Give It a Name! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Baseball

In U.S. history, "the shot heard round the world" was associated with the beginning of the American Revolution, but in U.S. sports, it was the game-winning three-run homer by Bobby Thomson on October 3rd, 1951, that resulted with the New York Giants winning the National League pennant over crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Dodgers were early favorites to win the pennant that year, but the Giants managed to force a playoff through a late-season rally in which they won sixteen straight games in August and then won their last seven games while the Dodgers were on a losing streak. Still the Dodgers were expected to win the playoff and as they entered the ninth inning of the final game, they were up 4-1.

The Giants scored one run, and with two runners on base, Thomson hit the home run off of Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca.

The Giants went on to lose the World Series to the other crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees, but their pennant triumphant over the Dodgers is still the stuff of legends.

Answer: Figure Skating

The 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, had two battles: The men's competition had the Battle of the Brians between Brian Boitano and Brian Orser, and the women's competition had the Battle of the Carmens between Katarina Witt and Debi Thomas. The latter battle referred to the choice of music the skaters used for their long programs - both had opted for a selection from Bizet's opera "Carmen".

It was expected to be a close competition, with the East German Witt as the reigning Olympic and World champion and the American Thomas having placed a close second to Witt at the World championships, but the battle did not live up to expectations. Neither skater performed well, but Witt managed to get the gold, with Canadian Elizabeth Manley taking silver and Thomas settling for bronze.

The Battle of the Brians resulted in American Boitano taking gold over Canadian Orser.

Answer: Soccer

The "Hand of God" referred to a goal scored by Argentine player Diego Maradona during the 1986 World Cup. In a quarter finals match between Argentina and England, Maradona scored the goal off of his fist which should have resulted in the goal being disallowed, but the referees didn't see the infraction.

After the match, Maradona claimed that the goal was scored "a little with his head, and a little with the hand of God". Many years later, Maradona reportedly admitted that he knew he scored off his hand, but that "It was a nice feeling like some sort of symbolic revenge against the English" for the British triumph in the Falkland Islands war.

Answer: Swimming

Leading up to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, American swimmer Gary Hall Jr. had predicted an American win in swimming's headline event, the men's 4 x 100M freestyle relay, but it was the way that he made his prediction that ruffled feathers.

In his blog, while he praised Australia and Australians, he also wrote that "my biased opinion says that we will smash them like guitars." It was rather a brazen opinion, considering the Australian team featured Ian Thorpe and Michael Klim, and the Australian media quickly spread the quote throughout the country.

In the end, the Australian relay team pulled off the home pool victory and in response to Hall's comment, played air guitars on the pool deck. Klim later said that "Hall was the first swimmer to come over and congratulate us. Even though he dished it out, he was a true sportsman".

Answer: Ice Hockey

The Miracle on Ice took place during the medal round at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, when an unheralded U.S. team beat the heavily-favored Soviet team 4-3 to advance to the gold medal game. In the waning seconds of the match, sportscaster Al Michaels enthusiastically asked "Do you believe in miracles?" leading to the "Miracle on Ice" phrase.

The Soviets were the four-time defending gold medalists, and because of the nature of the Soviet sports programs, their team was mainly composed of professional hockey players.

The U.S. had the youngest team in the tournament, comprised of players who met the amateur guidelines. The team, however, had done surprisingly well through the tournament, and after their upset victory over the Soviets, they beat Finland to win the gold medal.

Answer: Boxing

The Rumble in the Jungle was one of a few named matches involving Muhammad Ali. He also took part in the Fight of the Century (1971) and the Thrilla in Manilla (1975), both against Joe Frazier. The Rumble in the Jungle match took place in Kinshasa, Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) on October 30, 1974 and pitted Ali against the undefeated world heavyweight champion, George Foreman. Ali, considered to be past his prime, was the underdog in the match, but he knocked Foreman out in the eighth round.

Answer: Athletics

"The dirtiest race in history" was the name given to the Men's 100m race at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Billed as a battle between reigning Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis and reigning world champion Ben Johnson, Johnson initially won the gold with a blistering time of 9.79, breaking his own world record of 9.83.

But two days later, Johnson was stripped of his title due to a positive drug test, and Lewis was awarded the gold. Lewis himself had tested positive for banned substances at the U.S. Olympic Trials but was cleared when the dietary supplement he was taking was found to have the banned stimulant under another name, thus supporting his contention that he unknowingly ingested the substance. Linford Christie, who was awarded the silver, also failed a drug test but was allowed to compete based on his assertion that he also had accidentally ingested a banned substance in tea. Calvin Smith, the runner who received the bronze medal due to Johnson's disqualification, maintained that he should have been awarded the gold since he was the only one of the top runners in that race untouched by a drug scandal.

Answer: American Football

A lack of good camera angles has made the Immaculate Reception probably the most famous and most debated play in American football. It occurred on December 23, 1972, in a playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders. Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass to John Fuqua, but as Fuqua collided with Raiders safety Jack Tatum, the ball careened backwards and was caught just before it hit the ground by fullback Franco Harris who ran it in for the game-winning touchdown. Who the ball actually touched was part of the controversy. If it only touched Fuqua, then it was an incomplete pass according to the rules at the time. If it touched Tatum or both Tatum and Fuqua, then it could be legally caught. And did Harris actually catch the ball? It was so close to the turf, it may have hit the ground which would also be an incomplete pass.

After a referee discussion, the touchdown was confirmed as none of the referees had seen anything to dispute the call. The name "Immaculate Reception" was credited to a fan, Michael Ord, and was first used on air by Pittsburgh sportscaster Myron Cope.

Answer: Basketball

A combination of the words "three" and "repeat", the term three-peat means winning three consecutive championships and was trademarked by then Los Angeles Lakers coach Pat Riley in 1988 (although he credited Lakers player Byron Scott with creating the word).

The Lakers didn't achieve their three-peat in the 1980s, but the Chicago Bulls did twice in the 1990s, making the term popular, and the Lakers did eventually get their three-peat in the 2000s. While other sports have had teams who have won three consecutive championships, the term "three-peat" didn't become known until its association with basketball.

Answer: Tennis

There have been several "Battle of the Sexes", but the most famous arguably was the 1973 tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Riggs was a former tennis champion who had retired in the 1950s, and King was the number one ranked female player; even with a 26 year age difference between them, Riggs maintained that he could beat any female player.

He had in fact beat Margaret Court earlier that year, but it was his aggressive taunting of female players that led to the $100k, primetime matchup with King. King won in straight sets, but there was some controversy to the match. Riggs, who played poorly, was accused of throwing the match to pay off gambling debts, and King was accused of winning by virtue of being younger, with tennis commentator and former player Jack Kramer claiming that she didn't play particularly well and that Riggs would have done better if he was in shape.