Sports are much like music – everyone has their favorite. Throughout the 20th century and in the first two decades of the 21st, different sports have risen in popularity. Today, billions of people watch basketball, American football, soccer, tennis, and many others!
With that in mind, there is a gamut of entertaining facts related to sports teams and individual players that we are sure you don’t know. Here is a list of some that we found the hardest to believe.
- Michael Jordan and His High Baseball Salary
- Michael Phelps Is #35 in Olympic Games Medals
- Buffalo Bills Not Making the Playoffs for 17 Years
- Michael Jordan’s 1986-1987 Average Wasn’t Enough
- Impressive Anatomy of a Golf Ball
- Venus Williams Was #1 for Just 19 Weeks
- Clayton Kershaw 1.0034 WHIP
- Wilt Chamberlain’s 50.4 PPG Record
- 18 Minutes of Baseball Action
- Golf Balls on the Moon
- USA Defeating England in 1950
- Philippines Not Winning a Single OG Gold
- Liechtenstein Has 0 Summer Olympic Medals
- Yogi Berra’s 10 World Series Wins
- Chamberlain’s Triple Double
- Peyton Manning’s Pass Records
- Queen Anne Didn’t Pass Gender Verification
- Longest Wimbledon Match
- Federer and Roddick 77-Game Wimbledon Final
- Bernard Tomic Losing in 28 Minutes
- Tiger Woods Making 142 Straight Cuts
- Silver Medals for the Winners
- Katie Ledecky’s 1,500m Record
- Three Individuals with NCAA Player/Coaching Titles
- China Won 100 Medals at the 2008 Beijing OG
- Chris Evert’s 125 Straight Wins on Clay
- Greece’s Participation at Olympic Games
- Shaquille O’Neal Missed Free Throws
- Alaska and the NCAA
- Rocky III Nominated at the Japanese Academy Awards
- Michael Jordan’s Success with the Chicago Bulls
Michael Jordan and His High Baseball Salary
There is no doubt that Michael Jordan is a player who changed basketball for good. However, the Chicago Bulls legend also tried professional baseball out for a short while.
Since Jerry Reinsdorf was the owner of both the Bulls and the White Sox, MJ continued receiving a whopping $4 million salary when he swapped sports.
Michael Phelps Is #35 in Olympic Games Medals
One of the most impressive facts is that Michael Phelps, who is widely considered to be the best swimmer of all time, has won more medals than 97 nations that have competed in the Olympics.
Apparently, if the Olympic Games ranking featured the competitors along with the nations, he would be ranked #35!
Buffalo Bills Not Making the Playoffs for 17 Years
The Buffalo Bills were one of the most successful NFL teams in the 20th century. With that in mind, we were shocked to find out that they didn’t make the playoffs for 17 years.
Apparently, their last appearance in the playoffs was back when Bill Clinton was president. With upcoming roster changes, Buffalo fans hope the dry spell ends soon.
Michael Jordan’s 1986-1987 Average Wasn’t Enough
If you are someone who is all about statistics, then the fact that Jordan averaged 37.1 points per game in the 1986-87 season but didn’t win a ring is quite shocking.
To be honest, it wasn’t even close, as the Chicago Bulls were the eighth seed going into the playoffs, and they got beat by the Boston Celtics in the first round.
Impressive Anatomy of a Golf Ball
Golf is one sport that has gained massive attention in the 21st century, but did you know that a single ball has 336 dimples?
It is safe to say that it probably has one of the most complex structures of all balls used in professional sports.
Venus Williams Was #1 for Just 19 Weeks
If you enjoy tennis, then you have surely heard of the Williams sisters. The older sister, Venus, managed to win 7 Grand Slam titles in the singles category.
This is why it is mind-blowing that she was #1 for only 19 weeks, while Wozniacki, a player with no Grand Slams to her name, held the top spot for 67 weeks!
Clayton Kershaw 1.0034 WHIP
Clayton Kershaw is considered to be one of the most successful baseball pitchers of modern times, with one of the greatest WHIP ratings of all time – 1.0034.
Still, although he has won the CY Young Award three times, he would need to play for an estimated 41 more years to tie CY Young in wins (175 vs 511).
Wilt Chamberlain’s 50.4 PPG Record
If we were to discuss who is the best NBA center in the history of this sport, many would surely say Wilt Chamberlain.
Among the arguments in his favor is his 50.4 point-per-game record. Behind him is Elgin Baylor at 38.3 PPG, which is a staggering 31.6% lower than Chamberlain.
18 Minutes of Baseball Action
Yes, baseball is one of the most popular sports in the USA. However, the fact that there are only 18 minutes of active play, but yet a game lasts for a few hours, is quite confusing.
This is one of the main reasons why millions of people prefer the NBA, NFL, and NHL, as they seem to be much more dynamic.
Golf Balls on the Moon
Talking about impressive sports facts, what the Apollo 14 mission was remembered for is Alan Shepard hitting two golf balls on the moon.
According to him and NASA, the balls flew for miles and are still on the moon’s surface even though decades have passed.
USA Defeating England in 1950
One of the funniest incidents in the history of sports is when the USA national team beat England 1-0 in a World Cup match in 1950.
This came as a surprise to many, and a lot of reporting channels, being sure that it was a typo, reported that England won 10:1.
Philippines Not Winning a Single OG Gold
The Olympic Games is the biggest international sports competition in the world. With that in mind, most countries that participate have won at least one gold medal.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case with the Philippines. In 20 Olympic appearances, they have won 0 gold medals. We sincerely hope that they end this losing streak as soon as possible.
Liechtenstein Has 0 Summer Olympic Medals
Another small country in the Olympics, Liechtenstein hasn’t won any Summer Olympic medals, although they have made 16 appearances.
The interesting part is that all 10 of Liechtenstein’s Olympic medals have come from skiing events at the Winter Olympic Games.
Yogi Berra’s 10 World Series Wins
Yogi Berra was well-known for his Yogi-isms, and he was very successful while playing for the New York Yankees.
He appeared in 14 World Series as a player for the Yankees, and he won 10 times, which is an incredible feat.
Chamberlain’s Triple Double
What most NBA fans remember Wilt for is the game in which he managed to score 100 points. In our opinion, that isn’t the most impressive achievement of his career.
In fact, in one game, he had 25 points, 22 rebounds, and 21 assists. Only one other player, Russell Westbrook, has ever reached a triple-double with each category totaling 20 or more.
Peyton Manning’s Passing Records
It is a fact that Peyton Manning will be remembered as one of the most impressive quarterbacks of all time.
The main reason for this is because he holds the record for most touchdown passes in a season (55 in 2013) and the single season passing yards record of 5,477 in the same year.
Queen Anne Didn’t Pass Gender Verification
Did you know that Queen Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, competed as an equestrian at the 1976 Olympic Games?
Not only that, but she didn’t have to pass the gender verification because of the “royal courtesy”.
Longest Wimbledon Match
The longest tennis match ever was played at Wimbledon back in 2010 by John Isner and Nicholas Mahut.
Believe it or not, it went for three whole days with 10+ hours of active playtime and more than 183 games in total (71 more than the previous record).
Federer and Roddick 77-Game Wimbledon Final
Still talking about Open Era matches that lasted far too long, this match resulted in Federer beating Roddick at the Wimbledon 2009 final.
With the final result being 5:7, 7:6, 7:6, 3:6, 16:14 in Federer’s favor, it is something that both players will remember forever.
Bernard Tomic Losing in 28 Minutes
Moving on with surprising facts in tennis matches, the longest point ever played lasted a full 29 minutes.
We say that to put into perspective how unbelievable it is that professional tennis player Bernard Tomic managed to lose an entire match in just 28 minutes.
Tiger Woods Making 142 Straight Cuts
Yes, Tiger Woods is probably the best golfer of all time. Still, a feat that many don’t know about is that he managed to make 142 straight cuts, which is much more than the previous record.
Who did he dethrone from the hard-earned record? Byron Nelson previously held the record at 113. Well done, Tiger!
Silver Medals for the Winners
Believe it or not, at the first modern Olympic Games, which were held back in Athens in 1896, winners weren’t awarded gold medals.
They were given silver medals. Interestingly, the winners of ancient Olympics were awarded a crown of olive leaves.
Katie Ledecky’s 1,500m Record
Katie Ledecky was an impressive swimmer at the 2017 World Championship Along with other feats, she set a record for swimming the 1,500-meter distance.
Her fastest time of the competition was in the final, and she finished in 15:31.82 – over 19 seconds faster than the 2nd-place finisher.
Three Individuals with NCAA Player/Coaching Titles
Regardless of what sport we are talking about, the ability to win a title as both a player and a coach is something to admire.
In the NCAA, that is something that only three individuals managed to do – Dean Smith, Bobby Knight, and Joe B. Hall.
China Won 100 Medals at the Beijing 2008 OG
When talking about the impressive feats of a single nation, we would have to present you with the success of China in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
They managed to win 100 medals, although China was without any Olympic medals up until 1984.
Chris Evert’s 125 Straight Wins on Clay
As someone who is considered to be the best WTA player of all time, Evert won 125 matches on clay in a row, starting in August 1973 and ending in May 1979.
What is the most unexpected part of this feat is that she won just two French Open titles in the process.
Greece’s Participation at the Olympic Games
The only country that has participated in all of the Olympic Games under its own flag is Greece.
To be honest, this is how it should be given the fact that this is the country where the Olympic Games originated.
Shaquille O’Neal Missed Free Throws
We don’t know which part of Shaquille’s free-throw saga is more interesting. First, he managed to miss 5,317 free throws throughout his career.
Second, only 72 players in the history of the NBA have even attempted this number of free throws, let alone miss them.
Alaska and the NCAA
The NCAA is something that all states get hyped about – well, almost all states. It turns out that Alaska has yet to have a team play Division I basketball.
From the current standing point, we don’t think that this will be changing any time soon.
Rocky III Nominated at the Japanese Academy Awards
While not an event from a professional sport, the fact that Rocky III was nominated for the Outstanding Foreign Film Award at the JAA is quite impressive.
Apparently, it was due to the increased interest that the Japanese showed in boxing at that time.
Michael Jordan’s Success with the Chicago Bulls
Lastly, the fact that Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls never lost three games in a row from 1990 to 1998 is proof of their dominance at the time.
That just goes to show why Michael Jordan is and will remain to be one of the best basketball players in history.
Summary
The facts that we have listed are just some of the most interesting ones we could find.
We sincerely hope that in the upcoming years and decades, sports will be even greater with professionals breaking and setting more impressive records!
