Page 11 - Sports Facts

In an attempt to attract publicity, Badminton New Zealand chose 'Black Cocks' as a nickname for their national teams.

Badminton New Zealand is an organization established in 1927 by Archdeacon Ralph Creed Meredith of Whanganui, one of its first champions. Badminton New Zealand has 27 regional member associations and organizes the New Zealand Open tournament- basically what you would expect from any country’s national sports teams.

To attract publicity, sponsorship, players, and fans, the name “Black Cocks” was chosen. Did it work? Well they did get a lot more publicity, and condom companies grew interest in sponsoring them. Still, it was treated as more of a joke, and eventually it was officially dropped.

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A woman who was born with a collapsed lung and diagnosed with asthma is now a double Olympic gold medalist in track cycling.

Her name is Laura Trott. Maybe you heard of her this past summer during the Olympics. At just over 5 feet tall and 19 years old, she is a two time gold medalist in track cycling. Trott, from London, suffers from a condition that makes her throw up after most races, making it even more impressive.

She has a condition that causes her to get too much acid in her stomach. During races, she tenses up which pushes up the acid until it gets stuck- making her vomit. Apparently even medication doesn’t help it much.

At birth, she also suffered a collapsed lung, which made it impossible for her to carry out her original dream of being a trampolinist. The collapsed lung also led to her getting asthma. Despite all of that, she’s still a hugely accomplished Olympian who it’s unlikely we’ve seen the last of.

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A baseball team in Japan is believed to be cursed by KFC founder Colonel Sanders.

The Curse of the Colonel, as it’s called, is an urban legend that KFC founder Colonel Sanders placed a curse on the Japanese Kansai-based Hanshin Tigers baseball team. The curse was apparently placed on the team because the Colonel was angry that one of his storefront statues was mistreated.

The Hanshin Tigers are considered the permanent underdogs of Nippon Professional Baseball, but fans still always flock to the stadium. The Tigers have only won one championship, in 1985. That was the year the curse was cast. Apparently the team were so excited over their win that they tossed a statue of Colonel Sanders into a river. It’s been said that they would never win another championship until the statue was recovered.

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A man ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days!

Sound impossible? Not for Dean Karnazes who has run 350 miles nonstop over three days! Karnazes is an American long distance runner, but “long-distance” might not exactly capture the scope of his running. In 2007 he attempted to run across the country from New York City to San Francisco, but was forced to stop in St. Louis and was devastated. However, he completed the run in 2010 in 75 days and was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people! How is Karnazes able to run like this? When a person exercises, their body is technically being increasingly damaged the longer they works out.

This is measured through CPKs, which are around 2,400 for an average person after running a marathon. For Karnazes, his CPKs measured 447 after 25 consecutive marathons. This means that instead of damaging his body like a normal person by exercising, he is almost not even affected meaning his body could keep running almost indefinitely.

Scientists also found that he has more blood in his circulatory system than the average person, meaning he needs less oxygen and stays hydrated longer. The most amazing thing about Karnazes? Results concluded that if he is properly fed and drinks enough water, he could keep a seven-minute-mile pace forever!

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The University of Iowa's locker room for visiting football teams is painted pink!

Kinnick Stadium is located in Iowa City and is the home stadium for the University of Iowa. It can hold up to 70,585 people and is the seventh largest stadium in the Big Ten. However, one of its most famous aspects is the pink locker room. The tradition began with Iowa coach Hayden Fry who thought pink would put his opponents in a passive mood.

To quote Fry’s exact words, he believed pink was a “sissy color.” Basically, his train of thought was that opposing teams would enter the locker room, see the pink color of everything inside, and then be so overwhelmed by a girly color that they would be unable to play a manly game. After Fry’s years, the tradition was continued with new renovations including everything from pink urinals to pink lockers.

Not surprisingly people were insulted by the color and a visiting law professor, with support from other university faculty, argued that the it is demeaning to homosexuals and women. Iowa responded that they pretty much don’t care and everything remains pink!

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