Category: Sports

Soccer's World Cup

The most popular sporting event in the world is younger than Roscoe Bartlett. Last year's final between Italy and France was watched by more than 715 Million fans, roughly 1 out of 9 people on the planet. It all started in 1930, when the International Olympic Committee, in their infinite wisdom, decided to drop soccer as an Olympic sport. It seems they didn't feel that soccer was popular enough in the United States, which was hosting the Olympics in 1932. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) decided to go their own way and hold their own championship in Uruguay. Ironically, the United States finished 3rd in the first World Cup, its highest finish ever.

The Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Trophy may be the oldest trophy in college football, but it is still younger than Roscoe Bartlett. In 1935, the Downtown Athletic Club in New York awarded its first "DAC Trophy" to Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago. Berwanger never played a down of professional football, saying it just didn't pay enough.

The following year, the DAC renamed their trophy after the recently deceased John Heisman. In 1936, Larry Kelley of Yale became the first player to ever win something called the Heisman Trophy. His trophy was sold at auction in 1999 for $328,110. He committed suicide seven months later.

The Boston Garden

The Boston Garden was built in 1928. Perhaps no other indoor sports arena was as storied as the Garden. In its day, the Garden hosted no less than 16 Stanley Cups and 19 NBA Championships. It also hosted Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, and the Grateful Dead. Perhaps the most important concert to ever play at the Garden was James Brown the night Martin Luther King was shot. The concert was televised by every station in Boston, and was largely the reason Boston did not experience the riots suffered elsewhere. The Boston Garden was torn down in 1999.