Questions tagged [history]
Questions relating to the past history of a sport, such as regarding past players, team records, older generations of equipment, etc. Questions using this tag must also be tagged with the specific sport in question.
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Points are given in tennis 15-30-40. Why 40?
Tennis scoring goes 15-30-40-game. Why 40? Why not 45? What is the meaning of the points being given in tennis as 15-30-40-game? What is the history of this scoring calculation?
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Why is the word Love used as a score for Tennis?
I have never understood this form of scoring. What is the origin of this score "title".
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4
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Are all oval-track races done counter-clockwise? If so, why?
It seems to me that every type of race on an oval track moves in a counter-clockwise direction. Off the top of my head, I know that this happens in:
auto racing of any kind
roller derby
horse racing
...
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Why is American football called football?
Why is American football called "football" even though the players play with their hands more than their feet? It seems to be very similar to rugby, and doesn't have the name "American Rugby". What ...
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What's the worst defeat of a host nation in World Cup history?
Brazil, the host nation of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, lost to Germany 7-1. This seems like a very big defeat in term of goal difference. What is the worst defeat of a host nation in World Cup history in ...
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Why don't any USA professional leagues use promotion/relegation?
Promotion/relegation is a competition format that is often used in many countries for professional leagues as a way to have many teams participate and yet not dilute the top level of play, by only ...
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Most number of extra-time Goals
On 30-Oct-2012, Arsenal defeated Reading with an incredible score of 7-5. A more astonishing fact is that 4 goals were scored in Extra-time.
Is this the record for the most number of goals in extra-...
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Are there any sports that started as a women's sport?
I wonder, are there any sports that started as a women's sport and in a later period played by men (and accepted widely)?
I believe all major sports I know was initially male-oriented (or at least ...
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Statistically, who is the worst NFL team in history?
I know there are a lot of bad NFL teams but I want to know who the worst franchise in NFL history is.. (ie: least playoff appearances/wins/win percentage etc.)
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Why there is no number 13 in Formula 1?
Why is number 13 not used in Formula 1? Is it just superstition? Was the number ever used?
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Has the Olympic host nation ever been changed after it was announced
The stability of Brazil makes me wonder what will happen in 2016 if Brazil is not in a position to play host to the games. Has this ever happened before? Are there contingency plans for such an ...
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Which Olympic sport was the first to have a women's counterpart?
The original Olympics, in Greece, were male-only insofar as the participants, per my research. Modern Olympics, obviously, have men's and women's competitions. However, given that most Western nations ...
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Has there ever been a football player who held the title of "most goals in one season in history" in two different countries?
One of my favourite football players, Eran Zahavi, broke the record for most goals in one season in Israel two years ago. He's currently well on his way to break the same record in China - the most ...
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Did Adolf Hitler really snub Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin?
Did Jesse Owens want to shake Hitler's hand and get their photo together and, if so, did Hitler really snub him?
I'm asking this based on a movie I'm watching.
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Why does Messi's 50th goal count as a record?
Last night, Messi scored his 50th goal of the season.
Why is it considered a new goal-scoring record?
Dixie Dean scored 60 goals for Everton in the FA First Division alone (he had 67 in total) in ...
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What is the origin of the specific distances in Ironman triathlon?
Triathlon is the sport (three sports, typically swim - bike - run, though Winterlude in Ottawa does Ice Skate, Cross Country Ski, Run).
Ironman is the distance. 2.4 Mile (3.8K) swim, 112 mile (180....
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Why are forfeits in baseball scored as 9-0?
In baseball, when a forfeit occurs, the score is 9-0. Why 9-0? What does this score mean, and what is the historical reason for this value?
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Any historical sports with instant-win moves?
I was recently watching Harry Potter (because I'm super-cool), and it occurred to me: has there ever been a sport that had something akin to catching the snitch in Quidditch, where the game ...
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NFL division with all teams having a losing or winning record
I'm wondering if there has been any division in the modern day NFL history where all teams finished the regular season with winning or losing record. Even though this might not be so probable, it is ...
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Color of the sprint jersey in Tour de Suisse?
Tour de Suisse has two separate jerseys for sprints competition (based only on points from intermediate sprints) and points competition (where the points obtained from placement in stages are included;...
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What is the record for the most family members competing in the same Olympic Games?
Lily, Liina and Leila Luik are sisters from Estonia who could be the first set of identical triplets to compete in the Olympics
Has it ever happened in the Olympic history that 3 members of the same ...
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Is table tennis based on tennis?
According to Wikipedia, tennis was first played sometime between 1859 and 1865, and table tennis was first played in the 1880s.
I tried to do some research online, but couldn't find an answer. Was ...
hoangnnm
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Why do football players say "Oskie" after an interception?
When I was learning to play football in the backyard as a child, my family would always say "Oskie" after the quarterback threw an interception. I always thought that it was just some sort of family ...
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What is the oldest documented sport?
What's the oldest documented sport in the world's history?
Defining "documented sport" as a written list of the results of a competition, such as player rankings or time or points or a written set of ...
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Man of the Match award for two players
Is it possible to give player of the match award to more than one player, when the stats and performances of more than one player (from the same team) equals the same?
If yes, any history for the ...
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How can a journalist know so much information on athletes?
How can a journalist find so much information and statistics about athletes during the competition, in sports like tennis/athletics/swimming in World Champions or the Olympic Games or other events?
...
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What team has the shortest "longest losing streak" within a season in MLB history?
Don't know if the wording of the title makes sense, but I want to know what team had the longest losing streak that was the shortest in MLB history (or at least the live ball era)
A completely made ...
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Origin of this generic hockey photo
In my experience, whenever some group, company or organization wants to feature an image of hockey in their print or display media, they use the generic image below that seems to come from an actual ...
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History of NFL scoring format
Can anyone tell me why the NFL uses the current scoring format of 6 points plus extra point for a touchdown, 3 points for a field goal, 2 points for a safety?
Is there a history or story behind why ...
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FIFA World Cups History: Defending Champion Knocked Out in First Round?
As you all might have seen on 18th June, 2014 that Spain, winner of Last FIFA World Cup 2010 was knocked out in first round. I need to know that is it happened first time or it did happen in any past ...
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Which athletes were the first to break the color barriers in hockey?
Ice hockey, by nature of being a sport developed by British colonialists, has largely been made up of teams of people who can trace their ancestry to the British isles, the Nordic regions of Europe, ...
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When and why did baseball players start exclusively running the bases counterclockwise?
In modern baseball, the players always run around the bases counterclockwise (anticlockwise). However, a book written in the 1830's - one of the first to describe the version of the sport we know ...
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Olympic medalist in both the Summer and Winter Olympics
Has anyone ever won Olympic medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics?
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Has the practice of retiring numbers ever become a problem?
Some professional sports teams retire numbers in honor of exceptional players. If practiced frequently enough by an old team, such a practice would be unsustainable. You'd run out of numbers. More ...
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Were volleys considered unsportsmanlike in tennis?
Is it true that in the past the volley was considered an unsportsmanlike shot in tennis? If so, why was this, and when did this attitude change?
I have heard this thing during a recent tennis match, ...
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Where did the term "soccer" originate? [closed]
It seems that currently America is one of the only countries that uses the term "soccer" to refer to what the rest of the world calls "football".
What caused the Americans to start using this term ...
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Origin of the term "Heavy Ball"?
I have often heard commentators describe particular bowlers as having a "heavy ball". By context, this seems to refer to a fast bowler being able to bowl a delivery that seems to impact the bat with ...
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Athletes who have competed in the Olympics for more than one country [closed]
The Olympic Charter states
41 Nationality of competitors *
Any competitor in the Olympic Games must be a national of the country of the NOC which is entering such competitor.
All matters ...
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How many football teams have won the treble?
Winning the "treble" means winning the three main titles of the season:
Continental championship (e.g. Champions League)
National league championship
National cup title
How many teams in ...
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Lowest championship finishing position for a defending champion
Which F1 World Drivers Champion has the lowest finishing position in the season following a championship winning year?
Examples:
1981, 1983 and 1987 WDC Nelson Piquet finished 11th in 1982, 5th in ...
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What's the etymology of the term Red Zone?
I know what the Red Zone is.
My interest is the etymology of the word.
I'm not sure of the first time I heard it or if they even used it when I was kid growing up in Oakland during the 70's. ...
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Who was the first manager to get expelled from a match in the history of football?
Who was the first manager to get expelled from a match in the history of football?
(First event that was recorded and reported.)
A recent example: Jose-Mourinho
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Are there any notable cricketing baseballers or baseball-playing cricketers?
Are there any attempts (in history or today) of top-level baseball players (cricketers) having a shot at "higher-level" cricket (baseball) (and perhaps succeeding in some sort of way)? I do not mean ...
user1564
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Timed out in cricket
I've learned that timed out means the batsman takes over 3 minutes to enter the field of play after a wicket falls.
Which batsman will be given out for this? (ie, whether the batting team had any ...
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It is true that, during the first years of professional football, teams used to play with only 2 defenders and 5 forwards?
I've heard many times that, in the past (I don't know exactly when, but It may be around 1930 and 1950 decades) football teams used to align using 2-3-5 formation.
I know that tactics used to be less ...
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Awarding the match ball to the hat-trick scorer
When/where did the tradition of awarding the match ball to the hat-trick scorer originate?
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How was the legend of 7th game in tennis born?
Watching tennis on TV, it often happens that the commentator talks about the importance of the 7th game of the set; the player who wins that game has more probability to win the set.
This theory ...
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Did ice-hockey players actually not wear helmets until the 1970s-1980s?
I don't really care if it's the 1970s or 1980s. The point is that I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw footage of old hockey matches where the players had... no helmets. As if it were faked or ...
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Gold, silver, and bronze medal sweep in Winter Olympics by a single country?
I am proud to see that the Dutch athletes have now obtained Gold, Silver and Bronze for one event, and that even twice.
When trying to figure out whether this happened before, I found several ...
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MLB no-hitter resulting in loss
According to Major League Baseball an official no-hitter consists of a pitcher having pitched at least 9 innings while allowing 0 hits.
In MLB history has a team lost while having a pitcher throw an ...
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