most Super Bowls winning 5 of their 8 games. OK, Steelers fans, settle down. The Pittsburgh Steelers have also won 5 Super Bowl games and only lost one.
http://www.superbowlhistory.net/superbowl/standings.php
The Minnesota Vikings are tied with the Buffalo Bills for the worst Super Bowl records. They both lost all 4 of their appearances.
http://www.superbowlhistory.net/superbowl/standings.php
The highest number of points scored by one team in a Super Bowl was by the San Francisco 49ers in the 1990 Super Bowl XXIV. They beat the Denver Broncos with a score of 55 to 10.
http://www.superbowlhistory.net/superbowl/scores.php
One more…
The lowest scoring Super Bowl game (including the smallest number of points scored by a winning team) was Super Bowl VII in 1973. Miami beat Washington with a score of 14 to 7.
http://www.superbowlhistory.net/superbowl/scores.php
The first concrete and steel-constructed baseball stadium in the world was Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It opened its doors April 12, 1909.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/stadium.shtml
The first permanent concession stand in baseball was built at Wrigley Field in Chicago in 1914.
http://www.baseball-statistics.com/Ballparks/ChiC/index.htm
The Chicago Cubs were the first professional baseball club to provide organ music. It was 1941.
http://www.baseball-statistics.com/Ballparks/ChiC/index.htm
Fenway Park in Boston (opened April 20, 1912) is the oldest ballpark in the major leagues. It also has the smallest foul ball territory of any major league park.
http://www.baseball-statistics.com/Ballparks/Bos/index.htm
The first Calaveras County frog jumping contest was held on the main street of Angels Camp May 19 and 20, 1928. The winner was “Pride of San Joaquin” with a jump of 3 feet 6 inches.
http://www.frogtown.org/jubilee_history.shtml
The world record frog jump was set by “Rosie the Ribeter” in 1986 with a jump of 21 feet 5 ¾ inches.
http://www.frogtown.org/jubilee_history.shtml
In the final stage of a Spanish bullfight, the matador uses a muleta or small red (as opposed to any other color) cape because… well, because… OK, because it’s tradition. Since the bulls are color blind and charge because of the movement of the cape, it really wouldn’t make any difference to them what color it was. Here’s a personal opinion – the red color might help the spectators see the cape movement better than another color would and there’s a chance red is also used to signify the stature of the matador as being the focal point – the most important person in the ring.
http://www.lostgeneration.com/article6.htm
http://www.spanishholidaysguide.com/articles/article_30.asp
The game of horseshoe pitching developed from the ancient game of quoits – the throwing of metal rings at a peg protruding two inches above the ground.
http://www.horseshoepitching.com/gameinfo/history.shtml
The very first quoits were heavy flat, round rings made of either stone or metal. They were thrown for distance using a leather strap attached through the hole in the center. This popular Grecian Olympic event eventually evolved into the discus throw of today.
http://quoits.info/history/history.html
The first “world” horseshoe pitching championship was held in Bronson, Kansas in the summer of 1910. There were no rules governing the size or shape of the shoe (“throw what you have”) and the target was yep, a two-inch stake. Frank Jackson won the World Championship belt.
http://www.horseshoepitching.com/gameinfo/history.shtml
The longest horseshoe pitching game ever recorded took place in Hayward, Minnesota from March 6, 1930 until August 9, 1930. It required a total of 586 fifty point games before R. E. Dewey, postmaster, finally won over J. C. Hanson, station agent, by a score of 25,000 (the agreed-up score to determine the winner) to 24,949. They each had won 293 individual games. Man, that’s a bunch of shoe tossin’…
http://www.horseshoepitching.com/dunn2/FFmay-jun04.html
The highest percent of ringers in a men’s horseshoe pitching tournament is held by Elmer Hohl. In 1968 he won all 35 of the tournament games by throwing 88.2 percent ringers. OK guys, don’t get too smug. Sue Snyder holds the women’s highest tournament record with an 88.4 percent ringer performance.
http://www.horseshoepitching.com/publicity/worldrecords/hisingtourn.html
The first recorded cowboy rodeo was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1847… or was it in Deer Trail, Colorado in 1864… or Pecos, Texas in 1883… or Payson, Arizona in 1884… or Prescott, Arizona in 1888… or…??? Hmmm, guess it all depends on who you talk to… huh, Pardner…?
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/goingplaces3/santafe/hilite4.html
http://www.azcentral.com/travel/arizona/features/articles/0817quicktrip0818-ON.html
http://www.pecosrodeo.com/rodeo/rodeo.html
By the way, the word “rodeo” is from the Spanish rodear meaning “to surround” or “go around”.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rodeo
“Nolan Ryan is the only pitcher to strike out a side on just nine pitched balls in both the National League (April 19, 1968) and the American League (July 9, 1972).” He also of course, holds the record for the most strikeouts – 5,714.
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/Ryan_Nolan.htm
Cy Young leads – and likely always will – in the total number of pitching games won with an amazing 511 record from 1890 through 1911.
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/Young_Cy.htm
The University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the NFL Arizona Cardinals, is the first facility in North America to use a retractable – or roll-out – playing field. It weighs 16.9 million pounds and will remain outside the stadium until game day.
http://www.azcardinalsstadium.com/subcontent.aspx?SecID=94
The International Badminton Federation rules say that the bird (shuttle) has to have exactly sixteen feathers that are uniformly between 62mm and 70mm long. (Backyard Badminton rules state “If the birdie flies, use it.”)
http://www.internationalbadminton.org/statue%20book%20latest2/44%20to%2053%20laws2002%5b1%5d.pdf
Why do NBA coaches wear suits? Because they are required by the NBA to dress for games with a suit or sports coat, slacks, and a sports shirt or dress shirt with a tie or turtleneck sweater – that’s why.
http://www.nba.com/canada/bu_fashion.html
Is eating a sport? I dunno, but here goes anyway…
From the International Federation of Competitive Eating, here are a few samples of current (11/2/06) records:
97 Krystal hamburgers in 8 minutes – Takeru Kobayashi
7 ¾ pound “Thickburgers” in 10 minutes – Sonya Thomas
65 hard boiled eggs in 6 minutes, 40 seconds – Sonya Thomas
17.7 pounds of cow brains in 15 minutes – Takeru Kobayashi
1 ½ gallons of Stagg Chili in 10 minutes – Richard LeFevre
247 pickled jalapeno pickles in 8 minutes – Richard LeFevre
331 crawfish in 12 minutes – Chris Hendrix
OK, I’m gaggin’ now… For more current records and other related info, go to:
http://www.ifoce.com/index.php
Just a couple of more things in case you’re wondering. Sonya Thomas is 39 years old, weighs 105 pounds and currently holds 22 world eating records.
http://www.ifoce.com/eaters.php?action=detail&sn=20
Takeru Kobayashi is 27 years old, weighs 160 pounds and holds 5 eating records.
http://www.ifoce.com/eaters.php?action=detail&sn=22
Richard LeFevre is 62 years old, weighs 132 pounds and holds 8 eating records.
http://www.ifoce.com/eaters.php?action=detail&sn=19
[Stated “fact”: Hacky-sack was invented in Turkey.] Well, not quite. HACKY SACK is a registered trademark of Wham-O, Inc. for a footbag product. The footbag sport (yes, it is considered an official sport) was invented in 1972 in Oregon City, Oregon by John Stalberger and Mike Marshall.
http://www.footbag.org/faq/show/941272106
In open doubles footbag competition, Tricia George and Gary Lautt hold the world record of 132,011 consecutive kicks in 20 hours and 34 minutes without a miss or foul.
http://www.footbag.org/faq/show/941274599
In 1949, Joe DiMaggio became baseball’s first player to earn $100,000 a year.
http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/dimaggio/kindred.html
[Stated “fact”: Joe DiMaggio had more home runs than strikeouts during his career.] No, but it was really close. In 6821 times at bat, he had 361 home runs and 369 strikeouts.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/all_time_stats/players/d/44394/index.html
Even though in his career Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs, he also struck out 1330 times. Overall though, a lifetime .342 batting average ain’t too shabby..
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/46855/batting.html
Major league baseballs are covered with two figure eight shaped pieces of special cowhide that are sewn together by hand with 88 inches of waxed red thread using 108 stitches.
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Baseball.html
The game of basketball was developed in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith to help keep athletes in shape during the winter months.
http://www.history-of-basketball.com/history.htm
There are nearly 32,000 golf courses in the world – over half of them in the U.S.
http://www.golfdigest.com/planetgolf/
http://www.golfcoursesguide.org/unitedstates/
The original St. Andrews golf course had 22 holes – well, actually eleven. The same holes were played “going out” and “coming back”.
http://www.standrews.org.uk/welcome/history/the_old_course.html
Contrary to what you may have read as a “fact”, golf balls can have up to 500 dimples. There is no “set” or required number. It varies with the design of the ball.
http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/alumnus/summer.98/06dimple.htm
The first golf “balls” were leather pouches filled with feathers.
http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/alumnus/summer.98/06dimple.htm
The word “golf” is NOT an acronym for “Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden”. It may be from a Germanic word for club. No way to know for sure…
http://www.wordorigins.org/index.htm
American football (an offspring of rugby and soccer) began life in 1876 when the first rules of the game were written.
http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910
Pudge Heffelfinger became the first “professional’ football player when he was paid $500 by the Allegheny Athletic Association to play in a game against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club in 1892. Considering that 500 bucks was a whole bunch of money back then, I suspect there was a bit of wagering taking place on that game. Maybe…?
http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910
The “oldest” continuously operating professional football team? It’s the Arizona Cardinals who started life as the Racine (a Chicago street name) Cardinals way back in 1899.
http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910
The first Super Bowl was played January 16, 1967 in the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. Green Bay defeated Kansas City by a score of 35 – 10. The Universities of Arizona and Michigan played the national anthem before the game - and provided the halftime entertainment.
http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/history
http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/history/entertainment
The first televised football game was October 22, 1939. The National Broadcasting Company provided coverage of the game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Eagles. (The Dodgers won 23 – 14.)
http://www.profootballhof.com/history/decades/1930s/first_televised_game.jsp
Table tennis balls (OK, one ball) has been measured traveling after a “smash” at 112.5 kilometres per hour. That’s 69.9 miles per hour. I don’t think I want to ever try to play with the guy that hit that!
The name “Ping Pong” of course, comes from the sound of the ball bouncing off the old battledores (paddles). The name was trademarked in 1900 by Hamley Brothers in England.
http://www.ittf.com/museum/history.html
An early version of Darts called Puff and Dart, used a blowpipe to fire a dart at a target.
http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Darts.htm
The numbers on a dartboard are arranged to minimize the possibility of high scores from lucky throws by placing small numbers on either side of larger ones.
http://www.patrickchaplin.com/Darts_History/why_are_the_numbers_on_a_dartboa.htm
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