Sports
March 14 was “International Ask a Question Day,” and over on our Facebook page, we invited our readers to, well, ask a question and be entered in a giveaway. The response was overwhelming—hundreds of you BRI stalwarts posed a trivia conundrum. Unfortunately, we can’t answer all of them and not everyone can be a winner, […]
Historical records date the first ancient Olympic games to 776 BCE. The games were originally held every four years in Olympia, in southwestern Greece, with competitors traveling from across the region’s various states. The very first Olympics lasted just one day and had a single event—a sprint race. (This article was first published in Who […]
Over the last two years, three NFL teams announced relocation plans: the St. Louis Rams returned to Los Angeles, the San Diego Chargers also went back to Los Angeles, and the Oakland Raiders moving to Las Vegas. Before this, the last NFL team to move was the Houston Oilers, who left for Tennessee in 1997. […]
We heard a lot of these words thrown around during the Olympics, and we had to wonder—what do they actually mean? Curling This sport, originating in Scotland and dominated by Canadians, involves sliding a stone across ice toward a target while other players sweep the ice in front of the stone to help the stone […]
The Winter Olympics are getting underway in Pyeongchang, South Korea. There might be just a little bit of jealousy coming from these other cities, all of whom wanted to host the winter games…and didn’t get to. Winter and Summer Locations The first modern Olympics were held in 1896, but those were for “summer” sports. Things […]
Four Winter Olympic events will be contested for the first time at the 2018 games in Pyeongchang, South Korea: big air in snowboarding, big air in freestyle skiing, mass start speedskating, and mixed doubles curling. Not being contested: these sports, which have been discontinued or never approved by the IOC. Snowshoeing It’s like hiking…in incredibly […]
While athletes make Winter Olympic history as we speak, can you answer these
questions about Winter Olympians of the past?
Even if you’ve never read J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books or seen the film adaptations, you’ve still probably heard of quidditch, the broomstick-brandishing sport that forms an integral part of her wizarding world. (This article was first published in Who Knew?) Not Just for Wizards In Rowling’s novels, it’s a sport that’s been played […]
Super Bowl ads are big business—the network airing the big game can charge a fortune for a 30-second spot because more than 100 million people are watching the broadcast. Companies clamor to get those commercial slots, but the NFL (and the network) can still say no. GNC Just four days before the 2017 Super Bowl, […]
Last weekend, the Buffalo Bills finished the 2017 NFL regular season with a record of 9 and 7, enough to secure the sixth the final AFC playoff spot. That ended the longest playoff drought in the NFL—the Bills hadn’t played in the postseason since 1999. Here are some the other longest current postseason droughts in […]
Updated March 12, 2019 We love making these lists of the tallest, smallest, oldest, and youngest players to ever play professional sports. Here are similarly interesting facts about some all-time record-breaking coaches from the NBA. Longest-serving coach with one team. In 1996, former San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors assistant coach Gregg Popovich got […]
The 2017 Cleveland Browns are about to make NFL history. No, not in a good way — they’re on track to become one of the few teams to ever rack up a completely winless season. In 2016, the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers ended a nearly 50-year sports championship drought in Cleveland. In football, however, the […]
The sport is called “football,” even though only one player regularly actually kicks the ball: the kicker. Here are some guys who joined the NFL because of their kicks…but had a hard time kicking it. The extra point or “point after touchdown” is so named because it’s basically a free point. A team scores a […]
Watch out for the windmill, don’t swing your club too hard, and enjoy this trivia about mini golf. Ladies’ Putting Club of St. Andrews One of the oldest miniature golf courses in the world is located right next to one of the oldest and most storied regular golf courses in the world. At St. Andrews […]
If you’re from the area near a college or went there, you probably know why your quirky team name is what it is, but for the rest of us, let the truth be told. Stanford Cardinal Look closely — the prestigious California university’s team name is the Cardinal, not cardinals. That refers to the shade […]
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, isn’t just for players, managers, and other people who made baseball great. “Centerfield” The playing of John Fogerty’s 1985 baseball-themed hit “Centerfield” is as much a part of a baseball game as peanuts and the seventh-inning stretch. In 2010, the Baseball Hall of […]
Here are some teams who defended their titles…by not defending them at all and turning almost explicably bad in the blink of an eye. The 1998-99 Chicago Bulls In the 1997-98 season, the Chicago Bulls amassed a record of 62-20, the best in the Eastern Conference. They cruised through the playoffs and in the […]
Millions have fantasized about being the hero of the World Series, like stepping up to the plate and hitting a home run. Here are some players who did just that—even though the rest of their professional baseball careers were otherwise unremarkable. • The 2016 World Series will go down in history as the one that […]
