Consultants
Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D.
Kent State University
Lori Oczkus, M.A.
Literacy Consultant
Publishing Credits
Rachelle Cracchiolo , M.S.Ed. , Publisher
Conni Medina , M.A.Ed. , Managing Editor
Dona Herweck Rice , Series Developer
Emily R. Smith , M.A.Ed. , Content Director
Stephanie Bernard/Susan Daddis , M.A.Ed. , Editors
Robin Erickson , Senior Graphic Designer
The TIME logo is a registered trademark of TIME Inc. Used under license.
Image Credits: Cover and p.1 Philip Oldham/Cal Sport Media/Newscom;
pp.6, 8, 1213 John Biever/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images; p.9 Ronald
C. Modra/Sports Imagery/Getty Images; pp.1415 LOC [LC-DIG-
ggbain-21542]; p.16 B Bennett/Getty Images; p.18 Aflo Co. Ltd./Alamy
Stock Photo; p.19 Photo by: Melinda Sue Gordon/Production Co.s: Scott
Rudin Productions/Michael De Luca Productions/Plan B Entertainment/
AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo; p.20 Springfield College, Babson Library,
Archives and Special Collections; p.23 (back) Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo
by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images), (front) Copyright 2004 WNBAE
(Photo by D. Clarke Evans/NBAE via Getty Images); p.25 Copyright 2003
NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images); p.26 David E.
Klutho/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images; p.28 Dave Sandford/Getty Images;
p.29 Creative Commons File:Stanley Cup, 2015.jpg by Alex Goykhman
used under CC BY-SA 4.0; p.30 Dave Sandford/Getty Images; pp.3233
Popperfoto/Getty Images; pp.3435 Bob Thomas/Popperfoto/Getty
Images; pp.36, 38 Michael Regan/Getty Images; p.39 GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty
Images; p.41 Razzle-dazzle/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain; all other
images from iStock and/or Shutterstock.
All teams, companies, and/or products mentioned in this book are
registered trademarks of their respective owners or developers and
are used in this book strictly for editorial purposes. No commercial
claim to their use is made by the author or the publisher.
Note: The answers to the mathematics problems posed throughout
this book are provided on page 48.
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Table of Contents
The Weird, Wild, and Wonderful .......
The Biggest Comeback in NFL History .. 6
The Longest Undefeated Streaks
in Baseball ....................... 15
The Highest-Scoring
Basketball Game ..................
The First Outdoor NHL Game ........ 26
Historys Most Crowded
Soccer Stadium ................... 32
The Three-Day Tennis Match .........
A Celebration of Inspiration .......... 42
Glossary ........................... 44
Index .............................. 45
Check It Out! ...................... 46
Try It! ............................
About the Author ................... 48
The Weird , Wild,
and Wonderful
Imagine sitting in a seat in a packed stadium . Youre
surrounded by thousands of excited , screaming fans. You
start conversations with people around you , asking , Who
are you cheering for ? The game begins . Just as you think
your team is about to win , the opponents swoop in and take
the lead . You become completely captivated , and you get a
rush of adrenaline when the game gets too close to call .
The most entertaining part of watching a sport , be it
Its a Numbers Game!
Do you love sports and math ? If so , you should learn about
sports statisticians . Sports are all about numbers , and there
are people who keep statistics for everything . For example ,
in the 2015 regular season , professional basketball player
Stephen Curry made out of three-point baskets .
He shattered his own record of three-pointers from the
previous season . What was his shooting percentage from
beyond the three-point line ?
tennis , hockey , or football , is how unpredictable a game
can be . We can examine statistics and make guesses about
what will happen , but many of the nest moments in sports
come as surprises to spectators .
In honor of the sporting worlds unpredictability , we
will delve into some of the most exciting sports moments
in history . There will be number crunching and lots of
head scratching . You might even think we are making these
numbers up . ( Please feel free to doublecheck we promise
we are telling the truth !)
It Was a Chilly January Day
Football Factory
Over 700,000 footballs are made
yearly at the Wilson Football Factory
in Ada , Ohio , exclusively for the
NFL . If 2,800 footballs are made each
business day , how many days per year is
the factory open ?
Coming to You Live!
The rst time a football game scored its way
onto a television screen was in 1939 . The
viewing audience was fewer than 5,000 for