Sports
“Mr. Hockey” has passed away at the age of 88. Here are a few stories about one of the greatest hockey players to ever take the ice. Gordie Howe Hat Trick Howe was as frequent a brawler as he was a scorer—he started a lot of fights on the ice. There’s an unofficial hockey accomplishment […]
Baseball is a game built on traditions. It’s been played in virtually the same way for more than a century…except for a handful of changes that made a big impact on the “national pastime.” Big-league pitchers don’t spend a lot of time practicing hitting because they’ve got to focus on their specialty. The vast majority […]
We’ve run articles before about demographic standouts in baseball, football, basketball, and hockey, and it’s been one of our most popular features. In advance of the Summer Olympics in Rio, here are some Olympics notables. Tallest: Paulo César da Silva Paulo César da Silva played for the Brazilian national basketball team at the 1988 Olympics. He […]
Baseball movies? Football movies? Seen ’em. But have you seen these films, based on sports that are a little outside the mainstream…or don’t exist at all? Rollerball (1975) Sport: Rollerball, a combination of roller derby, basketball, and rioting, in which two teams skate (some players ride motorcycles) around a banked track and score points by […]
Muhammad Ali was a towering presence in sports and society. As a boxer he was “The Greatest,” and was equally well known as a social crusader and activist. The world loved Ali, and he crossed over into pop culture a number of times. The Greatest More than two decades before Will Smith was nominated for […]
Today most video games are played in the home, but in the 1970s and 1980s, if you wanted to play the newest, hottest games, you went to an arcade. Here are the stories of a few of the classics we played back in the golden age of arcade games. SPACE INVADERS (Taito, 1978) Object: Using […]
Ever watched rounders and fish splash the pot until they’re down to the felt? If so, you’ve seen some serious poker players. They have their own language, too. Ante up! All in: Bet all your chips Down to the felt: So broke all you see in front of you is the green felt of the […]
The stories behind some of baseball’s most colorful nicknames. OIL CAN Dennis Boyd, who pitched for the Red Sox in the 1980s, grew up playing baseball in the hot summers of Mississippi. Every time he’d drink a beverage to cool down, he supposedly remarked that it was so smooth, it was “just like drinking oil.” […]
When you think about it, baseball is kind of an absurd game: hit a ball with a stick, and then run around a square as fast as you can. But that’s nothing compared to these real games and sports played around the world. Contest: The Tough Guy Played in: England How it’s played: This grueling […]
More answers to the burning question, “Where does all this sports stuff come from?” THE FOOTBALL HUDDLE “In 1924 Herb McCracken, the coach of the Lafayette College football team, discovered that his hand signals [flashed to players during the game] had been scouted and decoded by Penn, his upcoming opponent. On game day, McCracken countered […]
The 1986 Boston Red Sox were one out away from winning the World Series …until a ball rolled through first baseman Bill Buckner’s legs. The NY Mets won the game, forcing a decisive game 7, which they also won. Buckner became a sports pariah, but he’s not the only athlete ever to screw up. Nice […]
At the BRI we’re always asking ourselves, “Where does all this stuff come from?” So we searched through our vast sports library and came up with the following answers. CHEERLEADING In the late 1870s, the Princeton University football team (the Tigers) had a male pep squad that supported them from the stands with chants of […]
Stephen Curry is one of the biggest sports stars in recent memory. Last year he led the Golden State Warriors to its first NBA championship in 40 years and was named league MVP. This year, he just might be even better. Curry led the Warriors to a 73-9 regular season record. That’s the best in […]
Here’s what we dug up about pro basketball team names and their origins. Los Angeles Lakers There are no lakes in L.A. The team was originally the Minneapolis Lakers; Minnesota is the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” Seattle SuperSonics Named after a supersonic jet proposed by Seattle-based Boeing in the late ’60s. (The jet was never built, […]
In the trade-crazy world of professional sports, some trades still stand out as being…unusually unusual. BEER FOR A PITCHER: Pitcher Nigel Thatch of the Schaumburg Flyers of the Northern League, a professional baseball league in the northern United States and Canada, was traded in May 2006. The Flyers, according to the official league announcement, “assigned […]
This week, NBA star Kobe Bryant closed out his 20-year career by scoring 60 points in his final game. Here’s how some other basketball stars fared their last time on the court. In 1991, Magic Johnson’s career was abruptly cut short when he announced that he was HIV positive. He didn’t play that season, but […]
Some people become famous at the Olympic games because they win a medal. Others become infamous because they don’t play by the rules. Here’s a look at the BRI’s Olympic Hall of Shame. ROMAN EMPEROR NERO Year: A.D. 67 Place: Olympia What happened: Nero decided to compete in the chariot race. In the middle of […]
Here are two quick myths common to baseball, and the facts behind them. Myth #1: The tie goes to the runner. Fact: Actually, the opposite is true, according to major league umpire Tim McClelland. “There is no rule that says the tie goes to the runner. But the rule book does say that the runner […]
