General Ignorance in Sport 4
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by user Alex Holowczak
Welcome to a fourth edition of General Ignorance in Sport, where I pick five sporting misconceptions, and explain how stupid you have all been to overlook the facts!
Which country first had red racing cars?
Forfeit: Italy
The United States did. In 1903, the Gordon Bennett Cup was held in the Britain, who had won in 1902. Each major country competing was asked to select a colour for their car, so fans could identify it easier. The United States chose red, and Italy in fact chose black. Only in 1904 did Italian cars become red, when they stole the colour from the States. United States then changed to blue and white horizontal stripes. Indeed, as a result of this, each nation has a colour (or colours) associated with their sports cars. Hence, you get red Ferraris, blue Renaults, white Hondas, silver Mercedes, and green Aston Martins.
Who are the American Football World Champions?
Forfeit: United States of America
In 1999 and 2003, World Championships have been held in American Football, held in Italy and Germany. On both occasions, Japan were winners, beating Mexico in both finals.
The United States declined invitations to play, however, in the 2007 event (held in Japan), the United States will play.
And as usual, they will be sticking to their sporting traditions in the event. They are not picking a single NFL player, and instead picking collegiate players who have graduated from college. So they may not still win a World Championship that they really ought to win.
The game is really popular in Germany, where most NFL Europe teams are located. They are tipped to do well – as are Sweden the European champions. France, and the winner of South Korea and Australia will make up the field of six for the tournament, held in July.
Predictably...
Who are the Australian Football World Champions?
Forfeit: Australia
Like in Gridiron, Australia have never entered their own creation. Australia have said they will never enter a team unless it is fully supported by the players they would pick – i.e. it would be a full strength team. This is clearly not the case.
12 nations are on track to participate in 2008, with New Zealand likely to be defending their victory from 2005. It has always been held in Australia, which considering they don’t even enter a team, seems particularly pointless.
What is the national sport of Cuba?
Forfeit: Boxing
Many Americans would get this right straight away with baseball, but the rest of the world would all plump for boxing.
As fans of the Olympic Games will know, the Cubans have a strong history of winning gold medals in the vast majority of the 11 weights available to fight for.
It started when Cuba won one gold medal, in a shock result in 1968. He became a hero, and a lot of people tried to emulate him. Cuba has been dominant ever since.
Considering not too many Brits ever see baseball, or know about the relevance of Cuba to its' history (many would claim it to be a solely US venture), they would always go for boxing.
There has only been one 9-dart finish in the history of the World Darts' Championship (both of them). What nationality was the player that made it?
Forfeit: Any British Isles Nation
It was made by Paul Lim in 1990. You can see it here! He was actually an American. He is one of the few US darts players that have made the trip to Britain to play in the World Championship. He is the only American to have ever made a 9-dart finish.
