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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Has it every happened that a team that was ranked in the top 5 anytime during the season didn't make the NCAA Tournament?
Has it ever happened that a team that was ranked in the top 5 anytime during the season didn't make the NCAA Tournament?
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NFL division with 3 teams in the playoffs
Under the current NFL playoffs format, each conference sends 6 teams to the postseason: the 4 division champions and 2 wild card teams. So the most teams a division can have in the playoffs is 3; the ...
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Where does the saying that a match ending in a draw is like "kissing your sister" come from?
My father told me that saying a number of times watching rugby over the years so I thought it was a South African saying but after watching this video I actually heard an NZ commentator mention it.
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What are the pass interference rules on a quarterback throwing a pass to self?
This may be a bit unanswerable but seeing if the community can come up with any historical conversations or rules.
We have a quarterback boot we put into the playbook. The wide receivers are trips ...
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Why are American teams always named in a certain format?
American teams are always named as [city/region team is from] + [team's actual name]
Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Broncos, NY Yankees, Chicago Fire, etc.
Is there a specific reason for that?
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Pittsburgh had to lose to make the playoffs [closed]
Nearing the end of a historic season, it was possible for Pittsburgh to make the playoffs only if they lost a game:
by losing, they might be in a 3-team tiebreaker which they would win.
otherwise, ...
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MLB Pitch Types "Back in the Day"
I was thinking how hard it would be to approach DiMaggio's 56 game hit streak these days.
Not only are there defensive shifts, specialized pitchers to get certain guys out, faster overall pitch speeds,...
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Running After Being Knocked Off Feet in the NFL
In what year(s) in the NFL was the runner allowed to get up and run after being knocked off his feet, as long as they weren't tackled and held down? From memory, it only lasted 1 or 2 years because it ...
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How rare is it for a team to face the minimum number of batters without a perfect game?
In the Cubs' victory over the Dodgers in game 6 of the 2016 NLCS the Dodgers sent only 27 batters to the plate (the minimum possible) yet were not the victims of a perfect game.
How often has this ...
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Fastest opening goal of a FIFA World Cup
What was the fastest opening goal of a FIFA World Cup?
This is not the fastest opening goal in a single match across tournaments, but fastest goal(the first goal of that particular World edition) of ...
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Origin of the 3rd Down "noise"
Whilst watching an NFL game last week*, I noticed that when the visiting team's offense is on 3rd or 4th down, the stadium's speakers play some sort of noise - I'm guessing as a way of distracting / "...
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Where did the horn that's played after a goal by the home team come from?
In every hockey game in the NHL, immediately after the home team scores, a unique horn plays. Where did this come from? Why a horn ?
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In American Football, why are fullbacks called such if they aren't all the way back from the OLine?
Maybe this question is outdated for modern football so I can delete if needed but why is the fullback called a fullback when they aren't all the way back from the O-line?
I don't have a source on me ...
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Oldest footage of a complete football match
What is the earliest existing film footage of a football match, shot for the entire duration of the game, not just fragments and highlights ?
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Athlete medal Olympics and Paralympics?
By now it is quite common to find cases of athletes who participated in the Olympic Games and also the Paralympic Games, but it is more difficult to find athletes with great results in both.
Has it ...
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When did cross-checking become illegal in the NHL?
Does anybody know when the NHL prohibited cross-checking?
Cross-checking occurs when a player checks an opponent by using the shaft of his or her stick with both hands [See Rule 59.1 of the NHL ...
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What is the highest percentage of gold medals by nation for a speciality?
I think about men basketball where in 15/18 editions the gold medal was taken by the USA team.
Is this 83% (=15/18) the higher percentage of gold medal won by the same country for a single Olympic ...
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Are women technically allowed to compete in the "men's" division in the Olympic Games? [closed]
Question
Are women allowed to compete in men's division in the Olympic Games? So, how is the "men's division" officially defined by the IOC? Is it explicitly for men only or is it an "open division" ...
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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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Olympics medal table by country revoked for cheating
It is normal for Olympic competitions to have a medal table: a list of the countries in the order of golds, silvers, then bronzes.
Does such a table by country exist for medals which were won and ...
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Formula 1: the lowest-ranked driver to win the Drivers' Championship in the final race?
At the start of the 2007 season final at Brazil, Kimi Raikkonen was third in the Drivers' Championship table behind Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
He went on to win the Championship by one point....
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Is it true that a sprinter ran the 100m in 21.73 seconds in a World Championship?
In many websites (especially in Spanish), it is mentioned that the worst performance in Men's 100m is that of Kim Collins, 21.73 seconds at Athens World Championship in 1997. To make things more ...
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How many olympic gold medal ties have there been?
Simone Manuel tied for the gold with Penny Oleksiak in the 100m freestyle during the 2016 Summer Olympics. I have never seen this before, and was curious how often it happens. I tried to find ...
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Teams in North American leagues that won their first game ever? [closed]
What teams, in the four major North American leagues (NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB), won their first ever game?
This includes both expansion franchises (e.g., Minnesota Wild) and relocations (e.g., Atlanta ...
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Climber or Points rankings leader not finishing Tour de France
Has it ever happened that the cyclist who has collected the most points in one of these two rankings (climber or points) has not finished the Tour, leaving the victory of the "jersey" to another rider?...
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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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Is this the oldest top ten in history?
So we're all surprised that we haven't had a young teenager shake the game for a while now but only one person under 25 in the top ten! The combined age of the top ten is 289 with an average of 29!
...
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What was the first team sport ever invented?
What was the first team sport ever invented?
By team sport I mean:
group of two or more players playing against another group of two or more players
athletic competition involving an agreed upon set ...
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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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Why are the same national football teams always the strongest?
I notice that, in football, a small group of national teams (Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, England, France and Germany) have won virtually every international prize and championship with very few ...
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How exactly did the knockout punch work in Ali vs Liston (1965)? [closed]
Ali vs Liston was a very famous match in the history of professional boxing, where Ali downed his opponent in a 1st round, 1st minute KO.
I was watching the video of the match, but wasn't really able ...
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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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Have two generations of one family ever won a medal at the same Olympics?
Nino Salukvadze and her son Tsotne Machavariani have both qualified for Rio 2016 Olympic games.
Has it ever happened in the past that two generations of the same family have won a medal in the same ...
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Were there any Moneyball-like instances in history of cricket?
Moneyball was an instance in Baseball where the Oakland contingent have used statistics and data science for buying-selling as well as team selection.
So, was there any such instance in the history ...
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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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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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Why wasn't Frantisek Fadrhonc the coach of Netherlands during 1974 FIFA World Cup?
I read that someone called Frantisek Fadrhonc was the Netherlands coach from 1970 to 1974 but, for some reason, he was replaced by Rinus Michels 4 weeks before the 1974 World Cup. I couldn't find any ...
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Whose record did the Chicago Bulls team of 1995-96 break?
The Chicago Bulls broke the NBA record for most victories in a season during the 1995-96 season. The question is, whose record did they break?
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Helicopter shot in Cricket
I wondering, who introduced the helicopter shot in cricket. MS Dhoni used to play that shot very often. If I remember correctly Sri Lankan opener Marvan Atapattu use to play similar kind of shots in ...
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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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Are there other similar badges in football?
In Italy when a team win its 10th Championship (Serie A), they can put on the shirt a star so
Juventus FC has 3 stars (31 titles)
AC Milan 1 star (18 titles)
Inter Milan 1 star (18 titles)
This is ...
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During what time period was the outcome of roller derby matches primarily fixed?
One of the persistent stories I hear about roller derby is that there was a time when the outcome was entirely fixed. I have had many people involved in it assure me that that was a phase of the past, ...
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Reason behind curved hockey stick?
What is the reason behind curved hockey sticks?
I would like to know about it's history, reason of curve, benefits and science.
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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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Do the laws of cricket allow running on the last ball, even after winning?
Say, teamA score is 368 (369 to win), and teamB is batting at 368 (or 366). One run (or 3 runs) will make them win. The batsman hits the ball for a six, so score is 374 (or 372) which is more than the ...
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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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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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Why Umpire David Shepherd lifted one foot off the ground at nelson?
Beloved David Shepherd lifted one foot off the ground whenever the score reached 111 (or 222, 333 etc). I mean nelson is supposed to be bad omen for batsman so why He as an Umpire used to do that in a ...
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Why no draw in main US sports?
What are, if they exists, any historical reason why there is not draw in the main US sports (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB)?
I know that draw is possible in NFL, but this events is so rare that I think is it ...
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Has rugby been an Olympic sport prior to the 2016 Olympics?
Rugby Sevens will be played as part of the 2016 Olympics, but has any form of rugby been played in any previous Olympic Games?
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