1). Michael Phelps has as many gold medals in this Olympics than Great Britain, France, Spain, and Russia – combined. In fact, if Phelps were his own country, he would be tied with South Korea and a Phelps-less USA for second in gold medals.
Obviously, the dominance of Michael Phelps is remarkable, but this really puts it into perspective. Wow!
2). Michael Phelps has more career gold medals (11) than the entire history of India (8).
This is even more remarkable. Granted they are not known for their athletic achievements, outside of maybe squash and cricket (both non-Olympic events), but India has more than one billion people and has competed at 22 different Olympiads. Phelps is one person and has competed at 2 Olympiads.
3). Babe Ruth hit 54 home runs in 1920. That same year, the St. Louis Browns were second in the AL in home runs–as a team–with 50. The 1920 Boston Red Sox hit 22.
Now, I know that this Babe Ruth stuff has been done and done again, but this is absolutely remarkable. This one guy hit more home runs than any other TEAM. His individual total was almost TRIPLE that of the entire Boston team. Oh, and by the way, George Sisler was second in home runs, behind the Babe, with 19. That is utterly ridiculous.
4). The difference between Tiger Woods’ #1 ranking and Phil Mickelson’s #2 ranking is a wider margin than that between #2 Mickelson and the 110th ranked player in the world.
I apologize for not knowing or understanding the point system than goes into ranking golfers, but I do not think that it makes much of a difference, considering the sheer ridiculousness of that stat.
5). Roy Oswalt is 21-1 against the Cincinnati Reds.
Now, I do love the random stat, but this one is ridiculous. Yes, I know that Roy Oswalt is one of the best pitchers on the era. And, yes, I know that the Cincinnati Reds have really struggled during Oswalt’s career, but TWENTY-ONE and ONE?!?
6). Entering their recent 3-game series, Ryan Howard was hitting .114 against the Pirates, with 34 strikeouts in 70 at-bats.
Say what you will about Ryan Howard and his low batting average and high strikeouts, but these numbers are mind-boggling. He is not anywhere near this bad, and the Pirates do not exactly have a lights-out pitching staff.
Bry-
One correction for you. This will be Michael’s third Olympics. He was a mere 15 years old when he participated in the 200 meter-fly in Sydney, that event is now of course the one he has dominated for the last 6 years. And, for which he smashed his own world record last night, er…today(?), however that works.
Oh, thanks, Matt. Did Phelps medal in Sydney?
This comes from the Olympics website about Mr. Phelps. The dude is a freak of nature.
“When he was only 15 years old, Michael Phelps competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, placing fifth in the 200m butterfly. The following year he broke the world record for the event, becoming, at age 15 years 9 months, the youngest male ever to set a swimming world record.”
These olympics have been unbelievable. I mean, I honestly can’t believe some of the things that have happened. As anyone will tell you, I’m the last guy who will give credit to swimmers. If you had asked me a month ago I would have told you that swimming is not a sport, it’s a way to keep from drowning. But not after watching Jason Lezak chase down Alain Bernard of France, the world record holder in the 100 meter freestyle, in the 4X100 meter freestyle relay. If you haven’t seen it, click here: http://www.ignitecast.com/p/RjsqoePn8H/. Lezak entered the pool 1/2 a body length behind Bernard, which is a HUGE HUGE lead in a 100 meter swim, and Bernard is the fastest man alive in the 100 free. In fact, Bernard easily won the gold in the mens individual 100 meter free. Lezak catching Bernard should have been impossible. But it happened, and it was one of the most clutch performances I’ve ever seen in sports. Ever.
And speaking of swimmers, Michael Phelps is unreal. The guy is from another planet. 17 olympic swims? He’s going against people who are swimming two and three times and just dominating them. Is there a better olympics somewhere? Because, if so, Phelps needs to go there.
Okay, now we get to the point where this gets TERRIBLE. Worse than giving credit to swimmers. In fact, I should be beaten to death for this paragraph but I’m going to write it anyway. I have to say that women’s gymnastics is a ridiculous olympic event. The girls in this thing are freaking 16 years old!!! Now, I’ll be the first one to admit that I know next to nothing about 16 year old girls. In fact, I’d say that my entire universe of knowledge about 16 year old girls comes from watching Doogan. But to be in front of millions and millions of people at that age and handle the pressure of doing two backflips and landing on a 4 inch wide piece of wood is just insane. There, I’ve said my piece. If you told me before tonight that I’d write something in favor of women’s gymnastics I would have laughed at you. I know I’m going to get mocked for this. This is one of those times when I’m thankful that the only thing I feel when I kill is the recoil of my shotgun.
I also have thoroughly enjoyed the gymnastics. The balance beam is definitely the most incredible thing to me. The best part about the sport is that you have these girls that have literally spent their entire lives building up to this moment where they have to do a flip and land on that beam (or whatever event it is), and it can all go horribly wrong at any moment, and often does. Not that I’m necessarily rooting for it to all go horribly wrong, but the fact that it can and does makes it a great spectator sport.
Ew man how you gonna hate on India like that?! That’s some cold-blooded shit. Plus, India won one gold medal this Olympics (yeah pistol shooting!) which is one more then we were supposed to win. Plus, we do a better job of feeding the worlds largest democracy then those dirty Commie Olympic-dominating Chinese.
Otherwise, Phelps is the man. I kept waiting for them to say he was gonna swim to Florida and stop this hurricane.