History NewerThanTheyThink / Sports

* With the kickflip being one of the most basic skateboarding tricks one can learn, one might think that the trick was invented way back in the early days of skateboarding during the 70s. However, it was actually invented in ''1982'', by skateboarding legend Rodney Mullen. The 540 shuv-it was actually ''a few years older'', having been invented in 1979.

* Riding aside / riding sidesaddle is often seen as ''ladylike'' and high-class, usually connected to the belief that [[VirginityFlag women riding astride would break their hymens.]] This is a zigzagging case--while women have certainly ridden aside or astride for thousands of years, it seems to be more an individual preference and was rarely ''mandatory;'' riding sidesaddle was known to be slow and women had a harder time controlling their horses, so if they needed to ride quickly, [[GoodIsNotDumb they'd just switch a leg to the other side.]] Moreover, most women who DID ride aside would have been using a normal saddle or various impractical contraptions, at least until a SAFE prototypical sidesaddle was invented around the mid/late 1500s, often agreed to be invented by Catherine de' Medici... ... at practically the end of the medieval period. A key change for why the Victorians' insistence on women riding aside was because their narrower skirts and hoops weren't nearly as practical as the roomier skirts of prior centuries, and Victorian women would have had to hike up their skirts far too much for decency.

* Riding aside / riding sidesaddle is often seen as ''ladylike'' and high-class, usually connected to the belief that [[VirginityFlag women riding astride would break their hymens.]] This is a zigzagging case--while women have certainly ridden aside or astride for thousands of years, it seems to be more an individual preference and was rarely ''mandatory;'' riding sidesaddle was known to be slow and women had a harder time controlling their horses, so if they needed to ride quickly, [[GoodIsNotDumb they'd just switch a leg to the other side.]] Moreover, most women who DID ride aside would have been using a normal saddle or various impractical contraptions, at least until the prototypical sidesaddle was invented around the mid/late 1500s, often agreed to be invented by Catherine de' Medici. A key change for why the Victorians' ''insistence'' on women riding aside was because their narrower skirts and hoops weren't nearly as practical as the roomier skirts of prior centuries, and Victorian women would have had to hike up their skirts far too much for decency.

* Riding aside / riding side-saddle is often seen as ''ladylike'' and high-class, usually connected to the belief that [[VirginityFlag women riding astride would break their hymens.]] This is a zigzagging case--while women have certainly ridden aside or astride for thousands of years, it seems to be more an individual preference and was rarely ''mandatory;'' riding sidesaddle was known to be slow and women had a harder time controlling their horses, so if they needed to ride quickly, [[GoodIsNotDumb they'd just switch a leg to the other side.]] Moreover, most women who DID ride aside would have been using a normal saddle or various impractical contraptions, at least until the prototypical sidesaddle was invented around the 16th century. Part of the Victorians' insistence on women riding aside is because their narrow skirts and hoops weren't nearly as practical as the roomier skirts of prior centuries, and Victorian women would have had to hike up their skirts far too much for decency.

* The idea of receiving a cup or trophy after winning an athletic event goes back to the funeral games depicting in ''TheIliad''; but ''lifting'' the cup into the air as a celebration only originated in 1958, when Brazilian captain Hilderaldo Bellini held up the World Cup trophy so that photographers could get a better view of it.

** The first Olympics with any sort of mascot were the 1968 Winter games at Grenoble, France, which had a character named Schuss, a skier with a red ball for a head, used for advertising purposes. The first official mascot created as an all-around symbol for the games (and for merchandising) was Waldi the multicolored dachshund at the 1972 Summer Games in Munich.

** Similar to the Association Football example above, the practice of putting players' names on the backs of jerseys originated with the AFL in the 60s, and wasn't adopted by the NFL until the two leagues merged. Look at pictures from the four pre-merger Super Bowls, and you'll find that the AFL teams have names on the jerseys while the NFL teams don't.

*** Doubles as "Older Than They Think"—when the NFL was founded in 1920, it used UsefulNotes/{{NCAA}} rules, which then had the goalposts at the goal line. In 1927, the NCAA moved its posts 10 yards back to the end line, with the NFL following suit because it was still using the NCAA rule set. In 1932, the NFL moved its "Playoff Game" (the championship tiebreaker) to the indoor Chicago Stadium due to expected severe weather; due to the limitations of playing a football game in a hockey arena, it moved the goal posts to the goal line. The following year, the NFL stopped mirroring NCAA rules, keeping the goal posts on the goal line, where they would remain for the next four decades. The UsefulNotes/CanadianFootballLeague has the posts at the goal line due to the endzones being 20 yards deep.

** The first [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Run_Derby Home Run Derby]] happened in 1985, and was first televised in 1991. The event was inspired by a short-lived [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Run_Derby_(TV_series) 1960 TV series]] of the same name.
** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonial_first_pitch ceremonial first pitch]], one of the most time-honored traditions in baseball, began, as we know it, in 1989, when George H.W. Bush[[labelnote:*]]who had actually ''played'' baseball at Yale[[/labelnote]] and ex-president Ronald Reagan both opted to take the mound and actually pitch the ball toward the plate. No ceremonial pitcher, president or otherwise, had done so beforehand, but the Bush/Reagan precedent became standard practice almost immediately afterward. For the entire preceding century, the ceremonial "pitch" was a gentle toss from the stands in the general direction of the players, who would assemble in a mass to catch it. [[note]] As seen done by Queen Elizabeth II in ''Film/TheNakedGun'', released in 1988. [[/note]]

** Even though Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, it wasn't until Pumpsie Green joined the Boston Red Sox in 1960 that every MLB team was integrated.

** The players' names were printed on the back of their shirts for the first time in the 1994 World Cup. That's the year where it was hosted by the United States, where the practice had been prevalent[[note]]But by no means universal; [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams baseball teams]] in particular often left the shirts nameless, and to this day the New York Yankees still do.[[/note]] in other sports for at least two decades. For the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] (professional basketball) and [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] (professional American football), names on jerseys weren't optional. They were required.

* Most popular sports were invented in the late 19th century, and their rules have little connection to their supposed predecessors, which were usually more disorganised and violent.

** Even though Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, it wasn't until Pumpsie Green joined the Boston Red Sox in 1960 that ever MLB team was integrated.