Sports

Bizarre Fact #71:
Did you know...
Professional sumo wrestlers, called rikishi, must be quick on their feet and supple, but weight is vital to success as they hurl themselves at their opponents, aiming to floor them or push them outside the 15-foot fighting circle.

Bizarre Fact #72:
Did you know...
Racehorses have been known to wear out new shoes in one race.

Bizarre Fact #73:
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Rick and Paul Reuschel of the 1975 Chicago Cubs combine to pitch a shutout, the first time brothers do this.

Bizarre Fact #74:
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Roger Bannister was the first man to break the four-minute mile, however he did not break the four-minute mile in an actual race. On May 6, 1954, he ran 3:59.4 while being carefully paced by other runners. Bannister's quarter-mile splits were 57.5 seconds, 60.7, 62.3, and 58.9. Twenty-three days after Bannister had run the most famous mile of all time, his fellow Briton, Diane Leather, became the first woman to break five minutes with a 4:59.6 seconds, in Birmingham, England, on May 29, 1954. In the forty-plus years since the two British runners broke these significant marks, women's times have improved by a far higher percentage than men's.

Bizarre Fact #75:
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Rudyard Kipling, living in Vermont in the 1890's invented the game of snow golf. He would paint his golf balls red so that they could be located in the snow.

Bizarre Fact #76:
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Scientists have estimated a fly ball will travel about seven feet further for every 1,000 feet of altitude. With an approximate elevation of 1,100 feet, Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona is the second highest facility in the major baseball leagues; only Coors Field in Denver, Colorado is higher.

Bizarre Fact #77:
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Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games.

Bizarre Fact #78:
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Six bulls are killed in a formal bullfight.

Bizarre Fact #79:
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Superfly Jimmy Snuka was the first E.C.W. World Champ.

Bizarre Fact #80:
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Table tennis was originally played with balls made from champagne corks and paddles made from cigar-box lids. It was created in the 1880s by James Gibb, a British engineer who wanted an invigorating game he could play indoors when it was raining. Named "Gossima," the game was first marketed with celluloid balls, which replaced Gibb's corks. After the equipment manufacturer renamed the game "Ping-Pong" in 1901, it became a hot seller.