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Aside: I’ve been struck by the relative scarcity of sports-themed Substack newsletters. One might think that in a sports-crazed world, we’d have more widely-popular sports Substacks. Sports journalists or historians might have an unfilled niche they could capitalize on here?

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Jun 9, 2023·edited Jun 9, 2023Author

I left off some text. Here is a few paragraphs on "Team comparisons …."

What teams in major sports dominated the way James Holzhauer did, or the way Ken Jennings did before James? A few “dynasties” quickly come to mind:

The Boston Celtics won eight consecutive NBA titles between 1959-1965, the record in pro sports.

The UCLA Bruins under John Wooden won seven consecutive national championships between 1967-1973. The Bruins also won 10 titles in 12 years. The Bruins won 88 consecutive games at one point, beating the previous longest winning streak of 60 games set by San Francisco in the mid ‘50s.

This decade, the U Conn women’s basketball team won 111 consecutive games, this after holding a previous winning streak of 90 consecutive games.

The University of Oklahoma football team won 47 consecutive games between 1953-57 under coach Bud Wilkinson. Second place for consecutive wins in the modern era of major college football is 34 games by the Miami Hurricanes of 2000-02.

The University of Alabama football team has now surpassed a record held by Tiger Woods in golf. Woods was the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world at some point over 14 consecutive years. Alabama’s football teams under Nick Saban have been ranked No. 1 at some point in the football season for 15 consecutive seasons (from 2008-2022). That record might never be broken. 

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Jun 9, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.

Secretariat! What a stunning horse. My favorite. Thanks.

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I keep thinking of more athletes who had incredible runs of dominance in their sports. Two prizefighters come to mind: Rocky Marciano retired with an undefeated record of 49-0. And then Floyd Mayweather, Jr. surpassed him by one victory, retiring with a 50-0 record (and titles in five different weight divisions).

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Jun 9, 2023·edited Jun 10, 2023Author

I started thinking about other athletes (like Wayne Gretzky) I left off my "anomaly" or "domination" list. Martina Navrotilova came to mind. So I Googled her records and found that she was the No. 1 ranked female player for the 2nd longest period of time.

With 22 Grand Slam titles, Steffi Graf dominated tennis in the '80s and '90s, and she was ranked as the world's No. 1 player for a staggering 377 weeks. In other words, Graf was the top female tennis player in the world for almost seven years in a row.

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Jun 9, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.

No “Pistol” Pete Maravich? His NCAA scoring average will never be touched, even though he played without the 3-point shot!

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Check out Dan Patch.

When Ty Cobb was making 12k a year Dan Patch was making a million.

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Great article Bill, In Australia, Don Bradman a cricketer averaged 99.94 runs per innings in test cricket, the next closest in the history of the game spanning 150 years is 60, so that is a 40% increase on anyone ever to play the game! I find this record amazing.

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Jun 10, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.

Nolan Ryan 7 no hitters. Kofax in second place with "only" 4.

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Jun 10, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.

Ricky Henderson’s record of 1406 career stolen bases is one of those MLB records that will never be broken (like Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters, Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, Cy Young's 511 wins, etc.). First, consider that the current stolen bases leader among active players is Dee Strange-Gordon with 336, who is at the end of his career--nearly all of the players behind him on the list are either too far along in their careers or simply don't have enough stolen bases to give Henderson's record a realistic shot. Second, unless the prevailing MLB philosophy on stolen bases was to turn drastically from ‘Moneyball’ towards something akin to how the game was played in the 1970s (which was better and more exciting), today's manager will simply never even consider giving an up-and-coming Ricky Henderson the green light to steal often enough to be able to sniff the record. (I wrote the above on my own website in June 2022) www.AlfredMartino.com

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There are so many ways to look at "records" and "anomolies"...

So, keeping with the sports theme, let me share 2 that come to mind:

1. While the Minnesota Vikings have also lost in four "Superbowls", nobody will ever do it better than the Buffalo Bills who lost 4 in a row. What are the most Superbowls won in a row by a single team I ponder - I think it is 2 but it might be 3 - but 4???? You have got to be kidding me! (1/16 chance all other things equal - but you got to get there to lose the big game).

2. While the Buffalo Bills had the greatest NFL comeback ever by the 2nd string QB - Frank Reich - when they played the "Oilers" I think the team was then....they came back 32 points down to win....but that record was broken this season in the NFL (by the Vikings I think).

Sadly this upcoming season in the NFL is basically one my heart just isn't into it anymore...I don't really care that much relatively speaking. I still care about sports local.

BK

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That's all well and good, golf, baseball, basketball, football...and no hockey? Check out Gretzky's records. There are so many records that stand out, I don't know how you could have let that slide. But all in all, great stuff!

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Jun 9, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.

Super stats! Loved watching Secretariat win the Belmont in 1973. I remember the disbelief associated with the distance margin of win, and the thrill.

Sad for Riley Gaines and other female athletes subjected to *extra-exceptional* competitors these days and wonder how the GOATs of tomorrow are viewed.

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As the little nazi would say, very interesting.

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Another interesting thing about sports records is the mental impact they bestow on other competitors. The four-minute mile was the Holy Grail of track for years until Roger Bannister ran it in 1956. Two months later, Australia's John Landy and Bannister ran the distance of one mile in under four minutes during the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

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Jun 11, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.

I did a control F to find anything about Gretzky. How could the author not include Gretzky? Wayne has more assists than any other player has points. If you took all of Wayne's 892 goals and deleted them from the record books, he would still be the all time points leader - on assists alone.

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