[OT] What Is the Rarest Single-Game Feat in Sports?

[Al DeFlorio]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:

 A shutout in lacrosse is rare. In NCAA playoffs, unprecedented. Cornell's shutout of (Hofstra? 1976?) in the NCAA tournament was incredible...[/q]
Washington & Lee in the 1976 quarterfinals.

[Tom Lento]

How about breaking a world record in the medal heat of the 200 at the Olympics. . .

. . . and losing by a *lot*?

I'm not sure which is more impressive, Johnson's record, or the time of the second place finisher.

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:
Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points deserves recognition because it's huge and it's a nice round number.[/q]

Likewise Brian Lara's 400 runs in a Test cricket innings.  Of course he set the record with 375 in 1994, had it broken last year by Matthew Hayden, then got it back last month.  So maybe not that rare.

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

Well, it would appear that a Cornell sports team appearing live on ESPN is a rare feat happening for the first time ever this afternoon.

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]Tom Pasniewski 98 Wrote:

 Well, it would appear that a Cornell sports team appearing live on ESPN is a rare feat happening for the first time ever this afternoon.[/q]

The Cornell-Penn football game was live (at 10am) on ESPN Thanksgiving Day 1989.

[finchphil]

This might not be eligible since it is a team thing, but back in the mid 1990s I saw a game at Fenway between the Twins and the Red Sox.  The Twins turned 2 triple plays in the same game.  It hasn't been done before or since, so under the original specs of this posting, it might not be eligible, since it hasn't been repeated.  Both were simple ground balls to the third baseman with runners at first and second.  He stepped on third, threw to second and on to first for the triple play.

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

From the Cornell Athletic site and presumable Cornell Sports Information:

"The game will be broadcast live on ESPN, as the Big Red will become the first-ever Cornell team to have a game televised live nationally on ESPN."

Somebody has to be wrong.

I'm sure glad that the Big Red are the first Cornell team....wouldn't want those Yellow Jackets or Orange of Cornell to have been the first.
:-D

[billhoward]

[Q]I was actually at the last game in which an unassisted triple play was accomplished.  My then girlfriend made us leave in the 5th inning ebcause it was very cold.  John Valentin turned the unassisted triple play in the sixth: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/07081994.shtml[/q]

... and what became of the girlfriend who pulled you away the inning before this momentous event? You ever hear from her?

Guys have many flaws. But when Duke leads Carolina by one with :06 to play (actually, today that would be :06.3) and the Tarheels are shooting a one-and-one, no guy ever perches on the arm of the coach, leans over, looks in your face, and says, "Penny for your thoughts."

[billhoward]

[Q]You mean an own goal?  Those aren't officially recorded.[/q]

Maybe NHL scorekeers don't write it in the one great scorebook, but every fan who saw the home team lose when a knucklehead defenseman cleared a puck from behind the net and bounced it off the goalie's butt and into the net, they recall who put the shot in.

[billhoward]

Multiple holes in one in golf are partly skill but mostly luck, of the 10,000-chimps-typing-eventually-write-the-encyclopedia form. Beating the field by 15 strokes to win the US Open at Pebble Beach, that's brilliance.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

The word "nationally" eliminates the 1989 football game.  You can be sure that was regional coverage.

But what about last years' NCAA semi vs UHN?  Wasn't that on ESPN?  Or was it tape delayed?

JH

[pfibiger]

I think the Cornell - UNH semi was on ESPN2, and then only the final game was on ESPN.

[ugarte]

[Q]Jeff Hopkins '82 Wrote:

 The word "nationally" eliminates the 1989 football game.  You can be sure that was regional coverage.[/q]Are you sure it would be regional coverage at 10AM? I doubt that USC was willing to play at 7AM on Thanksgiving.  I would guess that not too many East coast teams were willing to play as early as 10 either.  If I were to guess (and it is, of course, only a guess) I would guess that Cornell and Penn moved the game to 10AM to be the national game.  I can't imagine why anyone would have wanted to watch the 1989 game, though. And, as we all know, the Athletic Department doesn't make mistakes. ;-)

[CUlater 89]

My recollection was that the Cornell-Penn game  was national and was scheduled in that time slot prior to the season, mostly because the two schools had tied for first place in the league the prior season and had battled for the title in the last game two seasons before that.

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

Again, a technicality.  Yes, Cornell has been on ESPN2 before and Coach with the team in the background was on the selections how (I think that was on ESPNNews).