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Bring back art in the Olympics, who cares?

40 Historical Facts We Hope Don’t Repeat Themselves (Or Screw It, Let ’Em Repeat Themselves, Who Cares Anymore)

November 16, 2024

First of all: The Olympics used to hold artistic contests. And only one guy ever won an art and a sport at the same time.

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40

Mikhail Youzhny

A tennis pro slices his own forehead open Russian tennis player Mikhail Youzhny was frustrated with his performance in a 2008 match, and decided to give himself a hard reset by bashing his own head repeatedly with his racket. And it worked! He won the match. — Source: YouTube

39

Ohio State

An Ohio State coach decks a player's neck S8 CRACKED.COM Near the end of the 1978 Gator Bowl, a Clemson player was tackled out of bounds amidst a crowd of Ohio State players. Coach Hayes, possibly forgetting about all the newfangled TV cameras in the stadium, swung a sneaky roundhouse — Source: YouTube

38

Chicago

CHICAGO WHITE SOX VS. CHICAGO CUBS CRACKED.COM A tale of one city. In 1906, the Cubs won 116 games (A National League record that still stands), and had 147 more points than the White Sox (the largest gap in World Series history). Dubbed the Hitless Wonders, the White Sox beat the Cubs and became the first underdog to win the World Series. — Source: mlb.com

37

Olympic Sculpture

CANCELLED CRACKED.COM OLYMPIC EVENTS Gold Medal Sculpture In 1912, American Walter Winans became the first and only Olympian in history to win medals for both art and sport: Sculpture and Running Target Shooting — Mental Floss and Artnet.com

36

Chris Simon

Chris Simon 65 GAMES TOTAL I CRACKED.COM This guy was the real-life Happy Gilmore. He was once suspended for taking a baseball swing at Ryan Hollweg's face, and another time for stomping Jarkko Ruutu's leg with his skate.

35

Malice at the Palace

The Malice at the Palace CRACKED co In 2004, a late-game fight between players on the Pistons and the Pacers turned into a full-team brawl. That's rare enough in the NBA, but then a fan hucked a beer at Ron Artest, and the carnage spilled into the bleachers. — Source: YouTube

34

Roger Clemens

Roger Clemens goes vampire hunting 22 CRACKED COR When Mike Piazza's bat broke on a Roger Clemens pitch, a craggy half of the bat tumbled over to the pitcher's mound. Clemens quickly scooped it up and sidearmed it in Piazza's direction. He first claimed that he thought it was the ball, — Source: YouTube

33

The Penalty Box

A fan falls into the penalty box CRACKED.COM In 2001, Flyers fans were pestering notorious ass-kicker Tie Domi in the penalty box, when the glass broke and a dude fell right in. Domi did what Domi does, and said in a post-game interview It's nice to see the fans get — Source: YouTube

32

Scottie Pippen

Scottie Pippen hucks a chair P CRACKED COM Pippen was given two consecutive technical fouls for arguing with the refs, and was ejected from the game. On his way out, he grabbed a chair and haphazardly lobbed it, nearly hitting some kids. — Source: YouTube

31

FIFA Banter

A FIFA banter ends in brutal headbutt CRACKED COM During the 2006 World Cup Final, Italy's Marco Materazzi kept tugging on the jersey of France's Zinedine Zidane. Zidane told him he could have his shirt after the game (nice one!), and Materazzi said he'd rather have his sister (NICE one!!). That — Source: YouTube

30

Monty Python

TOAD THE WET SPROCKET TOOK ITS NAME FROM A MONTY PYTHON SKETCH. In the bit, which appeared on an album, Eric Idle was making fun of rock bands with ridiculous names. Не had no idea one of the names had been chosen by an actual band until he heard them on the radio. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Louie Louie

Louie Louie by the Kingsmen SMEN Written by Richard Berry, the lyrics have were rumored to be so obscene that it caused an FBI investigation. But it's just a wholesome song about a Jamaican sailor returning to the island to see his lover. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams Summer of '69 In the summer of 1969, Bryan Adams was 10 years old. The upbeat nostalgia of this song wasn't inspired by an actual year, but rather Mr. Adams' fondness for a certain sexual position. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Rage Against the Machine

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE HUNG AMERICAN FLAGS UPSIDE DOWN ON SNL. STERRILLA CRACKED They did this before performing, but the flags were quickly taken down, and they were asked to leave before performing a 2nd song. This was in 1996, and things have gotten a lot more political on the show since then. — Source

26

Under Pressure

CRACKED.COM Queen's collaboration with David Bowie on Under Pressure was pure impromptu. David Bowie just happened to be by the studio where Queen was recording tracks for their 10th studio album when both parties decided to work on an original piece during a 24-hour session. Mercury and Bowie even did their vocals separately without hearing each other as they sang their part. — Source

25

Charles Manson

SHADY TIES NEIL YOUNG so VENTURA CAL 47623 AND CHARLES MANSON 22 A P R 1968 Manson had dreams of a music career, and Young really supported him. Impressed by Manson's improvised lyrics, Young suggested his work to record exec Mo Ostin. CRACKED — Source

24

Young Frankenstein

STEVEN TYLER WROTE THE SONG WALK THIS WAY WHEN НЕ HEARD MARTY FELDMAN USE THE PHRASE IN YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Not unironically, it was Run-DMC's cover of the song that brought Aerosmith back from the dead in the 1980s. CRACKED.COM 9100 97 — Source

23

Michael Jackson

CRACKED.COM Billie Jean almost got Michael Jackson killed. Jackson was so absorbed in the song, working on it in his head while driving, that he didn't notice his car was on fire. Someone on a bike had to point it out to him. — Source

22

The Clash

London Calling by The Clash The 1979 song is about climate change. The lyrics were inspired after the band read an article about the flooding of the Thames River. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Video Killed the Radio Star

MTV had a very fitting first music video. At 12:01a.m. on August 1st, 1981, Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles became the very first music video on MTV. The video was released in 1979, so the band definitely saw the changing of the guard and capitalized. CRACKED — Source

20

The Oscars

Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of plaster. CRACKED.COM Following the war, the Academy invited recipi- ents to redeem the plas- ter figures for the real thing, made from solid bronze and plated in 24-karat gold. — Source

19

Slavery

There are more, not less, slaves in the world today. CRACKED COM There are more slaves in the world today (around 27 million) than were in America just before the Civil War, and possibly more than any other time in known human history. — Source

18

World War II

1950s- Last veterans die, aged over 100 World War II 1939-1945 PEOPLE WHO FOUGHT IN THE CIVL WAR WERE STILL ALIVE AT THE TIME OF WORLD WAR Il. Civil W

17

British Muslims

AROUND 400,000 MUSLIMS FOUGHT FOR BRITAIN IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR. The Muslim role in the War to End All Wars is rarely discussed, but many fought and died for the victory of the Allies. The Indian Army consisted of 1.3 million soldiers, among them were 800,000 Hindu soldiers, 100,000 Sikhs and 400,000 Muslims. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Kleenex

Kleenex tissues were originally invented not for nose blowing, but as filters for gas masks during the First World War. After the war, KimberlyClar Co

15

Sanitary Napkins

After World War I, the government had a surplus of bandages. The company that had made them, Kimberly-Clark, bought them back, and knowing they'd been unofficially used as menstrual products by nurses, invented the sanitary napkin. CRACKED — Source / Smithsonian Mag

14

Wrigley’s Chewing Gum

War gum, anyone? Wrigley's chewing gum was taken Off the civilian market due to wartime rationing during World War II. SHOES RATIONING BOARD WAR BOOK

13

Sliced Bread

Slice bread was banned during World War II. - Fearing that wartime regulations might lead to rising prices, the U.S. government banned pre-sliced brea — More: 5 Bizarre Dumb Things Countries Made Citizens Do During Wars

12

Batman

BATMAN BEGAN IN THE SAME YEAR AS WORLD WAR l. 1939

11

World War I Casualties

CRACKED A DISTURBINGLY SMALL NUMBER OF ENGLISH VILLAGES HAD NO WORLD WAR I CASUALTIES. In the 1930s, Arthur Mee coined the term Thankful Villages to refer to communities in England who had lost no men in World War I. More recent research has found 41 such villages throughout England and Wales. — coxy58/Shutterstock
Historic UK

10

Ancient Aliens

CRACKED ANCIENT ROCK ART The head of the SETI organization's Interstellar Message Composition suggested that ancient rock art could be a sign of aliens, and that scientists might have trouble recognizing signs of alien life because they could look like something natural. — Source

9

Ancient Dentistry

Ancient civilizations had dentistry. 9,000 years ago Pakistan had dental drilling, 2,500 years ago Native-Americans would pimp out teeth with gemstones, and ancient Egyptians even invented breath mints and surprisingly good toothpaste. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

The Antikythera Mechanism

ANCIENT ENGINEERING THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM This ancient Greek machine was an amazing feat of engineering for its time. It was made with precision gears that were about a millimeter in size, and looks like it was used for doing complicated calculations about astronomy. CRACKED — Viacheslav Lopatin/Shutterstock
Scientific American

7

Ancient Rome

The ancient Roman civilization technically lasted for 2,200 years. CRACKED.COM It was founded as a monar- chy in 753 ВС, became a republic in 509 ВС, turned into an empire in 27 ВС, shifted capital to Constan- tinople in 330 AD, and fi- nally fell only in 1453 AD. — Romulus: The Legend of Rome's Founding Father

6

Ancient Star-Gazers

ANCIENT ENGINEERING BEIJING ANCIENT OBSERVATORY This is one of the oldest places in the world where people studied the stars. They didn't use telescopes, but instead used instruments like sextants, azimuth theodolites, and armillary spheres to measure the distances between stars. CRACKED — cherry-hai/Shutterstock
Atlas Obscura

5

Ancient Orgies

When you think of ancient Romans, think of orgies. you That's a rumor started by Christians. Ancient Romans were actually super prudish. Early Christi

4

Ancient Masturbation

PUD POUNDING POTTERY CRACKED.COM Ancient Greeks saw masturbation as normal and healthy. Male and female masturbation are mentioned in many of their comedic plays. In Ancient Greek pottery, satyrs are often depicted with hands on their erections. — Source and Source

3

Petroglyphs

In 2010, Paintballers destroyed 800 year old Native American petroglyphs. 11 dollar paintballs priceless ancient art The residual paint cannot be cleaned off without destroying the ancient artwork. CRACKED.COM — Source: National Parks Traveler

2

Fast Food

ANCIENT ROMANS LOVED THEIR FAST FOOD. Over 2000 years ago, Romans had thermopolia, take-out counters where hot food was served. In Pompeii alone, there were over 150 thermopolia. CRACKED.COM — Source: 'Recent' Things That're Actually Older Than Dirt

1

Ancient Egyptian Currency

Radish CRACKED COM Radishes were used to pay workers in ancient Egypt.

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