Random Fact of the Day: 22

Former Kansas Jayhawk Jacque Vaughn holds the NBA record for most consecutive field goal misses to start a season with 22.

Dude...Shaq is freakin' awesome.

I saw an "Icy-hot" commercial a couple of minutes ago with Shaq in it throwin' down some dunks and I thought to myself: 'He's the best center I have ever seen play basketball'. And it's true. I'm only 22, so I did not get to see Moses, Kareem, Wilt, Bill Russell and some of the other great centers play so I don't know if I would call him the best center ever, but hes probably top 7 of all time. But this isn't whether he's the best ever, I just want to reflect upon a career that was truly outstanding.

He has really been a catalyst to having your team get deep into the playoffs. He is the main reason those Orlando Magic teams got to the conference and NBA finals from 1993-1996. He is the reason the Lakers won 3 NBA titles in a row and made the playoffs every year he was in Los Angles. Then he gets traded to the Miami Heat and guess what, they win the NBA championship. He has not won since 2006 but he seems poised to make a serious run at a title this season in Cleveland. And he did not beat teams with a nice 15-foot jumper or being deadly from the free throw line. He beat you because you simply do not have an answer for a 7 foot 2 inch 330 pound dude with an attitude.

The fact that he has only won ONE league MVP baffles me, he should have won at least 2 or 3. His stats are nauseating.

• 15 All-Star Appearances
• 2x Scoring Champ
• 3x Finals MVP
• 8x 1st Team All-NBA
• '99-'01 NBA MVP
• 24.2 Points Per Game, 19th All time
• 28,181 Career points, 1st among actives, 5th All-Time
• 11.1 Rebounds per game
• 2,684 Blocks, 7th All-Time
• 12,893 Career Rebounds, 14th All-Time

Shaq was awesome and I really loved watching this guy play, except for when he beat the living crap out of my 76ers in 2001. Other than that, I have loved his dominance and I am just really glad I have never had to defend him.

Random Fact of the Day: 82-0

In September of 2008 Bulgaria's women's hockey team lost to Slovakia 82-0 during the 2010 Winter Olympics qualifying tournament. During the 4 game tournament, Bulgaria gave up 192 goals. The 2007-2008 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings only gave up 184 goals in an 82 game season. That Bulgaria women's hockey team was really, really, really bad.

Random Fact of the Day: 1,000+

More than 1,000 NFL players stopped playing football during World War II and served their country. Some of the more notable players were Chuck Bednarik, Marv Levy, Norm Van Brocklin and Sid Luckman. How many of today's NFL players would go and serve their country as these players did? I personally could not see Chad Johnson (I would call him Ochocinco, but that makes me physically ill) suiting up in Iraq.

Here is a link for the complete list in alphabetical order:
http://http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/war/worldwar2/honor_roll.aspx

Random Fact of the Day: 202,149,199

That's the number of people, approximately, that did NOT watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. A February 2010 U.S. Census Bureau study shows that there is 308,649,199 people in America. 106,500,000 people (approximately) watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, making it the most watched television show in the history of America. My question: who are these other people and what could possibly have been more important than the Super Bowl? What else is happening on Sunday night from 6:30 pm until around 9:30?

Random Fact of the Day: Frankford Yellow Jackets were awesome

The 1926 NFL Champion Frankford Yellow Jackets were a really, really good football team. They finished the year 12-1-1. That season they recorded 8 shut-outs and gave up an average of 3 points per game. The most "modern era" shut-outs in a season by a team was the 1976 Steel Curtain with 5. The '26 Yellow Jackets had guys on the team named "Two-Bits Homan" and Wooky Roberts, which is just awesome.

Random Fact of the Day: 31-97

Matt Millen was hired as the Detroit Lions General Manager in 2001. The year before his arrival, the team had its only winning season (9-7) in the last decade. Matt Millen resigned in September of 2008 with a collective record as GM of 31-97, going 8-50 on the road. 2008 was also the winless 0-16 season of the Lions. Good job, Mr. Millen.

Random Fact of the Day: 13,188

Apparently "Hack-a-Shaq" was going on in the league before Shaq was even in the league. Karl Malone has the most free throw attempts in NBA history with 13,188. Not to say Shaq has not taken his fair share; he's 3rd on the list with 11,091.

Random (yet great) Sports Fact of the Day: 2 hours and 13 minutes.

Two hours and thirteen minutes is all the time you need to watch a pitcher throw a no hitter; while being on acid. On June 12, 1970 Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates threw 9 innings of hit-less baseball. Ellis walked 8 batters, one was a HBP, and struck out six all while being on LSD.

Random (yet great) Sports Fact of the Day: 53.9 Million

We all know baseball as "America's Past time". however recent TV ratings could be signs of a paradigm shift. Last week's NFC Championship game between the Saints and the Vikings racked up an incredible average of 53.9 million viewers. That is the most for an NFC Championship game since the 49ers and the Cowboys dueled it out in 1982. That is also the same game of the iconic photo of the 49ers Dwight Clark making "The Catch".

That was a game featuring one team that may or may not play IN the Super Bowl, while the other may or may not even win the Super Bowl. The World Series was a show-down between two big market teams and the Yankees may have one of the most recognizable logos in all of sports. The World Series crowns a champion for Americas "favorite" sport. The World Series averaged 19.1 million viewers per game.

There are a couple of factors that could explain why the World Series had such a low average viewership, in comparison to the NFC Championship game.
1. The World Series is just that, a series of games. Not everyone is a huge baseball fan and the winner is not going to be decided between games 1-3, so people may not have watched until game 4, which averaged 22.8 million viewers.
2. Both teams were on the East coast and less than a three hour drive from each city. The national interest may just not have been there.
3. People outside of a 35 mile radius of Philadelphia, hate Philadelphia. Philly has a die-hard fan base and a larger crowd of haters. Plus, most of the country probably thought that the Yankees were going to win anyway.
4. Baseball needs to get on top of starting times, but more importantly ending times. I'm a young guy without a career, so I have no problem staying up until 1:30 A.M. to watch my beloved Phillies. However, most guys with kids and a career cannot do that. The west coast probably did not mind the games starting at 6 pm and ending at 10:30, but they did not have as huge a rooting interest as the east coast did.

There could certainly be a few more points of interest, but I think you get the point. I love baseball but the NFL has this country by the jugular and I love it.