Sports the Way I Play Them; Part One Quiz

Answer: Baseball

How bad do you have to be at something to have a measure of mediocrity named after you? The answer is: have a lifetime batting average of .215. There were MLB players with lower averages, but only Mario Mendoza has the Mendoza line. It is the .200 mark, and nobody wants to get below it. Mendoza claims the term was coined by his Seattle teammates Bruce Bochte and Tom Paciorek to tease him in 1979 when his average was below the line at .198.

Answer: Fishing

The great inventor Thomas Edison apparently had a fishing attitude like I do. He was frequently seen with a line in the water but he never caught any fish. When questioned, Edison admitted that he used no bait. No bait? Why? Edison is quoted as saying, "Because when you fish without bait, people don't bother you and neither do the fish.

It provides me my best time to think." A man after my own heart.

Answer: Bowling

By the middle of the 19th century, bowling had become so associated with gambling that in 1841 Connecticut outlawed "ninepins." Gamblers simply added a pin so they were breaking no laws. People discovered they liked the new game and tenpin bowling became the norm.

Answer: Mountaineering

It's common knowledge that the tallest mountain in the world is Mount Everest on the border of Tibet and Nepal. Some people like to poke holes in that idea. The tallest mountain measured from the base is Mauna Kea in Hawaii. It's only 13,796 feet above sea level, (compared to Everest at 29,035 feet) but 19,700 feet are under the Pacific ocean. That gives Mauna Kea a total height of 33,500 feet. Ecuador's Chimborazo has also been touted as the highest in the world. Because it sits closer to the equatorial bulge. it sticks out into space around two miles further from the center of the planet than Everest.

However, the people most concerned with the height of mountains are mountaineers. Since few of them start climbing under the ocean and none do from the Earth's core, height above sea level is the most accurate and important measurement.

Therefore, in the only way that counts Everest is, and as far as we can tell, will remain the big boy in town.

Answer: Golf

Alan Shepard was an Apollo astronaut and he was also an avid golfer. On February 6, 1971, during a live broadcast from the lunar surface, he hit two golf balls. His club was actually a NASA issue sample collection device with a club head attached to the end.

The balls were common golf balls he smuggled onto the lunar lander. Despite the low gravity and lack of air resistance he didn't get the expected distance. The stiff bulky spacesuit he was wearing made it virtually impossible to get a good swing. Still he was the first human to play a sport anywhere except on Earth.

Answer: Surfing

The sport of surfing brings up images of tropical beaches in exotic locations like Hawaii, Honduras, and Australia. There are, however, cra... uh intrepid souls that brave the waters in the harshest seas in the world. They surf the waves off the coast of Antarctica.

These stu... uh hardy adventurers brave ice flows, killer whales and frigid temperatures along barrren shores. The only hint of human habitation may be an abandoned rotting whaling station. All to see what most haven't seen and do what most wouldn't do.

Answer: Sprint

Our ancient human ancestors probably ran to survive. They were either trying to catch food or trying to avoid becoming food. The first recorded foot race was at the first recorded Olympics in 776 BCE. We don't know all the participants, but the winner was a baker named Koroibos of Elis. Until 724 BCE, the foot race was the only Olympic sporting event.

Answer: Boxing

One of the greatest boxers of all time was Muhammad Ali. As a boy in Louisville KY, Ali, who was then known as Cassius Clay, hoped to get an autograph from his idol, Sugar Ray Robinson. Robinson turned him down and Ali never forgot his disappointment. Once he became famous, he swore never to refuse a fan request for an autograph. Until the day he died, he never did.

Answer: Hockey

Probably the most famous trophy in all of sports is the NHL's Stanley Cup. Since 1892, the cup has been the coveted award for hockey's seasonal champion. It was named after the Governor General of Canada, Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley. He wished to create an award for "the champion hockey team in the Dominion of Canada." I would say he succeeded.

Answer: Bull Riding

The winningest bull of all time was a Brindle-Hereford named Red Rock. His career on the PBR circuit lasted from 1980 to 1987. 309 riders climbed on his back. Zero stayed on for the regulation 8 seconds. He was only the third bull placed in the Rodeo Hall of Fame.