Page 5 - Sports Facts

MIT has a pistol range on campus. A female from their team beat a Military Academy in 2005.

MIT is one of the most prestigious and hardest universities in the United States; they have a strong emphasis on science, engineering and technology and have kind of a nerd rep. That’s why it might be surprising to learn that they have a shooting range and a team and that they’ve had good success with it.

Alexandra Jiang had never held a gun before entering MIT as an electrical engineering major. She quickly changed that when she joined the women’s sport pistol team and began practicing on a regular basis. In 2005, at the age of 21, Jiang entered an NRA sponsored competition with the rest of her MIT teammates.

Other participants in this competition were the US Coast Guard Academy, and a Military Academy! Despite never seeing a real gun in person before entering MIT, Jiang went on to beat the Military Academies! She was outshooting who might be shipped overseas to fight in war!

You should read more about Jiang’s story by clicking the source

Michael Jordan’s son once lost his school a $3 million Adidas contract because he would only wear Nike!

Michael Jordan’s son attended the University of Central Florida and played basketball there. At the time, the university had a contract with UFC and Adidas, which mandated that all sports members wear only their brand. Jordan’s son was told he could not wear his traditional Nike attire and flat out refused, saying the white Air Jordans were sentimental to him and his family.

Because he would not comply with the rule, Central Florida was forced to break the contract they had with Adidas, losing them over $3 million in revenue!

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A man asked for a longer jail sentence for the most ridiculous reason ever. What was it?

A man was accused of shooting a man with intent to kill and robbery. His lawyers had worked a plea agreement with the prosecutors and he was going to go to jail for 30 years. Instead, Eric James Torpy asked that his sentenced be increased to 33 years. Why? Because his favorite NBA player was Larry Bird and his jersey number is 33.

"He said if he was going to go down, he was going to go down in Larry Bird's jersey," Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott said Wednesday. "We accommodated his request and he was just as happy as he could be.

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There’s a car race where spectators booby trap the track and often injure racers!

The Baja 1000 is an off-road race that happens ever November in Baja California and it’s part of a Championship Desert Racing series. The race allows various types of vehicle classes to compete in the same course. Motorcycles, buggies, trucks, and even custom vehicles compete.

Part of the allure of this race is that spectators sabotage and booby-trap the course by digging holes, blocking river flow or burying and hiding obstacles. Racers are told to watch out for large crowds because it usually indicates that there are traps there. The traps present a good test of preparedness. You’d think people would use it as an advantage, but it’s customary to radio warn other racers about booby traps they found.

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Ireland’s first ever Olympic medal was for painting!

We’ve mentioned before how there were a lot of competitions in the Olympics that would seem weird to us now. One of them was an Olympic painting competition. That’s why John Butler Yeats holds the rare honor of being Irelands first ever Olympic medalist, soon after the creation of the Irish Free State.

Yeats was an artist interested in painting, theater and literature. He helped illustrate books for other authors and wrote plays for some theaters. He competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. His painting called The Liffey Swim won a silver medal in the arts and culture segments.

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