Muhammad Ali is undeniably one of the finest pugilists to have ever put fist to face. While that is news to approximately no one reading this, a less discussed aspect of Ali’s career is his brief involvement with the world of Mixed Martial Arts- specifically, that time he nearly had his leg kicked off fighting a Japanese pro wrestler in […]

Pitched as the “ultimate sport”, chess boxing is – depending on who you ask – either a seamless blend of the cerebral and the physical or a joke that got kinda out of hand… Formally invented in the early 2000s, chess boxing is the brainchild of a Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh who has since recognised the appeal of chess boxing […]

The myth that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday has been widely spread since 1907 and even today is sometimes stated by such people as former Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig. For instance, in 2010 he stated: “As a student of history, I know there is a great debate whether Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright really founded the game […]

Every spring, a sort of illness strikes millions of Americans. Symptoms include screaming uncontrollably in celebration, panic sweating, obsessing over hastily filled-out brackets, sitting motionless in front of a television for hours, and wearing the bright colors of a college individuals attended many years ago. It’s called “March Madness” and it’s arguably the most popular sporting tournament in America. But […]

Denny G. asks: Why do baseball managers wear the team’s uniform instead of a suit or something like that like you see in other sports? It especially seems weird because managers in baseball seem to universally let themselves go after their playing days are over and tubby old men do not look good in sports uniforms! Football coaches wear clothes […]

On a field about fifty miles from Boston, Strawberry Hill, on the evening of September 3, 1880, history was made. It is unlikely the department store employees who were tossing around a ball knew that this game would still be talked about 135 years later. As the crowd took their seats, the ball players took their positions; the Sun dipped […]

The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Nobody likes to move—it’s a hassle to pack up all your stuff and head for someplace new and unfamiliar. But sports teams do it all the time, and perhaps no other team move was as shocking as when the Brooklyn Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957. Here’s why the […]

Joel B. asks: Do people really wrestle octopus? Arising out of the peace and prosperity of the post-war world, in the middle of the 20th century Americans threw themselves into a variety of weird fads, with goldfish swallowing, pet rocks (see: How Did the Pet Rock Fad Start?), streaking, dance marathons, and sea monkeys (see What are Sea Monkeys?) among […]

Tristan N. asks: What are the longest odds on a sporting event that ended up having to be paid out? Given the nature of sports gambling and so little publicly available documented evidence in the field throughout history, it’s impossible to know for sure what the longest odds were on a sports bet that ended up having to be paid […]

When it comes to Olympic level track and field events, history tends to only remember those who ran the fastest, jumped the farthest and pushed themselves further than their peers. Shizo Kanakuri is an apparent exception to that rule because he’s fondly remembered for having the worst official time of any Olympic marathon runner in history, taking over 54 years […]

It was approximately four thousand years ago in Finland when people first strapped on skates to glide across the ice. This wasn’t for entertainment purposes, though. Finland is full of lakes and cutting across the ice saved time on daily journeys. By 1 AD, ice skating existed across Northern Europe. Metal skates were first created by the Dutch in 1250 […]

Jace K. asks: Did anyone ever figure out how old Kim Gwang-suk really was in the 92 Olympics? On one remarkable day in September 1991, North Korean gymnast Kim Gwang-suk accomplished what few have been able to do – score a perfect 10 on the uneven bars. Her days of glory were numbered, however, as her small stature and apparent […]

These days, Super Bowl halftime shows are star-studded affairs that can eclipse the game itself. More people watched Madonna’s 2012 halftime performance than the Patriots and Giants matchup (despite it being thrilling). In 2007, everyone remembers Prince crooning “Purple Rain” during an actual torrential rainstorm. Also, the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears in a rather uneventful game. In 1993, […]

While people have been cheering in one form or another at sporting events  seemingly as long as there have been organized sporting events (for instance, see: The Truth About Gladiators and the Thumbs Up), what we’ve come to know as the “American phenomenon of organized cheerleading” dates back to the 19th century, with its genesis coinciding with the rise of […]