A Star Among His Fans
At first glance, this picture looks like it’s nothing more than a shot of a packed crowd of sports fans. Yet, if you look closer, there’s a gem hidden in that sea of humanity. Can you spot the grinning visage of Babe Ruth in the middle of the crowd? Ruth was like no other sports star in so many respects. As it turns out, being happy to mingle with many fans was yet another way the brilliantly talented baseball legend stood out from his colleagues.
This photo was taken in 1926, a season that would go down as Ruth’s most successful. Perhaps he knew something his competitors didn’t? Maybe joining the crowd and soaking up their frenetic energy somehow charged his batteries up, allowing him to outshine the teams he came up against.
A Strange Trio
This crazy picture features a massive Arnold Schwarzenegger looking like a kid swinging on the arms of Andre the Giant and Wilt Chamberlain. It was shared with the world by a Reddit user who goes by the handle qw1k1lv3r. We’ll leave you to piece together what that spells out. Attached to the picture was this message: “André the Giant was known to pay for his meal, regardless of whether he was the host or the guest. As Arnold Schwarzenegger was about to pay for the meal, [he] found himself being physically lifted, carried back to his table, and deposited in his seat by Andre, who stated emphatically, ‘I pay.’”
Arnie actually popped up on the Reddit thread to confirm this story, explaining, “This story is basically true. It is missing Wilt Chamberlain’s involvement, which was never paying and then acting like he had planned to pay this time, and helping Andre carry me all the way outside to drop me on a car.” And here’s another piece of Arnie trivia you’ll love: the star actually pops up on Reddit threads pretty regularly, usually offering advice to people who are just starting with exercise. How sweet is that?
A Leaping Namath
Nicknamed “Broadway Joe,” the leaping athlete you see in this image was a massive icon in 60s football. The quarterback was known for leading his team to victory in Super Bowl III and turned his talents to sports broadcasting and acting. Probably a good thing because, while his feats of athleticism were incredible, he was also known for being injured on a worryingly frequent basis, particularly in the latter part of his career.
Along with the incredible heights, he was able to leap to, Namath was known for his powerhouse of an arm: the perfect combination for a quarterback. Everyone has a weakness, though and, for Broadway Joe, it was his knees. Given how weak they were, powerful jumps like the one you see in this picture were, sadly, a rarity.
Climbing Up the Goal
Well, well, well. What do we have here? The year is 1968; the time is right after a match between Italy and Yugoslavia. As you can see, the Italian fans are excited because of their team's victory, so they are climbing up the goal.
Is that safe? Probably not. But is it fun? We bet that it is. This picture truly captures the WC spirit. And amazingly, this wasn't even a World Cup match. It was the final of the European Championships, which is basically the World Cup, but only for European nations. So yeah, Italy won the final and the fans went nuts.
Barefoot All The Way
Marathons: the name alone is enough to make the average person feel exhausted. Few of us ever cultivate the constitution, fitness, and mental fortitude necessary to master one of these multi-hour races. They are notoriously difficult to train for and take an intense toll on the joints and, really, the whole body. Yet, ask any marathon runner, and they’ll tell you: the feeling of success when you finally cross that finish line is like nothing else. In a race where simply finishing feels like a monumental achievement, can you imagine the emotional response you’d have to finish first… at the Olympics?
Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila, who you can see in this picture, did just that way back in 1960. Not only did he take out the gold medal, but he also ran the whole race, situated that year in Rome, with nothing on his feet. It was so hot that the race had to be run at night, which is why the photo was so dark. A barefoot Bikila crossed the finish line with a time of 2:15:16.2.