Subject: Recent sports oddities
Date: Sat May 18 04:43:36 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Brooks Koepka records set, just yesterday and today:
Course record at Bethpage Black: 63
Lowest first 36 holes of a major: 128
Record lead in the PGA after 2 rounds: 7
Of note is that he was paired with Tiger (who missed the cut by 1 and is current owner of the Master's title)....................and after 36 holes he was 17 strokes worse than Koepka. Absorb that.
Obviously this is a "developing story", so tomorrow may be all different, etc.
See interesting Koepka/Dick Groat connection in link.
(Where are you, Snowguy? 1960 was a very good year for western Pennsylvania.)
Link: Athletes are athletes
Date: Tue May 21 01:39:40 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:So......I believe Koepka becomes the first person to hold back-to-back titles ('17 and '18 U.S. Open, and ''18 and '19 PGA) in 2 majors.
Also.........he was a total of 15 over in his first 14 majors (not bad considering that's probably between 40 and 50 rounds); in his last 8 majors..................an astonishing 63 under. Wow.
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Switching to tonight's NBA game............and maybe of more general interest.........tonight Steph Curry and Draymond Green became the first duo to have a triple double in a post-season game. See link below. Also, Warriors became only the second team to play in 5 consecutive NBA finals (the Celtics played in 10 in a row back in the '50s and '60s, with far fewer teams to contend with). Three straight 17-point comebacks is also probably a record, but I haven't seen any reference to that.
Link: Curry and Green together - triple doubles
Date: Sun Jun 16 15:55:04 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:I think we all know that the Warriors 5 straight appearances in the NBA finals ties a record going back to the '50s Celtics teams, but I *believe* (can't find confirmation) that those 5 consecutive home losses by Toronto and Golden State in the NBA finals is also a record.
Date: Sun Jun 16 16:35:05 2019
User: jamesblackburn-lynch
Message:Technically, I suppose, the “50’s Celtics” could refer to the team that won eight straight championships from 1959-1966 but I gotta think of them as the “60’s Celtics.”
Just sayin.
James
P.S. In doing my due diligence here I discovered a not surprising fact. On the list of All Time Celtic scorers, John Havlicek is number one, then Pierce then Bird. You don’t find a member of the dynasty teams until Bob Cousy at 6. But then they come one after another. So I says...hmm..balanced team.
P.P.S Rick Fox and Antoine Walker are on the All Time list? Walker at 13? Damn. And where in the world is Len Bias?
Date: Sun Jun 16 23:22:12 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Yes, they were mostly '60s teams, but since that streak started in '59, I said "...going back to...". However, obviously 5 straight appearances doesn't tie 8 straight championships. I think I saw that reported somewhere - but either way, that wasn't accurate.
Not sure what you're trying to say about Bias. Like where *would* he have ranked?
Date: Mon Jun 17 01:56:25 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:I see. I still remember that day vividly.
Date: Mon Jun 17 03:12:54 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Brooks Koepka.......altho he didn't win, set some more records today:
First person to shoot all four rounds in the 60s but lose.
First person to shoot 5 consecutive U.S. Open rounds in the 60s.
And I *believe* he's only the third person to finish in the top 2 of 4 consecutive majors since 1934 - the others being Tiger Woods and Walter Hogan. Pretty amazing.
Meanwhile, amateur Viktor Hovland broke Nicklaus's record score for an amateur, set in 1960, by two strokes.
Date: Mon Jun 17 03:26:11 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:On to crazy Coors.........
There's too much weirdness from the weekend to type out, but the highlights:
Rockies and Padres set a modern-era record for most runs in a 4-game series, with 92. Yes, 92.
(All-time record is 122 in 1887 between the Cleveland Blues and St. Louis Browns (and no, I didn't switch those names) of the American Association.
Rockies' Charley Blackmon set a modern-era record with 15 hits in a 4-game series.
I believe there were even more records that the account I link below mentions.
Link: Rockies and Padres run wild
Date: Sat Jul 13 15:03:14 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:We (myself especially) post some amazing and astonishing stats on this board - and here's another one:
Collectively.........Federer and Nadal have spent 1,016+ weeks as either #1 and/or #2 players in the world. That's right at 20 years worth of weeks. Many of those times overlap, of course, but maybe not as many as you'd expect, with injuries, etc. That's pretty mind-boggling.
Their semifinal Wimbledon match yesterday, altho not as epic as some of their titanic struggles, was filled with simply extraordinary shot-making by both. If one hasn't played that game at a pretty high level, it's quite impossible to grasp both how hard it is to do what they do, and how hard it is to stay at the top with dozens or hundreds of other very skilled players gunning for them each and every match. Borders on superhuman, to this observer.
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From wikipedia (and note these numbers are from 2018; it's more than 1,016 now):
"Federer has spent a record 237 consecutive weeks as an ATP #1 player in the world, while Nadal holds the record of most consecutive weeks as an ATP #2 player in the world with 160 weeks.
As of Monday 18 June 2018 Federer has spent a record 310 weeks as an ATP #1 player in the world, while Nadal holds the record of most weeks as an ATP #2 player in the world with 292 weeks."
Date: Sat Jul 13 21:53:50 2019
User: Dr.Bombay
Message:The RFed, Nadal, Djokovic trio are easily the three best male tennis players of all time. By a lot. Their only misfortune is being active at roughly the same time. I like Fed as the GOAT but if you think about the fact that more casual tennis is played on clay worldwide than any other surface it’s easy to argue for Nadal as his record on clay is other worldly but not enough tournaments are played on clay.
Date: Mon Jul 15 01:50:27 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:While I agree that that troika are likely the 3 best of all time........like in many other sports, it's hard to compare across different eras. One *could* argue that Laver, Borg (who would still be playing with his wooden racket), Sampras, or others farther back *might* be in their league, given the same circumstances/opportunities, but I think that'd be a hard sell.
As to today.............Djokovic's victory is the first time in 71 years someone has come back from facing championship point against them (as Djokovic did twice) to win.
Date: Mon Jul 15 07:14:21 2019
User: outskirts
Message:Float like a butterfly, sting like a BEE
-that's me with a frisBEE
Date: Mon Jul 15 09:42:53 2019
User: jamesblackburn-lynch
Message:Dr.Bombay said “more casual tennis is played on clay worldwide than any other surface.”
Do you have any data to support this? I tried to find such data but could not. The only site I found discussing it at all said hard courts were the most common, which is certainly what I would’ve guessed.
James
Date: Mon Jul 15 10:03:02 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:That's what I would have guessed, too, but I truly don't know. Surely in S.A. and *maybe* in Europe, too, that'd be the case. But worldwide? I just don't know....
Date: Wed Aug 21 22:00:30 2019
User: BuzzClik
Message:Ok... not so recent. But the article is recent.
"Keith Comstock played on four major league clubs as a journeyman reliever, but his professional career is most often remembered for one thing: a ball to the crotch. Thirty years ago -- in what otherwise would have been a forgotten minor league set -- Comstock appeared on one of the most memorable baseball cards ever made. Here's the story of how it came together, in his words."
=============
I'm not going to spoil this. You have to see the baseball card and read the story at the link. This is the flipside of "Bull Durham".
Link: Keith Comstock's famous minor league baseball card
Date: Thu Aug 22 13:08:03 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Interesting story. I (used to) keep up with that sort of thing, but was unaware of this one at all. I've got some minor league cards stored away somewhere. I wonder if.......
Date: Thu Aug 22 13:29:21 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Strange game last night between the Tigers and 'stros. The article below brings up a lot of it, but not all. For one thing, as noted, "...... this is the second time a pitcher [ex-Tiger Verlander] has ever faced 29 batters and allowed 2 ER due to giving up two solo shots. The only other guy to ever have such a strange start was Mike Mussina in 1998."
Missing from it is the fact that Justin Verlander whiffed 11 Tigers, making 7 games in a row of recording double-digit Ks. Only 3 pitchers have done it 8 games in a row in history - Chris Sale having done it twice, Pedro Martinez once, and I can't remember the other one. A few others have done it 7, but very few.
Also missing is the fact that the guy who hit the game-winning HR off Verlander, John Hicks, was his high school teammate from Goochland, VA.
It was a crazy game. Interesting article to read about it. Obviously(?) not *really* the greatest upset in baseball history, but by one metric it indeed was.
Link: "greatest upset in baseball history"???
Date: Sun Aug 25 10:46:12 2019
User: BuzzClik
Message:Greatest upset in history? Meh. Not even a meaningful game for either team.
However, the game did qualify nicely as a recent sports oddity.
Date: Sun Aug 25 12:05:49 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:I knew what that link was gonna be - except for the very last example (Israel over Korea), they were all series (counting the Olympics as that also). So, not to disagree, but that's kinda like apples to pears, seeing as how the Tigers/'stros was only a single game. And what about the Miracle Mets in '69?
A bigger argument that it was not the greatest upset in history is the fact that the metric they were basing that declaration on (gambling odds) only goes back to ~2005. Did the St. Louis Browns, in some of their bad years, win some individual games against longer odds? Almost certainly. What about Coastal Carolina winning the 2016 College World Series? Etc.
Date: Sun Aug 25 12:27:44 2019
User: The_Interpreter
Message:Apples and pears are closely related pomes making the "core" of your analogy somewhat "seedy".
Link: Apples and Pears
Date: Sun Aug 25 14:30:45 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Well of course they are. That's why it was "apples and pears" instead of "apples and.........". The link you posted showed that the two things are quite related - just not the same (except for Israel vs. Korea). And also note I wrote "Not to disagree....". That said, decent punnage.
Date: Wed Aug 28 13:52:33 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Verlander's streak of games with 10 or more Ks ended last night at 7 after he got tossed objecting to a pitch call.
Date: Thu Aug 29 18:28:05 2019
User: Kaos
Message:Not sure if the link below is performing well but US Women's soccer star Carli Lloyd was messing around at the Eagles practice and booted a 55-yard field goal. It looked like she had a few yards to spare with the boot.
Link: Carli Lloyd hits 55-yard field goal at Eagles Practice
Date: Sun Sep 1 02:37:18 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Well, here we go again.....
The Twins lost to the Tigers tonight, 10-7, but in the process smacked 6 HRs, breaking the previous MLB record for HRs by a team in a season, previously set by the Yanks last season with 267. And this happened in *August*, which just ended.
But wait, there's more..........
Also, that means that:
2) there are now EIGHT Twins who've hit at least 20 dingers this year, which is also a MLB record. And did I mention it happened in August?
3) in the entirety of their existence, after going 49-0 in games in which they hit at least 5 HRs, they're now 49-1. (Curiously, 6 other teams have accomplished that task this year already, with two of those hitting 6 while remarkably losing.)
4) 29 times this year at least one Twin has hit multiple HRs in a game. Yes, that's a record, too.
5) twice this year they've hit 8 in one game - joining only the Rangers in 2005 as the only team to ever accomplish that.
And get this -- last year the Twins only hit 166 for the entire season - which lasts another month past August for those keeping score.
Date: Sun Sep 1 20:52:50 2019
User: Klepp
Message:Pro techs have access to Statcast and such and could tell us how many they'd have if they still bombarded the MetroDome (HomerDome).
Date: Wed Sep 4 04:54:35 2019
User: HopDiriDiriDattiriDittiriDom
Message:The United States men’s basketball team nearly saw their 54-game win streak at major tournaments come to end on Tuesday before rallying in overtime for a 93-92 win over Turkey in Fiba World Cup group-stage play at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center.
- USA win 93-92 in overtime as Turkey miss four late free throws
- Closest margin for USA at major tourney since 2006 World Cup
Looks like a defeat is very likely during this tournament as there are many stronger teams.
Date: Wed Sep 4 21:03:28 2019
User: BuzzClik
Message:We sent a depth-chart team. It won't end well.
Date: Fri Sep 6 15:49:31 2019
User: mrbuck
Message:On Sept 5, Brian Moran made his big league pitching debut, striking out his brother Colin Moran. It's the first time brothers have done that in MLB.
mrbuck
Date: Sat Sep 7 14:08:28 2019
User: BuzzClik
Message:This will make one of our members from PA giggle:
After weeks of pure chaos and high level disruption, the Raiders have had quite enough of Antonio Brown. The former Steeler and now former Raider wide receiver has been released. He loses $29 million in guaranteed pay and a lot more in incentives.
Link: Hate the Raiders, love this move
Date: Mon Sep 9 17:01:37 2019
User: mrbuck
Message:Another baseball oddity:https://www.mlb.com/cut4/marlins-fan-catches-two-foul-balls-in-same-at-bat
mrbuck
Date: Tue Sep 10 03:09:05 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:That's quite bizarre, but.........
"Who hit 19 foul balls in a row striking the same woman twice?"
"Hitting the same woman twice during that epic run of 19 foul balls, Richie Ashburn also hit a foul ball that landed on a ledge above the window of the press box; the next foul ball knocked off the previous one and they both fell. I was there that day -- it was the only Phillies game I ever attended."
https://www.answers.com/Q/Who_hit_19_foul_balls_in_a_row_striking_the_same_woman_twice
I've been trying to find the thread in which we discussed the guy who chased down a whole bunch of fouls in one game, and a season, etc. I thought, due to the subject matter, it would have been in this thread, but apparently it's not. Can't find it with moderate searching. Anyway, buck's post needs to be appended to that one.
Date: Wed Sep 11 09:06:10 2019
User: BuzzClik
Message:... and the USA loses to France 89-79 in the quarter finals of FIBA World Cup.
Surprise!
Date: Mon Sep 16 11:52:38 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Hate to bring up football 'already', but what Patrick Mahomes did yesterday was fairly remarkable:
278 yards and 4 TDs...........................in the second quarter. Which is the most yards in any quarter since 2008 when Drew Brees had a fourth-quarter performance that included 294 passing yards. And is a Chiefs team record for TD passes in game.
"Patrick Mahomes, who has played [a total of] 19 games, recorded his sixth game with at least 300 passing yards and four TDs, surpassing Hall of Famers Dan Marino (five games) and Kurt Warner (five) for most games with at least 300 yards and four passing TDs in a player’s first 40 NFL games."
"Patrick Mahomes and Joe Montana each have eight career games with at least 4 touchdown passes.
Montana played 192 games. Mahomes has played just 19."
"[Mahomes] has thrown for 3+ pass TD in 7 straight road games dating back to 2018, the longest streak in NFL history.
He now tops this list:
KC Patrick Mahomes 7
NE Tom Brady 6
HOF Brett Favre 5
HOF Dan Marino 5
HOF George Blanda 5
Link: Mahomes was dialed in
Date: Tue Sep 17 15:40:59 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Here's something one doesn't see every day. I just may like for UVa to win a bit more now. It'd be SOO much easier and better if that school and C'ville weren't so doggone preppy.
Link: UVa's Bennett declines salary hike
Date: Mon Sep 30 11:28:20 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Referencing back to the first page of this thread from Nov. 2016...........
Saturday, Sept. 21st, in a titanic defensive struggle, UCLA finally triumphed over Washington St. 67-63. And no, like 2016, that's not basketball - which won't start for more than a month still. UCLA's Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw for 507 (25/38 with 5 TDs); but the Cougars Anthony Gordon topped that with 570 (41/61 with **9** TDs). One would think there was no defense at all during that game, but the Cougars actually punted 5 times, and the Bruins twice. The 130 points is a PAC-12 all-time record (in the short history of the conference in it's current make-up).
UCLA was winless, was the PAC-12's worst offense (had scored no more than 14 points in their first 3 games), was down 49-17, and on the road in Pullman, yet scored *50* points in 20 minutes to come back and win. 3rd largest deficit in FBS history that a team has overcome to win a game. (The second-most was also UCLA two years ago.) In that vein, UCLA has now come back to win from 32 or more down twice in the last 10 years. The rest of the entirety of FBS is 0/1370 over those 10 years (as of last Saturday; it's more now).
This stat is a stunner: over a 4:30 stretch that spanned the final two quarters, UCLA ran seven offensive plays. Four of them were touchdowns. One of Thompson-Robinson's TD throws was 94 yards, second-longest in UCLA history. Oh, and Thompson-Robinson became one of only three quarterbacks in the past 20 years to pass for 500 yards with 5 touchdown passes and 2 rushing touchdowns in the same game. The other two: Mississippi State's Dak Prescott (2015 versus Arkansas) and Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes (2016, Oklahoma).
The Cougars had two offensive snaps over the game's final 6:11. (Just meditate on that a bit, with all the passing going on.) They fumbled it away both times.
In 2014, Washington St. and Cal combined for the previous single-game PAC-12 scoring record: a 60-59 Cal win, also in Pullman. In that game, quarterback Connor Halliday set the single-game FBS passing record with 734 yards, but the Cougars lost after a missing a 19-yard field goal as time expired.
As the saying goes, you can't make this stuff up.
Link: No, not a video game, either
Date: Mon Sep 30 20:20:25 2019
User: Klepp
Message:I consider it to be an oddity of sorts such that HOU's FOURTH starter is Greinke...dude's not quite what he was back in his Cy Young days, but still...who's had a stronger *fourth* starter, ever?
Date: Thu Oct 10 02:11:28 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Justin Verlander is human? Who knew?
The Expos/Nationals/ghosts of Senators past can win a playoff series? Bravo to the Dodger killers!
Date: Thu Oct 10 09:11:07 2019
User: BuzzClik
Message:Verlander pitched quite well on Tuesday, particularly considering three days rest. His line score was very similar to Strasburg's last night, but the Nat's generated some offense whereas the Astros did not. Thus, the narrative shifted.
Date: Thu Oct 10 11:13:33 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Very key word being "considering". As I'm sure you're hep to, he just wasn't at his peak. Location was poor, breaking balls didn't break as they normally would, etc. And he said these things himself. *Such* fine margins at that level, that any deviation can radically change the outcome(s). So the big question, as I'm also sure you know, was "was it the wise/correct decision to let him go with 3 days rest". From what I heard, he lobbied for the opportunity. And yes, Verlander on 3 days rest is still better than maybe 70% of other, more mortal pitchers.
Date: Sat Oct 12 10:23:33 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Just a few hours ago........(34-year-old) Eliud Kipchoge broke the 2-hour mark for the marathon - the first time that's ever happened (as I assume most know, but I thought I'd better say so, just in case). However - and this is important - it doesn't count because it was a "manufactured" attempt, and he was running with rabbits/pacers, and was following a pacing car. But still........as per the article linked below, he was wanting to show it was possible.
Link: Kipchoge goes low
Date: Sun Oct 13 10:41:22 2019
User: mrbuck
Message:Yesterday, Sunday October 12th, Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez pitched back to back games where no one had a hit until after the 5th inning. That had only been once before in MLB playoff history, in 2013. The Tigers had two pitchers who pitched back to back games where no Red Sox hitters got a hit until after the 5th inning. The two Tiger pitchers who accomplished that feat? Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez.
Date: Sun Oct 13 10:52:09 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Sanchez didn't give up a hit until 1 out in the 8th; Scherzer not until the 7th. Did not know that both had previously been Tigers in 2013. That's a cool factoid.
Elsewhere, and really only borderline noteworthy.........Wisconsin has now shut out 4 teams in their 6-0 football start. And they hadn't had four shutouts in a whole season since 1930. But.......the grain of salt to take with this is that their schedule hasn't really been all that tough - with Michigan being the only real exception. Still.........after 89 years they've had some easy schedules during that period - not to mention scoring used to be a lot lower until, say, the late '60s.
Date: Sun Oct 13 14:33:34 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:And now we have a *real* new world marathon record. This morning in Chicago, Brigid Kosgei knocked 81 seconds off Paula Radcliffe's 2003 record by winning the Chicago Marathon in 2:14:04. Her closest competitor finished nearly 7 minutes back - i.e. like nearly 1.4 miles, which should demonstrate the scope of the accomplishment.
To go 16 years without a new record in a distance race, especially for wimmenfolk, is quite extraordinary.
Date: Sun Oct 13 18:37:35 2019
User: Oded789
Message:Amazing result, She finished 23rd among the men, and e.g. Mo Farah in 8th place was closer to her time than to the winner's time.
BTW the gap between the top 3 men was only 3 seconds, which is surely rare in a marathon.
Date: Sun Oct 13 18:42:31 2019
User: The_Inquisitor
Message:She finished 23rd? Does that mean there were 22 men better than the 1st woman?
Date: Sun Oct 13 18:50:52 2019
User: Oded789
Message:Yes. Which aren't a lot in a 46000 runners field.
I reckoned the gap of 8:19 minutes between the winner and her result was the smallest between top male and top female in a major marathon, but it turns out that when Radcliffe set the previous record in London 2003, she finished 16th overall and only 7:29 min behind the winner (and that one for the men was as close as it gets).
Link: http://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?RL=1&MIDD=16030413&Gen=B&Begin=1&End=100&Max=32167
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