Top 10 Greatest Urban Legends in Sports

[snopes]

At times, sports can act like a good story, one that keeps the fans engaged and something that we remember for a long time. Throughout the history of sports there have been countless stories and memories, but only a select few have elevated into urban legend status.

These urban legends gained traction throughout the years and overtime exploded with the spread of the internet. Sometimes the truth is revealed from the horse's mouth, but the stories are so ingrained that we cannot even believe what the truth may be and thus the urban legend sustains. Here are the 10 biggest urban legends in sports history.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4...ends-in-sports

[Andrew of Ware]

Looking at that list, shouldn't the article really say that these may be the top ten urban legends in American sports. I can probably think of lots of ULs from non-American sports, but I am about to go to work so it will have to wait.

[diddy]

Given that the website is based in the US, it's not all that surprising that the article has an American perspective and not international. My guess is that they are targeting American readers here and the author is assuming certain things about the audience.

[snopes]

From generation to generation, stories are passed down.

In the process of being told, details of these stories are often changed, and the truth of them is usually in doubt to begin with.

These stories vary in subject, but it's not uncommon to hear a sports urban legend.

Some of these stories sound too far-fetched to be true, while others seem extremely likely.

Let's take a look at the top 25 urban legends in the history of sports so you can judge for yourself. Enjoy!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/5...sports-history

The Wade Boggs one is similar to David Boon in cricket.

http://www.thefanatics.com/content.php?id=330

[damian]

I call shenanigans on the 64 beers on cross-country flight. Assuming a 5 hour flight, that's 1 beer every 4.5 minutes for 5 hours. I don't thinks so.

Cricketer David Boon is recorded to have sunk 52 coldies on the flight from Sydney to London.

[SatansHobbit]

That's over 20 ltrs of vaguely beer-tasting carbonated water in five hours. He'd be bloated, and peeing all the time, but sober.

Now Boony OTOH, drunk real beer, and had a great mustache to boot.

Sorry, but I'm agreeing with Andrew that slipping the adjective "American" in the titles of some sites' articles would stop us international sports fans wasting our time.

[damian]

Originally Posted by SatansHobbit

Now Boony OTOH, drunk real beer, and had a great mustache to boot.

And the Boony Doll:

[Brad from Georgia]

There is a widespread notion that Babe Ruth was a ballplayer. He was actually a dancer for the Cincinnati Ballet.

[Johnny Slick]

It's pointed out in the article but I'm not sure how Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter while high on acid is an urban legend. It's something he admitted to doing and went into some detail in an interview that can now be found on YouTube. While I'm not sure how you'd corroborate that, I also don't see a lot of reason why he'd be lying, and the structure of the narrative (lots of "I dids", lots of detail) is consistent with veracity.

Also surprised the Called Shot didn't get in there. There's still debate to this day whether or not Ruth called it off Root (FTR I think he did but more because of the romance than any real evidence - although there is a neat film of the incident).

[damian]

Originally Posted by Johnny Slick

Also surprised the Called Shot didn't get in there.

It is listed in the Top 25 list Snopes linked on the 4th post.

Reading some of the legends, a few are quite un-legendary. And it's funny how, even when the person denies it, that just reinforces the myth.

[rujasu]

Originally Posted by damian

It is listed in the Top 25 list Snopes linked on the 4th post.

Which is, by the way, a pretty wretched attempt at an "article" or even an amusing list. Every item on the list was basically, "Some people said something like this might have happened. Boy isn't that something?"

[Ali Infree]

Either version of the list has its problems. For one, Chris Berman is sports announcer, so I really can't count his alleged "come with me, Leather" at all.
What about Babe Ruth eating twelve hot dogs and twelve sodas and getting sick? I read this as a child, but I now understand that the Babe's absence during that particular season was due to a different appetite, ie he had a venereal disease. No mention of this one though.

With Dock Ellis, he came out with the story in part because he was counseling young people with drug problems. Apparently, his pitching was particularly scary that day, as in, he might throw it anywhere. So some players were getting in the batters box and flailing at everything to keep out of his way. He thought his outing had been a pretty dangerous thing.

And the Black Sox? No proof of their cheating, is that in the legal, beyond-the-shadow-of-a-doubt category of proof? The list already has a more contemporary account of foul play in the NBA, based on an admittedly crooked ref. The Chicago White Sox had writers looking for evidence of poor play and finding it readily. I would put that scandal's reason in for an urban legend--the cheapness of Charlie Comiskey.

Ali

[Johnny Slick]

There is a ton of proof that the Black Sox cheated. For one thing, several of them confessed. Those confessions were conveniently lost during the trial but they surfaced when Shoeless Joe IIRC sued White Sox owner Charlie Comiskey for back wages. At the time of the World Series, actually, next to nobody saw the Sox throwing the game. Christy Mathewson was just about the only person saying it. Even afterwards, Comiskey found out about the fix a month afterwards and Ban Johnson dismissed his protests as "the whelps of a beaten cur". It was only when new evidence arose in September of 1920 - nearly a year after the thrown World Series - that indictments were levied and the process that eventually banned eight men from baseball was begun.

[damian]

Is it true that Shoeless Joe's stats for the series were better than his careers stats? If so, does this clear him of the allegations?

[Ratboy]

Originally Posted by snopes

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/5...sports-history

3. The Frozen Envelope and The 1980's NBA Draft Conspiracy

...

However, that is not where the draft controversies of the 1980s end.'

Some people have dug even deeper inside the facts to see that the four biggest stars drafted in the 1980s, (Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan) went to the four greatest basketball franchises at the time- New York, Boston, L.A (Lakers), and Chicago.

Only two of those four players were drafted in the 1980s. Bird was drafted in 1978 and Magic in 1979.

Some other stars drafted in the 1980s are Olajuwon (Houston), Worthy (Los Angeles Lakers), Karl Malone (Utah) and Isiah Thomas (Detroit).