The Daily Dose/November 24, 2022
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
STOP US IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS BEFORE: Though we do not note it in today’s On This Date segment, today is the 62nd anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain establishing a new NBA record with 55 rebounds in a game. One of the great useless arguments we humans can have is that of unbreakable sports records, and while our list is shorter than most, this feat is on it because it means getting a rebound every minute, not to mention rustling up seven more along the way.
Dry, Technical Matter: By chance, Chamberlain established the mark against the man whose record he broke, Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, who mustered 51 rebounds – itself a phenomenal total – a few months earlier.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: Our own theory is that if something can be done once it can probably be done again, so our own list of unbreakable records is pretty short. In fact, it only has two other entries besides Chamberlain’s rebounding mark, one from tennis and one from baseball.
God, You’re Dull: It should be noted the list does not include accomplishments – like 680 innings pitched in a season – from bygone eras, nor does it include college marks because of the varying levels of competition.
Tennis, Anyone? At the top of the list is the 70-68 fifth set John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played at Wimbledon in 2010. Good gravy, this mark is so superhuman it’s something you wouldn’t even daydream about as a kid knocking a tennis ball around off a wall. 70-68 though, as incomprehensible as it sounds, actually happened. It’s too bad the rules have been changed and fifth-set tiebreakers now make the mark tougher and tougher to break because it would be fun to see it approached.
Play Ball: Something else someone else will never do is throw consecutive no-hitters in major league baseball, like Johnny Vander Meer did in 1938. Like Isner/Mahut, it is difficult to believe it happened once.
The Bottom Line: For our money, that’s it: Chamberlain, Isner/Mahut, and Johnny Vander Meer. Someone, someday, will score 101 points in an NBA game, especially the way they’re chucking threes nowadays, and we wouldn’t die of shock if someone hit in 57 consecutive games and if someone broke some of Tom Brady’s passing records. Us humans are always getting bigger, stronger, and faster and, as noted, if something’s been done once, it’s a strong candidate to be done even better later on.
At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow flies in a plane. Today’s Diary.
The guy we were obliged to sit next to was bigger than me!!!…I am not, unfortunately, making that up…This wasn’t as bad as it might sound, tho…
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 1859 – The book On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is published in Great Britain by the John Murray publishing house. The book gives evidence for evolution and proposed natural selection as the way it had taken place and while not every organized religion has come to terms with the theory, some do acknowledge the theory of evolution is compatible with specific religious beliefs. The book sold out on the first day, six versions were published during Darwin’s lifetime and the book has remained in print ever since.
In 1956 – Bobby Morrow of the US wins the gold medal in the 100 meters at the Melbourne Summer Olympics. Morrow defeated Thane Baker, also of the US, and Hec Hogan of Australia, winning with a time of 10.62 seconds. It was the first of three gold medals at the 1956 Melbourne Games for Morrow, who would later win the 200 meters and – along with Baker – was a part of the winning 4×100 meter team.
In 1958 – The Kingston Trio is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the only week with Tom Dooley. It was the first of 17 chart singles and two Top 10 hits for the group and remains their only #1 song. The song went to #1 in four other countries including Norway, peaked at #5 in Great Britain, and at #9 on Billboard’s soul chart. The song is a traditional North Carolina folk song based on an 1866 murder in Wilkes County and won the group the Grammy Award for Best Country and Western Performance despite not appearing on Billboard’s country chart.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
…a thousand taboos restrict his action, a thousand terrors limit his will.
Will Durant
The Story of Civilization, Vol I: Our Oriental Heritage
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Billy Swan had 16 hits on Billboard’s country chart, including eight that made the Top 40.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
What country has earned the most silver and bronze Olympic medals in the men’s 100-meters without winning a gold medal? – Answer next time!
