1. Pittsburgh is the only city in which all three of the major sports franchises wear the same colors. The Pirates of MLB, the Steelers of the NFL, and the Penguins of the NHL all wear yellow and black. The color scheme of the coat of arms of the city of Pittsburgh is …yellow and black.
2. Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his hat to keep himself cool. He changed it every two innings. There is a legend that in 1925, Ruth consumed 18 hot dogs and 8 bottles of soda pop between innings of a double header. After the second game Ruth had to be rushed to the hospital with a case of severe indigestion. The Babe was known to start his day with a quart of a mixture of bourbon and ginger ale along with a porterhouse steak garnished with 6 fried eggs and fried potatoes. Babe Ruth died at age 53.
3. The tug-of-war was an Olympic event from 1900 to 1920.
4. Volleyball is the most popular participation game in nudist colonies. When the Olympics were first conducted in ancient Greece, all the participants competed in the nude. Women were not allowed to compete. They were, apparently, permitted to watch, however.
5. Most NASCAR teams use nitrogen in their racing tires rather than compressed air. Nitrogen has a much more consistent rate of expansion and contraction than normal air, making it much more dependable to respond to the varying temperatures on a race track which leads to greater handling and control of a car during a race.
6. Left handed people are better at sports that require spatial judgement and fast reactions as opposed to right handed people.
7. Fishing is the biggest participant sport in the world. I have no statistics on the amount of beer consumed by anglers while fishing.
8. The record for most Olympic gold medals won is held by Soviet gymnast Larrisa Latynina who competed in three Olympics between 1956 and 1964 and won 18 gold medals.
9. Kite flying is a professional sport in Thailand.
10. The first sporting event to be broadcast on the airwaves was a yacht race in British waters. This was on radio in 1898.
11. Corubus, a chef, won the first Olympic race in 776 B.C. There is no truth to the rumor that he then opened a chain of Greek Restaurants called “The Greek Feet” across the Mediterranean.
12. So far, golf is the only sport to be played on the moon. On February 6, 1971 astronaut Alan Sheppard hit a golf ball on the lunar surface. With a golf club, of course.
13. About 42,000 tennis balls are used during the Wimbledon championships for its approximately 650 matches.
14. Artur Leggett, who owned the Romford Greyhound Stadium in the London Borough of Havering, decided to race two cheetahs he had imported from Kenya against the greyhounds. They raced at least four races that year, and the greyhounds won all the races because the cheetahs quickly lost interest in the run and would turn and lay down.
15. Ari Petrof is Sweden’s National Sauna Champion. He stayed in a sauna that had a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 hours and 10 minutes. When he left the sauna, everyone said “Well done!”
16. In ancient Japan, flatulence or “farting” was a popular contested sporting event. Contestants who could bellow the loudest and longest flatulence received prizes and public recognition. I can’t find out if they had most valuable player awards, all-pro teams, or a hall of fame.
17. Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a serious distraction from the essential pursuit of archery. Long bow archers were in great demand and were considered essential in battle. Golfers were not so highly thought of at the time.
18. In 1969 Larry Lewis set a world’s record when he ran a 17.8 second 100 yard dash. Larry was 101 years old at the time and this is still the world record for runners 100 years old and older.
19. In 1963, Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry said “They’ll put a man of the moon before I ever hit a home run.” On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Perry hit his first and only home run.
20. The yo-yo was developed in the Philippines as a weapon in the 16th century. It weighed 4 pounds, had a 20 foot cord and could be quite lethal in properly trained hands. It was introduced as a toy in the United States in 1929.