"Unbreakable" feats - Cryolemon's Blog

Cryolemon's Blog

"Unbreakable" feats

Posted on January 12, 2009 at 09:17 PM.

There are only 2 single game feats in sport (and maybe 1 career record) that I consider truly unbreakable. They are the first 2 on this list. One of them would require a set of fairly unique circumstances, a lot of luck and a guy who was massively talented, the other would require certifiable insanity, a HUGE amount of luck, and a guy who was both insane and hugely talented.

Aside from these 2 there are various other feats that could be called "nearly unbreakable". I'm only going to deal with single game feats here, but I might do a post about career records at some point...

Sammy Baugh throws 4 TD passes and intercepts 4 passes as a DB

Do I really need to explain this one? I have an ambition of living to the age of at least 114, and even if I do, I really doubt this will have been broken. The only way it will even be matched is if there is another world war and players start playing both ways again. There is a slim possibility of a player getting one or maybe even 2 of each in a game, but it would need a player like Randle El having to play defense because of injury and then also throwing a TD pass on offence on a trick play. Even the 2 feats together are rare enough, both in the same game is insanity.

Dock Ellis pitches a no hitter while high on acid

This probably needs no explaining either... If a guy today was willing to risk a 50 game suspension by pitching while high on acid, and even if he got through an inning without being pulled, and even if he completed the game, the chance of a no-hitter (or, to beat this, a perfect game) are so near to 0 it's pointless. Bear in mind more people have orbited the moon than have pitched a perfect game in MLB.

John Petrie and Archie Thompson, 13 goals in a soccer match

I know it's a little odd having 2 guys share an "unbreakable" record, but hey... Both of these came in games which the other team would have been better off cancelling, Petrie's effort came in one of the most famous soccer games of all time (at least to stats geeks like me), when in the first round of the 1885 Scottish cup Arbroath beat Bon Accord 36 - 0. The fact that Bon Accord were a cricket team, and were only playing in the game because of an administration error is irrelavent, they could have cancelled the game... The score for the game may never be beaten, although 116 years later, Austraila got pretty close. Archie Thompson scored 13 of his 21 international goals in one game, a 31 - 0 win over American Samoa. I don't include this in the same bracket as the first 2 records above, because on the right day, this could in theory be beaten.

Brian Lara scores 501 in a first class cricket match

I'm guessing cricket doesn't have a huge following on here, but this deserves inclusion. It's not a great deal ahead of the 2nd place score, which is 499, but it's impressive considering the rarity of even scoring 400 in first class cricket. It's happened less times an unassisted triple play in baseball in roughly the same time, and Lara's done it twice. By the way if anyone is interested, as far as I can tell, the non-first class record is something in the region of 620, in a high school game in about 1900...

Comments

# 1 matt8204 @ Jan 12

Yeah, I highly doubt that any NFL team would let their quarterback also play defense. Teams are way too worried about injuries now. I know Troy Brown played DB for the Pats in 2004 when a bunch of guys went down, but he wasn't a QB. Never in a million years could I see Belichick sticking Brady in at corner.

# 2 matt8204 @ Jan 12

Also, I can't see anyone breaking Gretzky's records in the NHL, single-season or all-time marks. I don't think the game will ever return to the wide-open, high-scoring style of the 1980's that would make it possible for someone to even approach those numbers again. Coaches are too fixated on defense now and the goalies are a million times better; more flexible, more athletic, etc. Plus the equipment is bigger and better.

# 3 Cryolemon @ Jan 13

Troy Brown did play QB in a pre-season game though... As for Gretzky, I'll cover that in a blog I'm going to do about career / season records.

# 4 RaychelSnr @ Jan 13

As far as single game records, this list is pretty darned solid. If you want to talk career/season records, there are several in just baseball which will never be touched because of how the game has changed.

# 5 Cryolemon @ Jan 13

Yeah, I'm going to do a post about career / season records at some point. Might do it later tonight if I can be bothered.