Most notably, his 31-length world-record performance in the 1973 Belmont Stakes is, IMHO, unbreakable. (His other records have been broken–except his fastest recorded Kentucky Derby winning time of 1:59 2/5, though it’s been approached; Monarchos won in 1:59 4/5 in 2001.)
American thoroughbreds are NOT bred to run a mile and a half anymore, and in fact, the Belmont is the last major stakes event run on the dirt in this country. Secretariat’s world record time in that race of 2:24 flat is insane…and interestingly, his son Risen Star has come the closest at 2:26 flat when he won in 1988. This year’s winner, Jazil, won in 2:27.86, a respectable time. But still, 33 years later, he would have finished nearly 20 lengths behind Secretariat.
It will take a horse of Secretariat’s freakish ability to even touch that performance. ASAIC, it’s an unbreakable record.
A breakable record but the Yanks-Redsox game tonight just broke the Major league record for the longest 9 inning game. This is on the heals of a 4 hours plus game at 1pm. It will hopefully be a long time before the combined times of this day-night double header is exceeded.
I love these discussions; even started one a while back (don’t feel like searching for it). I’m even thinking of adding a page on this to my website (it’s coming along…).
We need to categorize these…
Absolute locks:
Our 34 straight Americas Cups. I mean, that’s the kind of success that normally requires either a script or a ton of bribe money. With the state of the sport these days, even three in a row would be a monumental achievement.
Royce Gracie winning 3 of 4 Ultimate Fighting Championship tournaments. Not breakable at all unless UFC returns to a tournament format, and considering the kind of headaches this has caused for the fans, it’s not happening. What makes this record especially impressive was that Royce was far from the biggest or strongest Gracie, and they entered him for that very reason…to show that Gracie jiu-jitsu was powerful no matter who practiced it.
The San Diego Sockers’ 8 championships in the old Major Indoor Soccer League. I saw a lot of MISL games, and this was the team for years. The Yankees and a half.
Can’t imagine ever falling:
Ripken’s consecutive games streak.
Lance Armstrong’s 7 consecutive Tour De France championships. Yes, I know it’s still early, but this is a damn two and a half week bicycle race with over a hundred competitors. One man. Seven times in a row.
All of Wilt Chamberlain’s records. Someone will come a little close every once in a while, but that’s it. Remember, 30 rebounds was a phenomenal night for Dennis Rodman. There’s big, and there’s unbelievably freakin’ big.
The Chicago White Sox’ 88 (is that correct?) seasons between two World Series championships. Beleive you me, I was as stunned as anyone in the world of baseball when the Red Sox’s unbelievable record lasted for exactly one season. (I think it deserves a special mention nonetheless, especially considering how many championship-caliber teams they had during this span, while the White Sox never really made much noise.) Only the Cubs can break this record. If they do, expect the apocalypse. At the minimum.
The Wayne Gretzky, Jerry Rice, and Ricky Henderson records already mentioned. Oh yeah, and that 99.94 average thing…gotta look up my cricket resources again sometime.
Emmitt Smith’s career rushing yards (need to look up again). He was both tough and smart, knowing how to avoid big hits rack up consistent yards. He was drafted by the Cowboys one season after Troy Aikman, a QB with laserlike precision who ensured that defenses would always, always have to play honestly. And then came the blockbuster once-in-a-lifetime oh-my-god-how-the-bloody-hell-did-this-happen Herschel Walker trade which gave the Cowboys a titanium curtain of an offensive line for years and years. And THEN Deion Sanders fell into their lap, ensuring plenty of good starting field positions and leads to sit on. Honestly, put Barry Sanders in this situation, and this record goes on the first list in a heartbeat. As it is, someone may come along who has what it takes to break it, he’ll just never get what it takes.
Wait 'n see:
Chiyonofuji’s 807 makuuchi wins, Taiho’s 32 yushos (sumo, natch). Asashoryu looks unstoppable right now, but it’s still early and anything can happen. Remember, Takanohana was supposed to be a sure thing to demolish both records, and thanks to injuries, toughened competition, and his own bizarre loss of focus, he never even sniffed either.
Hank Aaron’s 755 career home runs. Bonds is a fragment of a shell of his old self. Will one, two, or five more seasons be enough? Can he even stay healthy?
Pete Sampras’ 14 Grand Slam singles titles. See note on Asashoryu.
Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors. There’s no doubting Tiger Woods’ mind-blowing dominance, but he’s had a lot of lucky breaks, and he’s had dips before. Expect the pressure to mount well before he reaches 18.
Gee, who would have guessed that an American sports fan would focus primarily on American sports records?
This isn’t the Pit, or I’d make some snarky comments. Instead, I’ll offer up some more records:
Gil de Ferran’s closed-course single-lap record of 241.428 mph at California Speedway in 2000 is gonna be hard to beat, because the IRL’s naturally-aspirated motors don’t make enough horsepower, and Champ Cars don’t run ovals any more.
Someone may have brought it up, but the 33-inning minor league game between Pawtucket and Rochester isn’t likely to be matched any time soon (thank God.)
Two baseball records that are intrinsically unbeatable, though one could theoretically be tied:
There was a rookie player a few years back who hit a grand slam (home run with runners on all three bases, scoring four runs, for non-Americans) in his first Major League at bat – giving him the perfect slugging average of 4.000 That one is perhaps tie-able but cannot be broken.
And in the classic trivia question, Herman “Germany” Schaefffer is the only man ever to be officially credited with a steal of first base, something the rules were amended to prohibit shortly after his accomplishment. That constitutes a record by definition unbreakable.
Considering that Clarence “Old Hoss” Radbourne pitched every day for the second half of the season for the Providence Greys when he set his record, I suspect there are several all-time (as opposed to modern) records which he holds for pitching in a season that will never be broken: Most innings in a season, most consecutive games pitched without a rest, most games in a season, as well as the most wins in a single season noted above.
While I agree that a Cubs win is probably foretold in Relevations, the Sox’s record is not unbreakable at all. Cleveland hasn’t won the Series in almost 60 years and the Giants haven’t won in 50. A few other teams are about halfway there.
Those records (though they’ll last at least a few more years) have to be considered in serious jeopardy. Tiger has had stretches where he’s faded, but he’s on again now and if history is any guide, he’ll win his 12th tomorrow with many years of play ahead of him. Federer has won eight Slam titles and just turned 25, so he’s matched Sampras’s pace thus far, and only one player has emerged from the field to challenge him.
Agreeing with Marley23 on this one. Tiger will break this record, and will set the new record so high that it’s going to be pretty safely unbreakable. I’m guessing at least 25 majors, upwards of 30 if he gets some lucky tournament wins once he’s on the Senior tour, but gets exemptions to various majors.
Nicklaus’ 18th major was the 1986 Masters, when he was 46 years old, and 24 years after his first.
Tiger is only 30 years old, has only been pro for 11 years (and has only had 9 years since his first major win), and he’s already 2/3 of the way to Nicklaus’ mark, with today’s 12th major win at the PGA Championship.
Personally, I’m waiting for Tiger to hit the first modern majors single-year Grand Slam.
As far as the statistical sample goes, you need to bear in mind that whilst it may be relatively small, unlike a game of baseball or football, a test cricket match between nations goes for a large part of a week. There’s a limit to how much cricket you can humanly play. Also, it is a high-scoring game, and that counts in favour of good statistics, unlike the low-scoring football/futbol/soccer where arguments about the best players can be very difficult to resolve.
To understand Bradman’s cricketing record, you don’t need to understand the rules of cricket. As has been said earlier in this thread, the mark of greatness is how far ahead he was of the runner-up. Bradman got 20 widgets, and the next best only got 14. Everybody else got 10 or less. That sort of thing.
It’s highly unlikely that anyone will ever break Stu Ungar’s record of winning three open Main Event bracelets (Johnny Moss also has three but one of them was by player vote). Johnny Chan came close, winning two in a row and placing second to Phil Hellmuth the next year. Nor is it likely that anyone will win two in a row, as Chan, Ungar and Doyle Brunsen have (although Greg Raymer made a hell of a run at it last year), or even just win two. The fields are just too big.
I submit that this record, along with UCLA’s 88-game winning streak (which occurred during this same period), belongs in the top 5 most-unbeatable records in the pantheon of American sports, for the following reasons:
–These are team records. An individual can dominate a sport for however long until their skills decline to a point where their competitors overtake them; a team, however, is only as strong as its weakest player, which means it’s far more likely to come across an opponent capable of winning on any given night.
–these are college records, not professional. For those unfamiliar with the American college sporting scene, basically the rules demand some sort of pretense that the athletes are, in fact, students. So when UCLA went on its amazing streak, players of that era could only play three years (freshmen were ineligible back then). And players weren’t bought and sold; they chose which school to attend. Yet UCLA still won 7 straight NCAA titles.
To give you an idea of how unapproachable these two records are:
–UCLA won seven straight NCAA titles between 1967 and 1973. No other school has ever won more than two in a row, and this hasn’t happened since 1992. The tournament has also expanded to 64 teams, and you have to win six straight games to win the tourney.
–UCLA won 88 straight games over three seasons between 1971 and 1974. The last team to finish undefeated over the course of one season was Indiana in 1976.