Did you know there are 108 double-sided stitches on an official major league baseball? The first and last stitch are hidden.
My daughter, Tayler, and I were recently going over ideas for my next column when she asked if I knew any weird facts about sports that may interest my readers.
I wasn’t sure what to say but quickly started rummaging through the web for content.
Here are 10 facts I would like to share. Try to contemplate your answers before looking them up at the end of the column.
1. Olympic gold medals are what percent gold?
2. The average golf ball has how many dimples?
3. The first sport played on the moon in 1971 was _______.
4. Frozen what was the first-ever puck used in a hockey game?
5. The name for three consecutive strikes in a bowling game is called a ______.
6. Yellow tennis balls were used for the first time in what year?
7. The volleyball drill of passing and hitting without a net is called ______.
8. Most major gymnasts start their careers as early as ______ years old.
9. There are how many minutes of total action in a baseball game?
10. The Zamboni was invented in 1949 by a man named _____.
Timeout Top 10 fun facts answers:
1. 1 percent. The last time Olympic Gold medals were made of solid gold was more than 100 years ago – in 1912. Now gold medals are made mostly of silver (over 90 percent), some copper (about 6 percent) and the remaining 1 percent is actually gold.
2. 336 dimples. The number varies depending on the model and manufacturer. Most often, the number of dimples per golf ball falls between 300 and 500.
3. Golf. Alan Shepard swung a makeshift 6-iron on the moon’s surface and missed on the first swing. He hit the ball on the second shot.
4. Cow dung. The first hockey pucks were made from frozen cow dung and leather liver pads. These early pucks had a lifespan of about one game before they were too soft or too hard for playability, so they were replaced with wooden ones.
5. Turkey. While no one really knows who or exactly where it started, tournament runners started giving out live turkeys to bowlers who managed to score three consecutive strikes.
6. 1986. Historically, balls were either black or white in color, depending on the background color of the courts. In 1972 the ITF introduced yellow tennis balls into the rules of tennis, as research had shown these balls to be more visible to television viewers. Meanwhile Wimbledon continued to use the traditional white ball, but eventually adopted yellow balls in 1986.
7. Pepper. It is a volleyball drill or exercise you can see in just about every pre-match routine and training session warm-up. In its most basic form, it comprises a three-touch sequence executed by two players and replicates the three contacts used in competitive volleyball – dig/pass, set, hit.
8. 2 years old. USA Gymnastics, the country’s governing body for elite gymnastics, says the optimum age for kids to begin training is between 2 and 5 years old.
9. 18 total minutes. This is a somewhat controversial answer but shows how much “action” there may be in a game that lasts overs three hours. Also, rule changes in the game may affect this answer.
10. Frank Zamboni invented the Zamboni machine.