UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

In the third set of a men’s singles second round match in the 2012 Australian Open on 18th January 2012 between unseeded Marcos Baghdatis (world no.43) and 21st seed Stanislas Wawrinka, Baghdatis was 2 sets down (6-7, 4-6), and during a changeover, he snapped:

That’s 4 rackets destroyed in less than a minute: possibly a record for rackets destroyed in a single match at the highest level of tennis.

That meltdown somehow lifted him to win the third set 7-5, before succumbing again in the fourth 1-6.

But is he the greatest pro racket-smasher who ever lived?

Marat Safin, the 2005 Australian Open champion and former world number 1, was said to have broken about 700 rackets in his 12-year career (1997-2009). Another source said that in 2011, he said that he’d destroyed more than 1,000 in total. Apparently he destroyed 48 rackets in 1999 alone.

Then there’s sentimental favourite Goran Ivanisevic, who had to retire due to breaking all 3 of his rackets in the second round match against Lee Hyung-Taik in the 2000 Samsung Open. He didn’t have any more rackets with him, and there weren’t any suitable ones for borrowing.

Supervisor Gerry Armstrong then told umpire Kim Craven to announce the incredible:

Due to lack of appropriate equipment, game, set and match Lee.

Some people say Ivanisevic broke even more rackets than Marat Safin in total

Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

The 1-6 home defeat to Manchester City on 23rd October 2011 was billed the biggest Manchester derby in decades, and it turned out to be Manchester United’s worst ever home defeat in the Premier League era, and the worst defeat in the 25 years of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign as manager.

A scoreline you’d never expect to see at Old Trafford

Coincidentally, Man Utd’s Jonathan Evans, who was sent off in the 47th minute, was wearing the number 6 shirt.

It was the reigning league champion’s first home defeat in 18 months (since April 2010) i.e. 25 matches and on 19 home wins on the trot – so City’s margin of victory is especially memorable.

It was City’s biggest away league win since the 6-0 victory at Burnley in March 1999.

Ferguson himself described the defeat as his worst in his more than 50 years of involvement in the game:

It was our worst ever day. It’s the worst result in my history, ever. Even as a player I don’t think I ever lost 6-1. That’s challenge for me too. I can’t believe the scoreline. The first goal was a blow for sure but it was retrievable at 1-0. The sending off was a killer for us. We kept attacking when we went 4-1 down and we should have just said: ‘We’ve had our day.’” We just kept attacking. They were attacking three versus two. It was crazy football. I thought with the experience we’ve got – Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra – they would [defend more] but we just kept attacking. Sometimes there has to be common sense about it. It was a bad day. What did concern me was the goals for and against. Goal difference may count. Last year it was in our favour. Most years it is in our favour. This time maybe not. We’ll come back. By January we’ll be okay. We usually get the show on the road in the second half of the season and that will have to be the case. We’ve played all the teams around us and they have all to play each other so the second half of the season is important to us now. We will react, no question about that. It’s a perfect result for us to react to because there is a lot of embarrassment in the dressing room and that will make an impact.

Some other bad defeats during his reign as United manager:

0-5 at Newcastle and 3-6 at Southampton in 1996, yet Man Utd went on to win the league title.
0-5 at Chelsea in 1999, ending United’s 29-match unbeaten run. Yet, Man Utd went on to win the league title.
1-4 at home to Liverpool in 2009, yet Man Utd went on to win the league title.
1-4 at home to QPR in 1992. That season, Leeds won the league title.
1-5 away to Man City in 1989. That season Liverpool won the league title.

So one could say that the hairdryer treatment will be at full throttle after the match.

The Reds’ worst ever home defeat was 1-7 to Newcastle United in the old First Division, which happened way back in 1927. They also had lost 0-6 twice at home: to Aston Villa in 1914 and to Huddersfield Town in 1930.

Man Utd’s worst ever defeat is 0-7, which happened 3 times:

- at Blackburn Rovers in 1926
- at Aston Villa in 1930
- at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1931

Social networks were abuzz after the match against their rivals, including:

obefield (via his blog sokernet)

M6nch6st6r Unit6d

Manchester City’s new logo:

bongkersz (via twitter):

1Enam. 1Six. Latest additions to the ’1′ craze. 1Toilet. 1Notebook. 1Kedai. 1Telur.

Six and the City!

Khairy Jamaluddin (via twitter):

Bola itu bulat. That’s all I’ve got tonight. 1-6.

TheLoneTweet (via twitter):

Man United were holding out – in prep for the big midweek tie with Aldershot

asoundreaction (via twitter):

Holy sh*t. Just seen the football score. Forget the hairdryer treatment let the tea cup throwing commence

anthraxxxx (via twitter):

tak kisah siapa kalah, janji Manchester yang menang #tuitsedaphati

MukhrizMahathir (via twitter):

Regime change in Manchester! 6-1!!! Its a masacre!

mpkotabelud (via twitter):

Pedih! RT @NoorAzam: Sebelum ucap selamat malam, kita ucap … SAAAATUUUU? Malaysia. SAAAATUUU? Malaysia. SAAATUUU? ENAAAAAM. Selamat malam.

ThankUAndGnite (via twitter):

On a scale of 1-6, how humiliated do you think Man Utd fans are now? #Manchesterderby

JosuaClement_S (via twitter):

Losing 6-1 at home with your strongest team is way worse than losing 8-2 away with your reserves playing.

Popularity: 1% [?]

IMHO, it should be measured by:
- player reputation / salary
- match stakes / level
- distance from goal
- challenged by opposing player(s)?

Then Fernando Torres’ (Chelsea) miss could be right at the top:
- 3rd highest paid player in the world
- competitive, club level, world-class league match (Manchester United vs Chelsea, EPL, 18 Sep 2011)
- edge of 6 yard box, left side of goal
- unchallenged

Challengers:

Cristiano Ronaldo’s (Manchester United) miss of the season in 2007
- now highest paid player in the world
- competitive, club level, Sheffield United v Manchester United, 2006/2007 EPL
- from 4 yards, close to middle of goal
- unchallenged

Aiyegbeni Yakubu’s (Nigeria) miss during World Cup 2010 group match against South Korea
- not in list of top 100 highest paid players in the world
- competitive, international level, World Cup match
- about 3 yards away from goal, approx middle of goal
- unchallenged

Rob Earnshaw’s (Wales) miss during a Euro2012 qualifier against England, 6th September 2011
- not in list of top 100 highest paid players in the world
- competitive, international level
- edge of 6 yard box, left side of goal
- unchallenged

Jon Dahl Tomasson’s (Feyenoord) miss during a Dutch league match, 2001
- capped 112 times by Denmark, scoring 52 goals – joint all-time top scorer for his country
- competitive, club level (Feyenoord v NAC Breda, 2001)
- right on the line, close to middle of goal
- unchallenged

Rivaled by Ilija Sivonjić (Croatia, Dinamo Zagreb) during a Croatian league match against Cibalia, 2009
- not in list of top 100 highest paid players in the world
- competitive, club level, not world-class
- right on the line, near to right of goal
- unchallenged

Popularity: 1% [?]

According to the excellent Track And Field All-time Performances Homepage maintained by Peter Larsson:

As of the evening of 3rd September 2011, the 10-second barrier has been broken 457 times.

Usain Bolt owns (or co-owns) 5 of the 10 fastest 100m times in history: 9.58, 9.69, 9.72, 9.76, 9.77.

He has run faster than 9.80 on 6 occasions.

He has broken the 10-second barrier 23 times.

Only 2 other sprinters have clocked times that are among the 10 fastest in history: Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell, the other Jamaican. Tyson Gay has 4 of in the top 10, including 9.69 and 9.71, the 3rd and 4th fastest times ever. He has also clocked 9.77 twice.

Asafa Powell has even more top 10 times in history than Usain Bolt – 6, including 9.72 and 9.74, the 5th and 7th fastest times ever.

In fact, Powell has broken the 10-second barrier more frequently than anybody else – 73 times (some reports say 80). Previously, Maurice Greene held the record, with 53 sub-10 runs.

Carl Lewis has broken the 10-second barrier 15 times.

Samuel Francis’ Asian record of 9.99 set in 2007 is the joint 457th best time in history.

Source
alltime-athletics.com
Wikipedia

Popularity: 1% [?]

According to the excellent Track And Field All-time Performances Homepage maintained by Peter Larsson:

As of yesterday evening, when Usain Bolt became the 200m 2011 world champion with 19.40 seconds, the 20-second barrier has been broken 183 times.

Usain Bolt owns (or co-owns) 7 of the 10 fastest 200m times in history: 19.19, 19.30, 19.40, 19.56, 19.57, 19.59, 19.63. That means he has run faster than 19.60 on 6 occasions.

He has broken the 20-second barrier 22 times.

When he drives a car, is he a speed demon too? If he is, that collision estimation could go up.

Michael Johnson has broken the 20-second barrier 23 times. Everybody knows that his best time is 19.32 seconds, but perhaps less know that his next best times were 19.66, 19.71, 19.77 and 19.79.

The fastest 200m time not by either Bolt or Johnson is 19.58 by Tyson Gay in 2009 (7th best time in history). Gay also owns the 9th best time in history (19.62) set in 2007.

The relatively unknown Xavier Carter co-owns the 10th best time in history with 19.63 set in 2006.

Shingo Suetsugu’s Asian record of 20.03 set in 2003 is the joint 237th best time in history.

Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

I think this should be the way to determine who are the greatest high jumpers.

The current world record holder, Javier Sotomayor is 1.95m tall and his world record is 2.45m, meaning he jumped 50cm over his head. Some have listed his height as 1.93m, hence the difference is 52cm.

I think if Yao Ming (2.29m) trained to be a high jumper, he would’ve easily broken that world record.

But there are 2 persons who have jumped 59cm above their own heads, Franklin Jacobs and Stefan Holm.

Franklin Jacobs (born 1957) is a 1970s American high jumper. He’s only 1.73m, yet his personal best is 2.32m, which set the world indoor record in 1978.

Stefan Holm (born 1976) is a Swedish high jumper. He’s only 1.81m, yet has jumped 2.40m indoors in 2005. He was the 2004 Olympic champion.

This gives hope to those of us less than 1.8m tall – time to practice jumping over one of those stainless steel barrels then…

Popularity: 1% [?]

Up to 30th June 2011, 80 men have broken the 10-second barrier, mostly of African descent.

In 1984, Poland’s Marian Woronin timed 9.992, so unofficially he’s the first non-black person to beat the mark.

In 2003 Australia’s Patrick Johnson, who has Irish and Indigenous Australian heritage became the first person from a non African background to break the barrier.

On 9th July 2010, Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre, 20 became the first caucasian / white European to officially run the 100m in under ten seconds when he clocked 9.98 at the French national championships. He has since improved to 9.92.

His comments after achieving the feat:

This was my goal to break it of course. One has to run under 10 seconds in order to be part of the world’s best. I will be recognised as the first white man to run it, but today is mainly historical for myself! It’s not about colour, it’s about hard work.

No Asian has ever done it.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I am not sure if this is authentic, but I laughed so hard I cried. It truly is something to be shown on that home dlp projector.

In the middle of the race, he decided that he was going to turn it into a 100m dash instead, and simply threw the hurdles sideways.

I totally lost it when he ran through a hurdle, fell to his left and just managed to avoid being trampled upon by the next guy.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Lev “Black Spider” Yashin (1929 – 1990), was a Russian-Soviet soccer/football goalkeeper.

He is widely acclaimed to be the greatest goalkeeper in history, voted the best goalkeeper of the 20th century by The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

He is the only goalkeeper ever to win the European Footballer of the Year Award, in 1963.

In 1994, FIFA established the Lev Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper at the World Cup finals.

In 1998, the World Team of the 20th Century were chosen by 250 international football journalists – Yashin was named the sole goalkeeper.

He was chosen to be the goalkeeper in most of the world-all-time teams ever written, including the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team and the FIFA Dream Team.

He is also believed to have saved about 150 penalty kicks, much more than any other goalkeeper in history.

He played 12 matches at a World Cup, with 4 clean sheets. In his entire career, he had 270 clean sheets, out of 812.

Perhaps rather strangely, he said that the way to do it is to “have a smoke to calm your nerves, then toss back a strong drink to tone your muscles.”

He’s credited with inventing / starting now commonplace practices:
- quick throw of ball to begin swift counterattack
- coming out of penalty area to snuff out danger
- command and organization of his fullbacks
- punching the ball away in certain situations rather than trying to hold on to it

He spent his entire pro career with Dynamo Moscow from 1949 to 1971 (326 games), winning the USSR football championship 5 times and the USSR Cup 3 times. However, his debut game was less auspicious, as he failed to save a soft shot straight from a clearance by the opponent’s keeper! That probably sidelined him for 3 years, until he made the senior team again in 1953.

He was the goalkeeper for the Soviet Union between 1954 and 1970, earning 78 caps, conceding 70 goals, and winning the gold medal at the 1956 Olympics and the 1960 European Championship.

Playing in 3 World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1966). he helped his country to reach the quarterfinals. In a group match against a rampant Brazil where his team lost 0-2, his performance ensured they didn’t lose by a much bigger margin.

One of his greatest performances was the 1963 FA Centenary match, when he played for the “Rest of the World XI” team against England at Wembley. There, he made some unbelieveable saves.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Dr. David “The Pasadena Flash” Freeman (1920 – 2001) of the USA could very well be the greatest player in the history of badminton.

He was undefeated in men’s singles from 1939 (aged 18) until his retirement in 1953, 14 years later.

Apparently he only ever ventured out of the USA in 1949 to participate in the All-England, the Thomas Cup and Danish Open, all held in that same year.

That seemingly lack of exposure to world class opponents did not prevent him from astonishingly becoming the only American ever to be badminton men’s singles world champion when he won the All-England, then considered the world championships, by defeating Malayan legend Ooi Teik Hock with seeming ease 15-1, 15-6. It was his first and only participation in that championships.

A video of that match:

Another video of the same match, from another angle:

In the Thomas Cup, the world’s most important men’s badminton team competition, even though the USA lost 3-6 to eventual champions Malaya, he remained undefeated. And of course he won the Danish Open too.

During these tournaments, he also defeated another Malayan legend: Wong Peng Soon, probably the only player capable of defeating Freeman. In fact, Freeman faced Wong 3 times in his career and won all of them.

Wong Peng Soon would go on to win the All-England singles title 4 times, including 3 consecutively in 1950-1952.

In 1997 Freeman became the first American to be inducted into the International Badminton Federation Hall of Fame.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships is one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious badminton tournaments.

The 1987 men’s singles final saw Denmark’s defending champion Morten Frost meeting Indonesia’s Icuk Sugiarto, the 1983 world champion. Frost won the first set 15-10, but the second set was most extraordinary.

As far as I know, it was the only time a top player failed to get a single point in a set in a major badminton final.

This seems to be a good idea to turn into a Tee shirts at Personal Creations joke gift idea for Mr Icuk, but one needs to be prudent of the possible hostile reception!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Surely Rene Higuita’s scorpion kick save, which he created.

5 years after his biggest mistake ever (World Cup 1990), which Higuita himself described as “a mistake as big as a house”, El Loco (“The Madman”) was at it again.

This time it’s a friendly with England at Wembley.

Any other keeper would’ve used their hands, but this guy chose to do something totally unexpected.

It should be noted, however, that the referee had already blown his whistle for offside by an English player, so even if Higuita had missed, it would not have been a goal.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Gordon Banks (born 1937) was the England football team’s goalkeeper between 1963 and 1972. The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) has named him the second best goalkeeper of the 20th Century after Lev Yashin. He was a member of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup.

Gordon Banks in 2010

On 7th June 1970, he pulled off what is generally agreed to be the greatest save ever made, when he somehow managed to keep out a header by none other than Pele of Brazil.

It was during the first half of a group match of the 1970 World Cup. England was playing against quite possibly the greatest national football team of all time, the incomparable Brazil side.

From his own half, Brazil’s captain Carlos Alberto sent a precise low pass down the right to Jairzinho. The winger beat left back Terry Cooper, then delivered a high yet dipping cross to the far post, where Pele was waiting, and who then leapt above England’s right back Tommy Wright to head a fast, downward ball to Banks’ near post corner.

Pele was so confident it’d be counted that he’d shouted “goal!” as his head connected with the ball.

Amazingly, Banks managed to save it by diving backwards and downwards at the same time, then getting a thumb on the ball, diverting the ball over the bar.

Pelé would later say that the save was the best he had ever seen, and added:

I score more than 1,000 goals in my life, but the goal I don’t score they remember.

In 2005, Banks commented:

It’s something that people will always remember me for. They won’t remember me for winning the World Cup, it’ll be for that save. That’s how a big a thing it is. People just want to talk about that save.

For the record, Brazil won the game 1–0: Jairzinho beat Banks in the 59th minute. Both Brazil and England subsequently qualified for the quarterfinals, where England faced West Germany on 14th June 1970. Unfortunately, he suffered from an upset stomach, so Peter Bonnetti took his place. Banks was watching the match from his hotel room but felt tired, so switched the TV off when England was leading 2-0. As so often happens, Germany fought back, and Franz Beckenbauer hit a low shot under the slow-reacting Bonetti to make the score 2-1: Beckenbauer later claimed that it wouldn’t have been a goal had Banks been the goalkeeper. In the end England lost 2-3. And as we all know, Germany then lost to Italy 3-4 in that monumental match, only for Italy to find Brazil too good in the final, losing 1-4.

As for me the mere mortal, I found myself replaying the video again and again; at this rate I might even skip meals, thus lending credence to the notion that surfing youtube videos is probably the best appetite suppressant available.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Greg Louganis (born January 1960), was an American diver who aged 16, particiapted in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where he managed a silver in the 10m platform, behind legendary Italian diver Klaus Dibiasi.

That was the only time he finished second – for all the other major tournaments, he grabbed gold.

At the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, he won gold in the 3m Springboard and 10m Platform.

At the 1984 Olympics, he had record scores and leads over his opponents

Surely he would’ve won both events at the 1980 Olympiad too had the US not boycotted the games then.

At the 1978 World Championships, he won gold in the 10m Platform.

At the 1982 and 1986 World Championships, he won gold in the 3m Springboard & 10m Platform.

Some say the following dive at the 1986 worlds is the best dive ever done

He looks so relaxed with water that he could’ve been born with a Steripen Adventurer Opti.

Perhaps his greatest display was during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. In the 3m Springboard, he suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the board during the preliminaries. Despite the injury, he won the gold medal, repeating a similar dive during the finals. This caused controversy some years later when Louganis revealed he knew he was HIV-positive at that material time, yet and did not tell anybody. However, since HIV cannot survive in open water, no other divers were ever in danger.

Then in the 10m Platform finals, he won the gold with his last dive, performing a difficult routine called the “Dive of Death” and beating second placed Xiong Ni by a mere 1.14 points.

A video showing how Louganis hit his head, and the Dive of Death

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s not North Korea in 1966. It’s not Korea Republic in 1954. The answer might surprise you.

Microsoft Encarta-installed laptops might not even point out that before the Second World War started, for the 1938 World Cup, Indonesia qualified, under the name Dutch East Indies. Of course you could argue that since they have not achieved independence, most of the players could’ve been of Dutch descent.

But surprisingly, that is not the case, at least judging from the name of the players in the starting eleven. There are at least 5 Asian-sounding names in the first XI: Tan Mo Heng (Goalkeeper), Achmad Nawir, Tan Hong Djien, Suvarte Soedermadji, Anwar Sutan. Added to that, there are at least 2 Asian-sounding names in the reserves list: Bing Mo Heng and Tan Se Han. The coach was Johannes Van Mastenbroek.

Unfortunately, they only played in one match (no round robin matches then), and that against the mightly Magyars. The match took place at 5pm, 5th June 1938 at Reims, France in front of about 9,000 spectators.

Indonesia lost that match 0-6, and Hungary went on to reach the finals where they lost to Italy.

Popularity: 2% [?]

On 17th July 2011, Theyab Awana, 21 of the United Arab Emirates converted a spot kick in an unorthodox way during a friendly match with Lebanon, in the 78th minute, with his team leading 5-2.

At the last moment he suddenly spun around, kicked the ball with his heels, and it went in past the stunned goalie.

He had only been on the field for a few minutes.

That resulted in him being booked and perhaps worse, substituted by manager Srecko Katanec for “lack of respect towards the opposition.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Updated 29 August 2011

In the 2011 World Championships 400m heats, he clocked 45.39 and qualified for the semis. However, he then ran a relatively slow 46.19, hence failed to make the final. But if he’d run at his best, he’d surely have made it.

Reigning world and Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt leads the field in the final, having clocked 44.76 in the semis.

In his semifinal, Pistorius finished last – it was won by Jermaine Gonzales, with 44.99. 7th place was Demetrius Pinder at 45.87.

—————————-
20 July 2011

Oscar “Blade Runner” Pistorius (born 22 November 1986) of South Africa has been called the “the fastest man on no legs”. He had both legs amputated when he was just 11 months old because of a congenital disorder, the absence of the fibula – the calf bone.

He runs with the help of carbon-fibre artificial lower legs.

The ‘A’ qualifying standard to compete in the 400m at the 2011 world championships in Daegu, South Korea and the London Olympics is 45.25 seconds. On 19th July 2011 he clocked 45.07 in Lignano, Italy, thus qualifying for the world championships and the London Olympics, the first amputee sprinter to do so:

45.07 seconds would’ve been good enough for fifth place in the 400m final at the 2008 Olympics!

For comparison:

- Malaysia’s national record is 46.41s by Mohd Zaiful Zainal Abidin, set in July 2001
- the Asian record is 44.56s by Mohamed Amer Al-Malky of Oman, set in August 1988
- the African record is 44.10s by Gary Kikaya of DR Congo, set in September 2006

Popularity: 1% [?]

In May 2008, Justine Henin, then 25 and the world’s top ranked female tennis player and 7-time Grand Slam winner, announced her immediate retirement.

She had won a total of 41 WTA singles titles and almost USD20 million in prize money. The Grand Slams included 4 French Opens, 1 Australian Open and 2 U.S. Opens.

She was twice the losing finalist at Wimbledon, and also won the singles gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

A testament to her excellent technique was the fact that despite her relatively small size (167cm, 57kg), she possessed an extremely powerful serve: top speed 200 km/h.

At the 2007 US Open semi-final, first set, her average first serve speed was the same as her much taller (by 18 cm) opponent, Venus Williams, who herself holds the world record for the fastest serve in a main draw Tour event.

John McEnroe has described her backhand as the best, either in the women’s or men’s game.

How good? Judge for yourself:

Happy retirement Justine.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Pancho Gonzales (1928 – 1995), was the world’s top ranked tennis player for a still-unequalled 8 years in the 1950s and early 1960s, playing professionally during that period.

Astonishingly, he learnt the game on his own, without coaching of any kind.

As an amateur in the late 1940s he was US champion twice.

Prior to the Open era (before 1968), many considered him the greatest player in the history of tennis.

Unfortunately, due to the rules prohibiting pros from competing at the Grand Slams before 1967, he was ineligible to compete in them at the height of his career. He most definitely would have won a handful of them during 1949-1967 when he was at his prime.

The first Grand Slam of the Open era was the French Open in 1968, when Gonzales was already 40 years old. Still, he took part, despite having been semi-retired for a few years.

And amazingly, he defeated 1967 defending champion Roy Emerson in the quarterfinals, before losing in the semis to another legend, Rod Laver.

Later he participated at Wimbledon and lost in the 3rd round and went quite far (5th round/quarters) at the US Open.

An article from a 1999 edition of Sports Illustrated, named him 15th in their “20 favourite athletes of the 20th century” and wrote: “if earth was on the line in a tennis match, the man you want serving to save humankind would be Ricardo Alonso Gonzalez.” So apparently, not Pete Sampras, not Bjorn Borg, not anybody else.

Prominent tennis commentator Bud Collins seconded that in 2006 when he wrote in MSNBC: “If I had to choose someone to play for my life, it would be Pancho Gonzalez.”

Ref:
Wikipedia

Popularity: 1% [?]

Apparently it’s what Venus Williams wore in the first round of the 2010 French Open, in her victorious match against Patty Schnyder.

Her performance was not captured the audience’s imagination – her outfit did, resulting in whistles and whispers as she appeared at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

It’s a “lacy black-and-red outfit, which gave the illusion of being see-through”. The bright red trim on the bodice and the corset look made her look more at home in a cancan chorus line rather than in a grand slam tennis match.

She wore it again in a later match in the same tournament.

At a press conference, she explained:

Lace has never been done before in tennis, and I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time. The illusion of just having bare skin is definitely for me a lot more beautiful.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Grunting / shrieking / screaming / exhaling in tennis is rather common these days, ever since the “trend” was “popularised” by the likes of Monica Seles and, going further back, Jimmy Connors.

More common among the women, the more famous grunters include Serena and Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva, Victoria Azarenka and Rafael Nadal.

But the loudest amongst all the pros could be Michelle Larcher de Brito (b. 1993) of Portugal, who reached a world ranking of 76 in 2009, reportedly could hit 109 decibels, almost as loud as a lion roaring (110 decibels). In contrast, former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova’s loudest grunt was a mere 101 decibels.

Example:

Some comments on youtube:

Everytime she hits the ball it sounds like a little girl fell off a cliff.

I got a friend who has a cat, and the cat seems to relax while it’s home alone only by listening to Michelle Larcher de Brito playing tennis.

She is giving birth!! Seems like a hard delivery.

Good God, this makes Seles’s shriek sound like an ant farting.

She has defended herself:

I could (stop grunting), but, you know, it won’t feel natural, because it feels like something is missing in my game if I just stop.

Nobody can tell me to stop grunting. Tennis is an individual sport and I’m an individual player. If they have to fine me, go ahead, because I’d rather get fined than lose a match because I had to stop grunting.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Traditionally composed of amateur players, a 1989 rule change by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) allowed the USA to field professional players.

The original “Dream Team” promptly won the gold medal at the next Olympics – the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Defeating opponents by an average of almost 44 points, that team is often regarded as the greatest collection of talent on one team in basketball history. In fact, it was arguably the strongest team in the history of sports.

Any sport.

Of the 12 players on the team, 10 would be named in 1996 among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, which is the NBA’s official list of the 50 greatest players of the league’s first 50 years. As of 2011 eleven of the twelve players on the roster (all except Christian Laettner) have been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Never mind the fact that some of the players were way past their prime and were probably more into rv repair than top-class basketball.

Roster

1. David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs
2. Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz
3. Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics
4. Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls
5. Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers
6. Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns
7. Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks
8. Christian Laettner of Duke University; the NCAA’s player of the year, he was the only non-professional player selected – he was selected over Shaquille O’Neal for the final spot on the roster. Why? Because apparently it’s a tribute to the history of college players representing the country.
9. Chris Mullin of the Golden State Warriors
10. Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls
11. Clyde Drexler of the Portland Trail Blazers
12. John Stockton of the Utah Jazz

Coach: Chuck Daly of the Detroit Pistons

The team’s games usually had opposing teams asking for pregame photo opportunities with their idols, and of course opponents.

The team made its debut in June 1992 at the Tournament of the Americas, the Olympic basketball qualifying event for the Americas. In the first match, it defeated Cuba 136–57, a winning margin of 79 points, which led the Cuban coach Miguel Calderón Gómez to quip “you can’t cover the sun with your finger.”

A video of that match

In the next group games, the USA defeated Canada 105-61 (44 points difference), Panama 112-52 (60 points difference) and Argentina 128-87 (41 points difference). In the semis, it defeated Puerto Rico 119-81 (38 points difference), and in the final it defeated Venezuela 127-80 (47 points difference).

At the 1992 Olympics, in the group stages, the team defeated:

1 Angola 116-48 (68 points difference)
2 Croatia 103-70 (33 points difference)
3 Germany 111-68 (43 points difference)
4 Brazil 127-83 (44 points difference)
5 Spain 122-81 (41 points difference)

In the quarterfinals, the USA defeated Puerto Rico 115-77 (38 points difference).

In the semifinals, it defeated Lithuania 127-76 (51 points difference).

The final was the closest match the Dream Team had at the Olympics, defeating Croatia 117-85 by a “mere” 32 points. The Croatian players played for Yugoslavia until 1991, and Yugoslavia won the 1990 World Championships and finished second at the 1988 Olympics behind the Soviet Union, which by 1992 had broken up, hence you can say they were the reigning world champions.

The Croatian team featured superstars such as Dino Radja, Toni Kukoč and Dražen Petrović. They even led 25-23 in the first few minutes before being overwhelmed by the superiority of the Dream Team.

Highlights of the final

Popularity: 1% [?]

Samuel Wanjiru (born November 1986) of Kenya won the marathon at the 2008 Olympics in Olympic record time (2:06:32), the first Kenyan to win Olympic gold in the event. The feat shattered the 24-year old Olympic record of 2:09:21 which was set by Carlos Lopes of Portugal in the 1984 Olympiad.

On 15th May 2011, he died when he fell off his house’s balcony after an argument with his wife. It’s still unclear whether it was suicide.

He was just 24.

Has any other reigning Olympic champion (summer or winter) died so young?

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s either Ronnie Coleman or Lee Haney. Both Coleman and Haney have won Mr Olympia a staggering 8 times each, consecutively.

Haney (b. 1959, 5’11″, 111kg) won from 1984 to 1991, while Coleman (b. 1964, 5’11″, 135kg) won from 1998 to 2005.

Haney and Coleman side by side

Compare that to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (b. 1947, 6’2″, 113kg) 7 titles: 6 consecutively from 1970 to 1975 and one more in 1980, and Dorian Yates’ (b. 1962, 5’10″, 110kg) 6 consecutive titles from 1992 to 1997.

Mr Olympia, not Mr Universe, is generally regarded as the greatest bodybuilding tournament in the world. It is a professional international men’s bodybuilding contest. Winning it is considered the highest achievement in the sport of professional bodybuilding.

Honourable mention: Lou “The Incredible Hulk” Ferrigno’s (b. 1951, 6’5″, 130kg) best achievement at Mr Olympia is 2nd (1974). In 1975, he finished 3rd.

Popularity: 1% [?]

There are apparently a few hundred mountains in the world that are still not climbed, and quite a lot of them are more than 7,000m high.

There are several contenders for this title:

Gangkhar Puensum, 7,570m, Bhutan

Probably strongest contender. Mountaineering was allowed in Bhutan only relatively recently viz. 1983. 4 expeditions have so far made the attempt for the summit, all failed. Since 1994 the country has banned climbing of mountains higher than 6,000m; in 2003 mountaineering was totally banned, so no further attempts are possible.

Saser Kangri II East, 7,513m, Kashmir

Probably highest unclimbed non-prohibited mountain.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Date: 10th April 2011
Who: Quinonez Wilson
Position: Goalkeeper for Club Sport Colombia
Match: Club Sport Colombia v Club Cerro Porteno (Paraguayan Second Division league match)
Distance: 80m (some say 83m)
Time: sometime in 2nd half

Some people might see this as the biggest fluke goal ever.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Match: Poland vs Colombia, 2006 World Cup warm-up match
Date: 30 May 2006
Poor goalkeeper: Tomas Kuszczak (Poland and Manchester United)
Scoring goalkeeper: Neco Martínez, who could be forgiven if he turned into a zumba dancer in celebration.
Aftermath: Kuszczak became mere backup during the World Cup and did not play a single match.

Match: Deportivo Táchira v Independiente, a Copa Libertadores match (the most prestigious club competition in South American football)
Date: 19 July 1987
Poor goalkeeper: Luis Islas (goalkeeper for Argentina’s national team)
Scoring goalkeeper: Daniel Francovig (Deportivo Táchira, Venezuela)
Note: I might’ve gotten the 2 mixed up

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 12 Feb 2011

Barcelona went all the way to 16 consecutive La Liga victories, the best in Spanish league history, before they were held 1-1 by Sporting Gijon today.

So Benfica’s record of 29 consecutive league victories is still way off.

Next time, to have any hope of catching up on the legendary mark, perhaps Guardiola needs to step up on the guggulsterones diet regime.

———————————

On 23rd January 2011, unstoppable Barcelona won its 14th straight Spanish league match, this time Racing Santander its victims with a 3-0 demolition. That run matched the club record set in 2005-6, and only one victory short of equalling the 15 consecutive league wins of the incomparable Real Madrid side of 1960-61.

Barcelona’s league record now stands at: played 20, won 18, drew 1, lost 1, goals for 64, goals against 11. That means an average of 3.2 goals scored per game.

However, a few days before that, Barcelona’s 28-game unbeaten run in all competitions ended with a defeat to Betis in the Copa del Rey.

For the record, in the English Premier League, the record for the most consecutive wins in the top flight is held by Arsenal, who, between 10 February and 24 August 2002 also recorded 14.

However, these achievements pale in comparison with what Benfica achieved between the 1971-72 and 1972-73 seasons, when it apparently won 29 league matches in a row in Portugals’s Primeira Liga, including 23 consecutive victories in the latter season, in which Benfica completed with 28 wins and 2 draws (total matches then was 30).

In that memorable season, the great Eusébio was Europe’s top scorer with 40 goals, and Benfica scored 101 goals, conceding 13. That means Benfica scored an average of 3.37 goals per game.

Source
soccerlens.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

Caminito del Rey (The King’s little pathway) is a walkway (via ferrata) pinned along the vertical walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, Málaga, Spain.

It is 1m wide and rises 100m above the river below, and is in a “highly deteriorated state” where there are numerous sections where most of / all of the concrete flooring has simply dropped off. That means there are many huge open gaps connected only by narrow steel beams.

After 2 people died while walking on it in 1999 and 2000, it was closed to visitors by the Spanish government apparently in 2000 but that doesn’t stop crazy people from trying to walk on it.

The following is a video of a crazy man walking the entire length while videoing the feat via a camera apparently attached to his head:

Would you dare?

I think it can be concluded that if he’s that brave on foot, he’d be even more on wheels, goodness knows if he could even persuade auto insurance companies to let him sign on the dotted line.

Popularity: 1% [?]

What would you do to show you undying support for your favourite soccer team?

Start a fansite? Buy their merchandise by the truckloads? Never miss watching every single match? Make Old Trafford practically your home?

Well, in 2007, Marin Levidzhev of Bulgaria upped the ante by quite a bit.

He loves the British club so much that he battled the courts for 2 years to have his name changed to what else but…Manchester United.

But the magistrates, being spoilsports, only made him half the man that he should be. They decided that he could only call himself Manchester Levidzhev, because his arguments are “not strong enough.”

I’d say a person who goes so far as to change his name to his favourite football team looks as silly as Lee Haney flexing his muscles while wearing women’s rain boots.

But Mr Levidzhev (Mr United if you want), has not given up yet.

He reportedly said:

I feel as if I am only at the halftime break. I won’t feel right until I get all my name changed to Manchester United. I love the club. It’s my whole life, and I want my name to reflect that.

Source: ananova.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

Oliver “Ollie” Lang, 27 is widely considered the world’s top paintball player, the most widely recognized paintball player on the planet.

His list of achievements:

- turned pro at 17
- in 2000, was part of the Ironmen that won both the World Cup and the Series title, the first time that any Pro team had ever won both of paintball’s top trophies
- won the International Paintball Player of the Year award by the age of 22 in 2005
- between 2002 and 2005, his San Diego Dynasty team won an unprecedented 14 Pro Series Titles and 32 Pro events
- in 2006, made paintball history when he was paid USD100,000 to leave San Diego Dynasty for Ironmen

Fellow pro paintballer Matt Marshall summed it up:

he wins so frequently, plays our sport so instinctually, and gobbles up life on the road at such a frantic and furious pace, he�s either possessed by demons or blessed by the gods.

A video of him in action:

Whoa, with moves like that, one wonders what kind of insurance quotes he’d get.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The game of sepak takraw has long been dominated by Thailand and Malaysia, with the former getting the upper hand in the last few years.

IMHO, the greatest / at least the most famous sepak takraw players from these 2 countries include the following individuals:

Thailand

(i) Suebsak Phunsueb, some say the greatest ever, the Pele / Maradona of sepak takraw. Famed for his “horse service” which can reach 100mph (160kmh). This type of service was introduced relatively recently, in 1995, and it’s a much more aggresive type of service compared to the traditional one. It has been used to devastating effect, perhaps best exemplified in the 1998 Asiad when, in the final, Malaysia’s top regu was convincingly beaten 3-15, 8-15 by Suebsak and team. Suebsak’s influence is such that he’s still in the Thailand team at he 2010 Asiad in Guangzhou!

This guy’s shoes must have traction the equivalent to brembo brakes to prevent him from slipping while doing high-speed serves like this

(ii) Kriengkrai Mutalai

(iii) Pakdee Dangwatanapaibul (1980s)

Malaysia

(i) Adnan Saidin, perhaps the greatest sepak takraw player ever produced by Malaysia. Together with master blocker Rehan Mat Din and Ku Halim Ku Musa, they were perhaps the greatest regu ever: often frustrating their great Thailand arch-rivals led by Pakdee.
(ii) Raziman Hassan
(iii) Rehan Mat Din
(iv) Zabidi Shariff
(v) Nordin Sabaruddin
(vi) Norani Adnan
(vii) Ku Halim Ku Musa
(viii) Iskandar Arshad

Popularity: 2% [?]

A very good example of the “never say die” attitude which I often quote happened during the 1996 Thomas Cup: the semifinal match between Denmark’s Poul Erik Hoyer-Larsen & China’s Dong Jiong, then ranked world no.1.

It was the first singles.

Hoyer-Larsen lost the 1st set 6-15, and was trailing 1-13 in the second (badminton matches then were only up to 15 points).

Most likely (99.999% chance) he should lose right?

But what happened next? Amazingly Hoyer-Larsen won that 2nd set 18-17, then romped home 15-11 in the rubber.

That fired up his teammates so much that Denmark went on to defeat China 3-2 [never a mean feat!] and booked a place in the final.

A video of that incredible 2nd set:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Hmm… Dong Jiong looks so young & fresh-faced doesn’t he? Perhaps he’d been readingacnetox reviews getting tips from there…

Popularity: 1% [?]

Alex “Hurricane” Higgins has been described in superlatives. He’s fast-moving around the table and was flamboyant, with a highly unusual technique, including swerving his body when cueing. Most pros would say this is a classic example of how NOT to play snooker, yet this way, Higgins managed to pot ball after ball in rapid succession.

His legend was only increased by his habit of drinking and smoking during tournaments, and his volatile personality, which resulted in his many altercations, even on the table, although I’m not sure if he ever went through a non 12 step therapy program to try deal with his demons.

Started on snooker at 11, by 16 (in 1965) he had scored his first maximum break (147) and turned pro at 22, becoming World Snooker Champion in his first attempt in 1972.

His greatest achievement must be that classic 1982 World Professional Snooker Championship semifinal against another snooker genius in Jimmy White.

Higgins was 0-59 down in this frame, and one mistake would see him defeated. Yet, he, with his unorthodox style, came back from the dead and scored a break of 69, probably the greatest ever break made under pressure: an incredibly difficult clearance during which he was barely managed good positions until it was time for the colours.

Former world champion Dennis Taylor was quoted to have said:

…a three-quarter-ball pot on a blue into the green pocket especially memorable, not only for its extreme degree of difficulty but for enabling Higgins to continue the break and keep White off the table and unable to clinch victory at that moment.

In successfully potting that blue, the Hurricane “screwed the cue-ball on to the side cushion to bring it back towards the black/pink area with extreme left-hand sidespin,” which Taylor himself believes “could be played 100 times without coming close to the position Higgins reached with cue-ball.”

Even Steve Davis, one of snooker’s greatest ever players said in Clive Everton’s TV documentary The Story of Snooker (2002): “Higgins is the one true genius that snooker has produced.”

Video:

That year Higgins went on to be world champion for the second time in his career, defeating one of the most successful players of that era, Ray Reardon 18�15, with a clearance of 135 in the final frame.

He died 24th July 2010 of throat cancer aged 61.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Match: Denmark v Cameroon

Danish defender Simon Kjaer kicked an unbelieveably pintpoint long ball that went almost the entire length of the field to midfielder Dennis Rommedahl, who then passed to forward Nicklas Bendtner who slid the ball home. Simply world class delivery, even Iniesta or Xavi would’ve appreciated the quality.

The match ended 2-1 in favour of Denmark.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Match: Brazil v Ivory Coast

Actor: Kader Keita, 29 (Ivory Coast)

Pushed lightly in the chest by Brazilian superstar Kaka, Keita dropped to the ground, while pretending to be in extreme agony by clutching his face.

The result? Red card for Kaka.

The incident made Keita inevitably infamous, with some quarters in the Brazilian camp calling for him to be made a guinea pig at a medical assistant school. But then, what did they ask to be done to Rivaldo during the 2002 World Cup match with Turkey?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Match: Holland (Netherlands) v Uruguay, semifinals

The general consensus of the goal of the 2010 World Cup seems to be Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s 40m stunner that went in the top corner of Uruguay’s goal.

Fantastic, unstoppable.

I still have a soft spot for Carlos Tevez’s stunner from outside the penalty box, but probably for the vast majority of football fans, it’s like saying this cheap China-made faucet is better than Hansgrohe faucets…

Popularity: 1% [?]

I think there should be a compilation of all the worst (and funny) things that happened during the World Cup, it would be a best seller everywhere, even at Best Buy.

For example…

Match: Nigeria v South Korea, 1st round

Nigeria’s Everton striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni missed probably the easiest shot in the 2010 World Cup. It was a tap-in from a mere 2 metres. This could very well be the most embarrassing moment in World Cup history. Even former England striker, Alan Shearer said “I reckon that’s the worst miss I’ve ever seen.”

He later made up for it by scoring a penalty. The match ended 2-2.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The internet’s biggest parody continues with the World Cup.

In the following, Hitler is none too pleased when he finds out that Germany would be facing England in the last 16. Quotable quote: “Robert Green … if only he held on to that ball, none of this would be happening!”

In the following, Hitler gets angry because FIFA failed to ban the vuvuzela.

Hmm, the Fuhrer seems to be losing his top to anything and everything – who knows what’s next to incur his wrath – perhaps even his riding boots won’t be spared.

Popularity: 1% [?]

During the 2010 World Cup, there were several glaring mistakes that could’ve changed the outcome of a match. So bad, that some of the referees involved were not allowed to take charge of another match, some needed police protection and later sent home.

Cases included:

Carlos Batres of Guatemala who apparently committed so many errors in one game: Paraguay v Spain (quarterfinals):
(i) disallowed Paraguay’s legitimate 1st goal;
(ii) the saved Paraguay penalty by Oscar Cardozo should’ve been retaken due to several Spanish players encroaching the area before the ball was kicked;
(iii) Spain should’ve been awarded another penalty for the foul on David Villa right after Xabi Alonso’s saved penalty.

Koman Coulibaly of Mali refereed the USA – Slovenia match in the group stage, then controversially denied the Americans a goal. The match ended 2-2.

Jorge Larrionda of Uruguay, who made what could be the most high-profile mistake of the tournament, when he didn’t count England’s goal against Germany, even though video replays showed the ball definitely went in.

Stephane Lannoy of France, who sent off Brazil’s Kaka for a harmless challenge during the group match with Ivory Coast.

Roberto Rosetti of Italy, who allowed Argentina’s disputed first goal against Mexico in the second round.

Will the best eye cream make them see better? Compare those with the worst ever refereeing mistakes ever committed during the World Cup finals.

World Cup 1986: The infamous Hand of God incident: it was the quarterfinals in Mexico City: England against Argentina. For Maradona’s second goal, he jumped up for a header and punched the ball over Peter Shilton. The referee, Ali Bennaceur of Tunisia failed to spot the crime and the goal stood. Maradona’s remembered most for this incident, even more than the fabulous first goal which he also scored.

World Cup 1982: France vs Germany semifinal. Michel Platini’s through ball cleared striker Patrick Battiston goalbound. Then German goalie Harald Schumacher crashed into his face, knocking him unconscious and breaking a tooth. Amazingly, the referee, Charles Corver of Holland not only not issued a booking nor a penalty, he awarded a goal kick instead! Germany went on to win the match.

World Cup 2006: Graham Poll of England is among the top 100 referees of all time according to International Federation of Football History and Statistics, and at that year’s world cup, he had been tipped to referee the final itself. His first 2 games were OK, however, in his 3rd game, which was the Croatia vs Australia match, he yellow carded Josip �imuni? of Croatia 3 times before finally realising his error and promptly sent him off. First it was in the 61st minute, then Poll carded him again for a tackle in the 90th, but failed to send him off. In the dying seconds of the game 3 minutes later, �imuni? argued with Poll, and received his “third” yellow card, this time followed by a red card. FIFA at first noted all 3 yellows in its match report, later removing the 2nd booking. As a result, Poll was removed from the knockout stage referee list. He retired from refereeing any international tournament finals after that. In his 2007 autobiography, Poll wrote that when he booked �imuni? for the second time, he had wrongly recorded him as “Australia #3″ because of �imuni?’s “Australian accent.”

Popularity: unranked [?]

UPDATE 7 July 2010

So the Sacred World Cuppa Theory has gone down the drain after 48 years, or perhaps it hasn’t?

Maybe the theory need to be amended as follows:

Since 1962, European teams will triumph if the tournament is held in a time zone similar to Europe’s, otherwise, South Americans would.

So for 2010, since South Africa is in a similar time zone to Europe, a European team would lift the Cup.

————————————
5 July 2010

Uruguay has not won the World Cup for 60 years – I wonder if people who actually saw the match live are still around – if they do, they’re probably heavy users of face creams by now.

Even though they are 2-time world champions, on the face of it, Uruguay would seem to be headed for almost certain elimination in the semifinals on 6th July 2010 when they face mighty Holland.

However, there’s a thing called “The Sacred World Cuppa Theory” which had been proven right for 48 years, which says in gist:

Since 1962, Europe and South America would take turns to win the World Cup, and following along the same lines, whenever the tournament is held in Europe, a European team will win the Cup, but if anywhere else, a South American team will.

For this to be true, Uruguay will have to achieve 2 Mission Impossibles. First, it will have to defeat high-riding Netherlands in the semis. If they manage that, they’d then face off with either Germany / Spain in the final on 11th July.

One might say this will never happen, but after witnessing the several Mission Impossibles South Korea achieved in 2002, I’d say: nothing’s impossible.

Still not convinced / you’d rather ask Paul the Psychic Oberhausen Octopus?

Consider these cases:

World Cup 1994: Brazil v Italy final. It was the first ever World Cup final to be decided by a penalty shoot-out. Roberto Baggio took Italy’s fifth and last penalty, but skied his shot. To be fair to him Franco Baresi and Daniele Massaro had already missed their penalties. But had he scored, Italy would’ve drawn level 3-3 and could’ve very well edged out Brazil – but as a little bird said, the Gods of World Cuppa descended from the heavens and made sure Baggio – the undisputed best Italian player during that world cup, the fourth-highest all-time top scorer for Italy, the only Italian player ever to score in three World Cups – missed the most important kick of his whole career.

World Cup 2010: it was the quarterfinals and Brazil had already crashed out earlier. The Gods of World Cuppa must’ve known that Argentina and Paraguay would also follow suit the next day, and chose Uruguay to continue to be the torchbearer for South American football. So, on 2nd July 2010, at the final minute of extra time, Dominic Adiyiah’s goalbound header was stopped by Luis Suarez on the line, deliberately with his hands (hence the legend of the Second Hand of God was born). So Suarez was sent off, and Ghana awarded a surely match-winning penalty. So who’d be the best person to take it? Who else but the Black Stars’ top scorer Asamoah Gyan. As legend would have it, to be retold for generations to come, the Gods of World Cuppa descended from the heavens yet again, and lowered the goal’s crossbar by a few millimetres, resulting in Gyan’s penalty hitting it, to the utter dismay of the entire African continent.

Popularity: unranked [?]

At least for World Cup 2010, don’t even think of watching matches in Somalia.

If you’re caught by Islamist militants, you’d be lucky to escape with mere flogging in public.

Instead of watching matches, these gangs spend their time patrolling around looking for people to catch red-handed in front of a TV.

Just a few days ago, they killed 2 people caught watching a game in the privacy of their home.

Yes, their World Cup fever is slightly different.

Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aros, of Hizbul-Islam, one of the militant groups was quoted to have said:

We are warning all the youth of Somalia not to dare watch these World Cup matches. It is a waste of money and time and they will not benefit anything, not even get any experience by watching mad men jumping up and down.

Yes, folks, Mr Abdi Aros thinks Lionel Messi is a lunatic and Cristiano Ronaldo is basically a monkey in disguise.

Somali football fans are probably all squinty eyed, for they have one eye on the TV, and another on the door, while huddled under a massage table cart just in case them enforcers come crashing in.

Source
The BBC, 14 June 2010

Popularity: unranked [?]

IMHO, there are 2 contenders, both, perhaps unsurprisingly were by the Brazilians. And both of them have been scored so long ago that football fans old enough to have seen them live might be users of wrinkle creams now.

In the 1970 final, with 5 minutes to go, Carlos Alberto scored Brazil’s fourth and final goal against Italy. Eight Brazilians in all were involved, representing The Beautiful Game at its level best. It started with Tost�o from just outside Brazil’s penalty box, who then ran the entire length of the field into Italy’s penalty box, without ever touching the ball again. Meanwhile, Clodoaldo eluded 4 Italians while still in his own half, passed to Rivelino, who in turn passed to Jairzinho on the left, who then pushed inside and gave the ball to Pel�, who then did what’s been called the chess player’s move, as he waited calmly for the perfect moment before rolling it into the path of Carlos Alberto, who’d onrushed all the way from right back. His thundering shot was simply unstoppable – keeper Enrico Albertosi did not even manage to get a hand to it.

Then, in the 1958 World Cup final, Pele, then only 17 years old, scored two goals, both in the second half. The first is probably the greatest goal ever scored in a final, where he lobbed the ball over Bengt Gustavsson, and followed that up with a pinpoint volley. And more than 50 years later, Pele’s records are still unbroken: the youngest to ever play in a World Cup final, the youngest to ever score in a World Cup final and of course the youngest to ever win a World Cup. Pele himself was quoted to have said that this was the sweetest victory of his glittering career.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Definitely out, these guys became spectators like the rest of us, probably watched them matches in one of those used motorhomes parked by the beach somewhere…

Rio Ferdinand (England): 4 June 2010: knee ligament injury during training.
Nani (Portugal): 8 June 2010: shoulder injury
Michael Ballack (Germany): 15 May 2010: ankle injury
Mikel John Obi (Nigeria): 5 June 2010: knee/ankle injury
Michael Essien (Ghana): 27 May 2010: knee injury

Was injured, but still ended up playing:

Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast): 4 June: fractured elbow
Arjen Robben (Holland): 4 June: hamstring injury

Did this guy play?

Andrea Pirlo (Italy): available June 24 in match vs Slovakia

Earlier:

March 2010: David Beckham (England): Achilles tendon injury.
October 2009: Oguchi Onyewu (USA): torn patellar tendon on knee.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Updated 4 December 2011

Socrates has died of an illness. He was 57.

His most memorable goal is probably the following thunderbolt, which was the equaliser during the match against the USSR in the 1982 World Cup:

RIP

—————————————–
9 June 2010

Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, simply Socrates to the world (born 1954) of Brazil was one of the best midfielders in the history of football and probably the most rugged footballer of the Cold War era. He captained Brazil in the 1982 World Cup, still considered one of the best sides in history, and surely the best Brazilian side never to win the World Cup.

In March 2004, Pele named him one of the Top 125 Living Footballers. World Soccer has included him in its list of the 100 best footballers in history.

Nothing out of ordinary right? Other footballers have achieved even greater stuff on the field.

But consider this: while still playing professionally for Botafogo at club level in the 1970s, where he made 57 appearances and scored 24 goals, he studied at, and graduated with a medical degree from the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirao Preto.

That means he was already a medical doctor while playing in the 1982 and 1986 World Cups.

He then went on to earn (not honorary) a PhD in philosophy.

On top of all that, he was also a heavy drinker and smoker. Yes, while still a player at the highest level. Apparently, he’s still doing both now.

How the heck did he manage to do all that, one would ask? Did his mother gobble up prodigious amounts of prenatal vitamins?!

He now practises sports medicine in his home town of Ribeirao Preto, Brazil.

Popularity: 1% [?]

To me, to be considered the greatest international striker in football, one must fulfill the following conditions:

- must have played for a top footballing nation
- must have scored more goals than the number of caps received; the greater the difference, the better
- plus point: have won the World Cup
- plus point: have scored many goals during (a) World Cup tournament(s)

If based on numbers alone, Niels Poul “Tist” Nielsen (1891 – 1962) of Denmark should be the greatest international goalscoring machine who ever lived.

He played 38 times for his country, yet scored 52 goals, averaging an astounding 1.37 goals a match. However, he lived before the era of professionals and mondials. The best international honour he got was winning silver at the 1912 Olympiad.

Then how about Sandor “Golden Head” Kocsis (1929 – 1979) of Hungary, a member of the legendary Mighty Magyars of the 1950s, together with Ferenc Puskas, Zoltan Czibor, Jozsef Bozsik and Nandor Hidegkuti.

He scored 75 goals for his country with only 68 caps – 1.1 goals per game. His greatest achievement was during the 1954 World Cup where Hungary were runners-up, and where Kocsis scored 11 goals – including two hattricks – for an average of 2.2 goals in a single World Cup finals competition – still unequaled more than 50 years later.

Still, I think Gerd Muller (b. 1945) of Germany is the greatest football striker at international level who ever lived. Sure, he looks more like a nuclear scientist nowadays but…

… together with Nielsen and Kocsis, Muller is one of only 3 players, among those who’ve scored 50 or more goals for their country, to have scored more goals than received caps. He got 62 caps, yet scored 68 goals – average 1.1 goals per game, same as Kocsis, including 10 goals at the 1970 World Cup, which Germany did not win. But win they did in 1974, even though Muller scored fewer i.e. 4 goals.

So Muller is a World Cup winner, scored 68 goals in 62 international games, including 14 in two World Cups – and most importantly scoring in the final, the winning goal no less – he truly is the greatest football striker who ever lived.

If ever someone deserves personalized footballs, it would be Muller.

Popularity: 1% [?]

How high? A World Cup match.

The date: 23rd of June 1990
The event: 2nd round match of the 1990 World Cup being held in Italy
The match: Colombia vs Cameroon

Colombia had, among them, the excellent but highly eccentric goalkeeper Rene Higuita, 24.

Cameroon had, in their ranks, Roger Milla, 38, the aging but highly experienced forward. He became an international star during this World Cup by scoring a total of four goals and led his country to the quarterfinals, where they only narrowly lost to England 2-3. No less than Pele named him as one of the 125 greatest living football players in 2004.

In that match, Milla had scored the first goal at the 106th minute. Colombia, with the clock ticking, threw forward everything they had. Typically perhaps, Higuita himself travelled more than 30 yards IN FRONT of his goalmouth, but isn’t that a highly risky move for a goalkeeper in a match of this importance?

What happened next is history: he tried to dribble past Milla, failed, and Milla gleefully scored his country’s 2nd goal. It was the 109th minute. Milla had scored 2 goals in 3 minutes. Colombia pulled one back through Bernardo Redin at the 115th but it was not enough.

See below to relive that unbelieveable moment.

I bet Higuita couldn’t sleep at all that night, hopefully natural sleep aids came to his rescue.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Donald “The Don” Bradman, (1908 � 2001), an Australian cricketer, the greatest batsman of all time, and some have called him “the greatest phenomenon in the history of cricket, indeed in the history of all ball games”.

His 20-year career Test batting average is a peerless 99.94. His level was such that the Australian team captain quipped that he’s worth 3 batsmen. To try to stop him, the England team created dubious tactics known as the Bodyline. After a 6-year break due to World War II, he made a stirring comeback, captaining his country on a triumphant tour of England, undefeated.

Bradman in 1928

The number 99.94 has become not just cricket, but sports in general’s, iconic statistic. No other cricketer, ever or since, who’s played more than 20 Test match innings has done better than 61.

A rare occasion where Bradman scored zero, sometime 1932

Statistician Charles Davis has analysed the stats for some athletes widely acknowledged to be the best in their chosen sport, to see “the number of standard deviations that they stand above the mean for their sport.” In other words, to see how much better they are, represented in numbers, compared to their rivals:

- Bradman, cricketer, with his batting average as input, has a standard deviation of 4.4
- Pele, soccer, with goals per game average as input, has a standard deviation of 3.7
- Ty Cobb, baseball, with his batting average as input, has a standard deviation of 3.6
- Jack Nicklaus, golf, with number of major titles won as input, has a standard deviation of 3.5
- Michael Jordan, basketball, with average points per game as input, has a standard deviation of 3.4

The stats show that “no other athlete dominates an international sport to the extent that Bradman does cricket”.

To be as dominant as Bradman:

- a baseball batter would need a career batting average of .392; Ty Cobb’s record is .366.
- a basketball player to score an average of 43.0 points per game; Michael Jordan’s record is 30.1.

I wonder how many endorsements he signed up with during his career, perhaps even included weight loss products.

It was reported that Nelson Mandela, finally released from prison after 27 years, on meeting an Australian visitor, the first question he asked was: “Is Sir Donald Bradman still alive?”

In 2000, when the Wisden Cricketers of the Century list was compiled, 100 members of the panel of cricket experts had to select their top 5 favourite cricketers: all 100 voted for Bradman.

In 2001, more than 50 years after he retired, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard called him the “greatest living Australian”.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Francisco “Pancho” Varallo (born 5th February 1910) played as a forward for Argentina in the first World Cup final, on 30th July 1930. He is the only player still alive from that tournament which was held in Uruguay.

He was the youngest player in that first World Cup.

In that match, Uruguay, the Olympic champions, defeated Argentina 4-2 in front of 93,000 spectators. The next day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay, while in Buenos Aires, stones were thrown at the Uruguayan consulate.

A more recent photo of Varallo:

The stadium where the match was played:

One of the balls used in the final:

In the whole tournament, Varallo scored one goal, in a group match on 19th July 1930 against Mexico which Argentina won 6-3.

In 1933, he was topscorer in all of South America, with 34 goals. At club level, he played for Boca Juniors, in which he’s the highest ever goalscorer with 181 goals which stood for many years until it was broken by Martin Palermo in 2009! In fact, in his nineties, his sense of humour was intact: he was quoted to have said that he would have to come out of retirement if Palermo beat his record.

He did not play (not selected?) in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups.

He retired from professional football in 1940 aged 30.

He recently celebrated his 100th birthday.

Incredible, considering all that was achieved during a time when there was no such thing as catching up on no xplode reviews to enhance performance.

He has been awarded the FIFA order of merit, the body’s highest honour: it had only ever been given 3 times previously, to Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore. The Argentine Football Association honoured him by giving him a striped blue-and-white Argentina team shirt, emblazoned with the words “Varallo,” and what else but number 100 on the back.

Still, the pain of losing that final still lingered:

However, in my whole life I’ve never felt such a bitter pain as losing that World Cup Final against Uruguay in 1930.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Without a doubt.

He joined Manchester United, one of the world’s top football clubs, in July 2005. As at the time of writing this, he has played for the team more than 90 times and scored 10 goals.

The 5’9″ dynamite winger/attacking midfielder’s achievements include:

- first Asian to ever captain Manchester United. Happened when captain Ryan Giggs passed the armband to him when he was substituted in a game against Lille OSC.
- captain of South Korea since October 2008.
- first Asian to play and win the Champions League, when he was named in the starting line-up against Barcelona in the 2009 final. In the 2007 final against Chelsea, he was left out of the squad.
- first Korean to win the Premier League (is he also the first Asian to win the Premier League?)
- first Asian to to win the Fifa Club World Cup
- was in the South Korean 2002 World Cup team as a 21-year old, where he scored a memorable match-winning goal against Portugal in the group stages. He controlled the ball with his chest, beat S�rgio Concei��o then volleyed, with his left foot, through the legs of goalie Vitor Baia and into goal. That goal knocked favoured Portugal out of the tournament. Ultimately South Korea got as far as the semifinals, the best ever achievement by an Asian team at a World Cup.
- was in the South Korean 2006 World Cup team, when he scored the equaliser in the group match against eventual finalists France and was voted Man of the Match.
- is in the South Korean 2010 World Cup team, where he is the top scorer in their qualifying campaign. The team advanced to the finals without any defeats.

He has raised the bar much higher than previous Asian greats like Saeed Owairan (in 1994, scored one of the greatest goals in a World Cup, which earned him the title “The Maradona of the Arabs”), Khodadad Azizi, Ali Daei (the world’s all-time leading goalscorer in international matches), Hidetoshi Nakata, Majed “Desert Pele” Abdullah (the best football player in the history of Saudi Arabia), Kunishige Kamamoto, Kazuyoshi Miura (first Japanese recipient of the Asian Player of the Year award in 1993, first Japanese football superstar) and Cha Bum-Kun (Asia’s Player of the Century, all time leading goal scorer for the South Korean National team).

Whew, I’ve finished talking – and I’m announcing defeat – no matter how many times I’m reincarnated, I’ll never top Park’s achievement, and we know now all his footballing achievement. But life is more than football, perhaps I’d like to start by getting tips from him on how to treat acne!

Popularity: 2% [?]