USA Sports: They Came Second Trivia

1. Which Los Angeles Lakers legend, who was an NBA All-Star in each of his 14 seasons with the team, became the first player to win the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award despite being on the losing team?

From Quiz You Lose, Winner

Answer: Jerry West

He also managed to win the "Most Outstanding Player" award in the 1959 NCAA Men's Division I tournament despite a second place finish for his team. His inclusion on the USA's 1960 Olympic Men's basketball team helped the nation win a gold medal. Over the course of his NBA career, he led the Lakers to nine Finals appearances, although he only managed to hoist the trophy once. Known as "Mr. Clutch" for his incredible playoff performances, his 60-foot buzzer-beater to force overtime in game three of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks is considered one of the most memorable moments in NBA Finals history. You may recognize Mr. West if you are familiar with the NBA's logo, its silhouette is based on a photo of him.

From Quiz They Broke the Record (it wasn't vinyl)...

Answer: Cy Young

By the way, his 511th win was a 1-0 shut-out. I guess that's why the award for the best pitchers in Major League baseball (in both the American and the National Leagues) is called the 'Cy Young Award'. The award was first introduced by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick to honor Denton True "Cy" Young (1867-1955). Young's career spanned 21 years and 5 different teams. He produced his 511th win with the Boston Rustlers; that is 94 wins ahead of #2, Walter Johnson. Among his other records achieved at the time: most innings pitched (7,356), most games started (815) and most complete games (749). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.

From Quiz "V" Is For Victory! And a LOT of Them!

Answer: New England Patriots

The New England Patriots are also the only team to go undefeated in a full 16-game regular season (2008). They came one game away from full season perfection, losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. The Pittsburgh Steelers ended the 21-game winning streak on Halloween 2004.

From Quiz Second to One

Answer: place

The "show" bet also pays if the horse finishes third. The daily double refers to a bet where the wagerer picks the winning horse in two (usually the first two) consecutive races. Silver is the lone ranger's horse, not a wager.

From Quiz A Wing and a Prayer

Answer: Paul Lawrie

Lawrie shot a final round 67 to close the gap to 3 at the end of his round. His comeback was completed by an epic collapse by Jean van de Velde. Van de Velde had a triple bogey on the 18th hole, to force a 3 man playoff, which Lawrie won.

From Quiz They Didn't Have a Prayer

Answer: England

The odd were 500-1 that the United States would win the 1950 FIFA World Cup and 3-1 that England would reign as champions. The United States were such heavy underdogs that even their own coach, Bill Jeffrey, stated that "we have no chance" and that his team were "sheep ready to be slaughtered."

From Quiz Biggest Blowouts in USA Sports

Answer: Chicago Bears

The other all joined the NFL in the 1970 merger. The Bears won the West Division and went only 8-3 in the season. One of those losses was at the hands of the East Division champion Redskins in week 9, 7-3. The Redskins went 9-2 in the season. In the championship game, the Bears would come back in a big way by leading 21-0 by the end of the first quarter. By the end of the third quarter it was 54-0, and the Bears didn't stop there. Sid Luckman led the Bears to the win.

From Quiz The Agony of Defeat [ 2 ]

Answer: John Paxson

John Paxson became a hero in Chicagoland, hitting a three-pointer as time wound down to give the Bulls a 99-98 win over Phoenix to clinch their third straight title. For the Suns, it marked a second heartbreak in the NBA Finals. They also lost an epic series against Boston in 1976.

From Quiz The Thrill of Victory

Answer: Gene Larkin

In one of the best pitching performances in World Series history, Jack Morris scattered seven hits and shut Atlanta out during the 10-inning finale. It was the second World Series win for the Twins under Tom Kelly, but it was also the point at which the Braves would begin to dominate the National League.

From Quiz The Runner-Up

Answer: Chicago

None of the Chicago teams reached the pinnacles of their sport in 1989, but each was eliminated in the game before. In January of 1989, the San Francisco 49ers won in Chicago 28-3 in the NFC Championship game leading the 49ers to a decisive 55-10 win over the Denver Broncos in Superbowl XXIV. Later that year, the Chicago Blackhawks lost 4-1 to the Calgary Flames in the Western Conference Finals before the Flames would hoist the Stanley Cup with a win over the Montreal Canadians. The Chicago Bulls followed suit with a 4-3 loss to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals before the Pistons won their second NBA title in a row, 4-1 over the Portland Trailblazers. It was the Bulls third straight loss to the Pistons in the Eastern Finals and the fourth straight season that the Pistons ended their season. Finally, in the National League Championship, baseball's Chicago Cubs were beaten 4-1 by the San Francisco Giants. The Giants went on to get swept 4-0 by the Oakland A's in a "battle of the bay" series that was remembered for an earthquake that struck during the warm ups for game 3, delaying the series.

From Quiz The Agony of Defeat [ 1 ]

Answer: Bruce Hurst

Hurst won two games in the 1986 World Series (Game 1 by a score of 1-0 and Game 5 by a 4-2 score). He also started Game 7, and had in fact, been elected the Series MVP before the Mets' historic rally. Hurst retired from baseball in 1994, never again to taste glory in the World Series.

From Quiz Sports' Greatest Choke Artists!

Answer: Andres Escobar

He was tragically gunned down by members of the Colombian mafia several weeks after the World Cup.

From Quiz They Broke the Record (it wasn't vinyl)...

Answer: Jackie Joyner-Kersee

At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, Jackie Joyner-Kersee set a world record of 7,291 points in the contest of seven different events called the heptathlon. She won a total of 6 Olympic medals in 4 different Olympics: three gold in the heptathlon and the long jump (in 1988), and the heptathlon in Barcelona in 1992; one silver in the heptathlon in Los Angeles in 1984; two bronze medals in the long jump in both Barcelona (1992) and in Atlanta in 1996. What I find most amazing is that she accomplished all of this with severe asthma and a (ham)string of injuries, yet in 2000, 'Sports Illustrated' named her the greatest female athlete of the 20th Century!

From Quiz "V" Is For Victory! And a LOT of Them!

Answer: Oakland Athletics

Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman played the focal characters behind the overhaul of the Oakland A's and the improbable streak featuring almost no star players and minimal payroll. Oakland's twenty-game streak was the first over sixteen games in over sixty years; no team ever got past sixteen straight games since the National League Cubs put up 21 straight. The New York Giants had an UNDEFEATED streak of 26 games in 1916. But that involved a tie in the middle of it.

From Quiz Second to One

Answer: Smarty Jones

Smarty Jones was born and bred in Chester County, PA, outside the usual racing inner sanctum. Because of his smaller than normal physical stature and outsider status, he developed a huge following as a blue collar champion and an underdog (underhorse?). Unfortunately in the Belmont, several other strong horses ran at him early and he weakened in the stretch, just losing out to Birdsong.

From Quiz A Wing and a Prayer

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals were down 2 runs in both the 9th and 10th innings of game 6. David Freese hit a tying 2 run triple in the 9th inning. Lance Berkman tied the game in the 10th with a single, Freese then won it with a walk off homerun in the 11th. This became the 4th walk off homerun in World Series history.

From Quiz They Didn't Have a Prayer

Answer: New York Yankees

Going into this World Series, the heavily favored New York Yankees had won ten of the previous twelve American League Pennants and won seven of the previous twelve World Series. Led by future Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra, the Yankees lost to the Pirates despite outscoring them by a combined total of 55-27 over the seven games.

From Quiz Biggest Blowouts in USA Sports

Answer: Tiger Woods

Pebble Beach had never seen a blowout like this one on the golf course. Woods had a one stroke lead at the end of the first round, a six stroke lead after two, six after three, then won it by 15 strokes. Tigers' rounds were 65-69-71-67=272. He finished 12-under in the Open. Ernie Els from South Africa was the runner-up, but finished at +3.

From Quiz The Agony of Defeat [ 2 ]

Answer: Mike Davis

The play was called Red Right 88, and it would've put a nail in the Raiders playoff chances had Sipe connected with his intended target, Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome. Pressure caused Sipe to throw the interception, sealing Cleveland's 14-12 defeat. Red Right 88 was the first of three infamous plays to crush the Browns' march to the Super Bowl in the 1980s.

From Quiz The Agony of Defeat [ 1 ]

Answer: Boston Celtics

Known as a fierce competitor with shot-blocking skills and a soft mid-range jump shot, Alonzo Mourning was forced to retire during the 2003 NBA season to battle a rare kidney disease. At the time, he was playing for the New Jersey Nets, who had picked him up from the Miami Heat.

From Quiz Sports' Greatest Choke Artists!

Answer: Scott Norwood

Anderson also had a memorable miss. After converting every opportunity in the 1998 season, he missed a game-winner in the Vikings' upset NFC Championship Game loss to Atlanta.

From Quiz They Broke the Record (it wasn't vinyl)...

Answer: Martina Navratilova

Czech please...yes, that is the extraordinary tennis player, Martina Navratilova born in 1956. Navratilova is the first player in history to have achieved the rank of #1 in both singles and doubles for over 200 weeks, and she is one of three women (including Margaret Court and Doris Hart) to have won the Grand Slam "boxed set", i.e., Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. She was in the world's top 10 in singles for a record 20 consecutive years (1975-1994) and at the U.S. Open in June 2006 (yes, 2006), she won the mixed doubles crown just a few months shy of her 50th birthday (32 years after her first Grand Slam title!).

From Quiz A Wing and a Prayer

Answer: Kentucky Wildcats

Kentucky trailed 68-37 with 15 minutes and 30 seconds to play. They took their first lead with 19 seconds to go (since leading 1-0 at the start of the game). The Wildcats beat the LSU Tigers 99-95.

From Quiz They Didn't Have a Prayer

Answer: Kentucky

The first team to win the NCAA Basketball championship with a starting line up of all black players, the Miners defeated the Wildcats 72 - 65. Kentucky, led by future Basketball Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley, had lost only one game all season and had won four previous championships.

From Quiz Biggest Blowouts in USA Sports

Answer: Secretariat

Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, and the Preakness which is the second leg. In a small field of horses, Sham seemed to be Secretariat's only competition, finishing second both at the Derby and the Preakness. Secretariat broke the previous record of Count Fleet, who won the 1942 Belmont Stakes by 25 lengths.

From Quiz The Thrill of Victory

Answer: Dallas Cowboys

Being divisional rivals, the Redskins typically face the hated Cowboys twice a season. But during the 1982 season, they only met once, with the Cowboys winning 24-10 at Washington. The Redskins would have the last laugh, dominating Dallas 31-17, again in Washington, and sending the Cowboys to their third straight conference championship game loss. Washington would go on to beat Miami 27-17 in Super Bowl XVII.

From Quiz The Agony of Defeat [ 1 ]

Answer: Buffalo Sabres

After beating the Toronto Maple Leafs to get to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Buffalo Sabres were crushed by one of the worst calls in sports history. Hull scored his goal on Sabres' goalie Dominik Hasek, at 14:51 of the third overtime.

From Quiz Sports' Greatest Choke Artists!

Answer: Dallas

The Steelers and Cowboys have played three times in the Super Bowl.

From Quiz They Broke the Record (it wasn't vinyl)...

Answer: Henri "Pocket Rocket" Richard

No, it wasn't "The Great Gretzky" or Lemieux or Hull, Orr or even Maurice Richard, but his younger brother Henri who achieved this amazing feat. Joseph 'Henri' Richard played center for the Montreal Canadiens professional hockey team in the NHL from 1955-1975. Maurice had been a star right-wing with the Canadiens since 1942, and the players all thought it was a joke when "little" Henri showed up at their training camp, but Henri proved them wrong. He was one of hockey's most "relentless forecheckers" and, although not as famous as Maurice, he was said to be a more complete player.

From Quiz "V" Is For Victory! And a LOT of Them!

Answer: UCLA Bruins

John Wooden had several iconic teams throughout the 1960s and 1970s but perfection is difficult to come by when everyone wants to beat Number One. That's why 88 straight games over four different seasons (meaning two seasons were undefeated) is such a feat. Since the streak ended only one team in over 40 seasons has even completed one full season undefeated.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:52 AM

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