For the Record - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) Aaron Peirsol. The American clocked in at 52.54 seconds to win Olympic gold in Beijing and later helped the U.S. set a 4x100-meter medley record as well.
• A2) Michael Phelps. The American swimmer and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year brought home eight gold medals from Beijing to eclipse Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record. The Baltimore Bullet also set seven world records (three team) and one other Olympic record along the way.
• A3) Usain Bolt. The Jamaican literally cruised in with a world-record 9.69 seconds in the 100 meters then repeated the feat with a 19.30-second time in the 200 meters at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• A4) Yelena Isinbayeva. The Russian cleared 5.05 meters in Beijing and has posted the highest vault of the year every year since 2003.
• A5) Josh Hamilton. His 28 first-round dingers crushed the Bobby Abreu's four-year-old record of 24, but because of the format in which the slate is cleared for the finals, Justin Morneau still won the event.
• A6) Kenny Rogers. The crafty lefty nailed Wilson Betemit on May 9 to pass Mark Langston with his 92nd pick and finished the season with 93.
• A7) Mark Reynolds. The Arizona Diamondbacks' third baseman struck out for the 200th time on September 25, erasing Ryan Howard's year-old mark, and finished with 204.
• A8) Golden State Warriors. The Warriors' 48-34 record was not good enough to make the top eight in the superior Western Conference despite being a full three games better than the 2000-2001 Houston Rockets, the previous record-holder. When only four teams from each conference reached the postseason, the Phoenix Suns' 1971-1972 season ended early with 49 wins.
• A9) Memphis The Tigers entered the 2008 Final Four tournament with 33 wins and added five more before losing to the Kansas Jayhawks in the final and finishing with a 38-2 record.
• A10) Jeff Feagles. The New York Giants punter was 41 years old when his team upset the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
• A11) Sebastian Janikowski. On October 19, the first-round draft pick set an Oakland Raiders record with a 57-yarder, four yards longer than Chris Jacke's in 1996, to defeat the New York Jets. Janikowski also attempted the longest regulation kick ever, with a failed 76-yarder as the first half expired on September 28.
• A12) Tony Gonzalez. The Kansas City Chiefs veteran removed Shannon Sharpe and his 10,060 yards from the record books on October 5.

For the record, here are some of the other more significant sports records set (or tied) in 2008:

• Major League Baseball
  • San Francisco Giants middle infielder Omar Vizquel tallied his 2,584th game as a shortstop on May 25, passing Luis Aparicio's Major League Baseball record.
  • Mike Mussina became the oldest Major League Baseball pitcher to win twenty games in a season for the first time. The New York Yankees veteran reached the mark for the at age 39, topping Jamie Moyer who recorded his first 20-win season at age 38 in 2001.
  • On July 27, Oakland Athletics rookie Brad Ziegler pitched the 26th and 27th consecutive shutout innings from the start of his career, surpassing Philadelphia Phillie George McQuillan's 101-year-old Major League Baseball record.
  • On June 23 at Shea Stadium, Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez became the first American League pitcher to hit a grand slam since the introduction of the designated hitter rule.
  • On September 29, Chicago White Sox second basemen Alexei Ramirez hit his fourth grand slam of the season to set a new Major League Baseball rookie record.
  • Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis set a new Major League record by playing 238 consecutive errorless games at first base, leaving Steve Garvey's 193-game streak in the dust.
• NBA
  • The 2006-07 Boston Celtics won only 24 games while the 2007-08 team won 66, an NBA-record improvement of 42 games, six better than the 1997-98 San Antonio Spurs, who had improved from 20 to 56 wins.
  • On March 30, the Boston Celtics held the Miami Heat to an NBA shot clock era record low 17 field goals in an 88-62 victory, one worse than the Chicago Bulls managed against the Miami Heat in an April 1999 game.
  • On December 10, Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony tied George Gervin's 1978 NBA record by scoring 33 points in a single quarter, as he lit up the scoreboard during the the third quarter of his team's 116-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves (Gervin's record was in the second quarter).
• NCAA Basketball
  • The UCLA Bruins kept Mississippi Valley State to a shot clock era low 29 points in the first round of the NCAA Final Four tournament and held the Delta Devils to a record-low 19.7 shooting percentage.
  • For the first time since the field expanded to 64 teams, all four #1 seeds reached the Final Four.
• NFL
  • Super Bowl XLII set a U.S. sports record with 97.5 million viewers (43.3 rating and 65 share; 148.3 million viewers worldwide), second all-time for any television show only to the 1983 M*A*S*H finale (106 million viewers). The previous Super Bowl record was 94.08 million in 1996.
  • Wes Welker tied a Super Bowl record with 11 catches in February and set a record with at least six receptions in each of the first twelve games of the 2008 season, destroying the Jacksonville Jaguar's Jimmy Smith's record of eight games set in 2001.
  • On January 12, Tom Brady set an NFL postseason record by completing 92.86% of his passes (26 of 28) for the New England Patriots against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
  • The New England Patriots won their last three regular season games in 2006, all sixteen in 2007, and their first two in 2008 for an NFL record streak of 21, bookended by losses to the Miami Dolphins. The Patriots had also held the previous record with a run of 18 from October 5, 2003 to October 24, 2004.
  • On November 13, Matt Cassel became the first NFL quarterback to throw for 400 yards and run for 60 in the same game in a comeback against the New York Jets.
  • On November 16, Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover notched his 372nd consecutive extra point since 1996 without a miss, breaking a three-way tie with Jason Elam (1993-2002) and Jeff Wilkins (1999-2007).
  • On November 23, Safety Ed Reed returned an interception against the Philadelphia Eagles a record 107 yards to break his own mark of 106 from four years earlier. The return was also his record third 100-plus yarder.
  • The 32 NFL teams combined to score a record 837 points in Week 12, the first time the 800-point barrier had been broken.
  • On December 28, the Green Bay Packers became the first team to ever have a pair of 100-yard rushers (Ryan Grant, 106 and DeShawn Wynn, 106) and a pair of 100-yard receivers (Donald Driver, 111 and Greg Jennings, 101) in the same game. Their opponent...
  • ... The Detroit Lions lost all sixteen of their games, erasing the 0-14 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers from the record books. They gave up at least 30 points a record eleven times, nudging past the 2000 San Francisco 49ers, 1996 New York Jets, and 1981 Baltimore Colts.
  • The Miami Dolphins tied the 1999 Indianapolis Colts for increasing their regular season win total by the most games, from 1 to 11.
  • The New York Giants and Miami Dolphins turned over the ball only 13 times each in the regular season, eclipsing the 1990 Giants.
  • Drew Brees passed for at least 300 yards ten times, tying Rich Gannon's 2002 record. The New Orleans Saints QB would have passed for the most yards in a season had his final pass of the year not missed his wide open receiver by a few yards.
  • Houston's Andre Johnson caught at least ten passes seven times, once more than Marvin Harrison in 2002.
  • Brett Favre increased his career records in almost every game as he already held the career marks for touchdown passes (finished the 2008 season with 464), interceptions (310), passing attempts (9,280), completions (5,720), yards (65,127), and wins (169), as well as consecutive starts by a quarterback (269) and total and consecutive 3,000-yard seasons (17).
  • Peyton Manning increased his NFL career record with his ninth 4,000-yard passing seasons.
• NHL
  • On January 1, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres played an outdoor game, the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic, at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium in front of a record 71,217 people.
  • On March 11, Andrew Cogliano scored an NHL record third consecutive overtime game-winning goal for the Edmonton Oilers.
  • The Detroit Red Wings reached 100 points for the eighth straight season in 2007-08, tying the NHL record set by the Montreal Canadiens from 1975 to 1982, although that was before overtime losses earned a point.
  • Alexander Ovechkin tallied 65 goals in 2007-08, a new record for left wingers, two more than Luc Robitaille in 1992-93. Coincidentally, both played for the Los Angeles Kings.
  • NHL goalie Martin Brodeur extended his records with his 12th consecutive season with 30 or more wins, 11th with 35, and 3rd with 40 (Patrick Roy topped 30 wins for seven consecutive seasons from 1996 to 2003). Brodeur also continues to increase his career record of 45 overtime wins and will threaten for most wins (544, 8 behind Patrick Roy's 551), games played (978 to Roy's 1,029), career shutouts (98 to Terry Sawchuk's 103), most minutes played in a career (57,790 to Roy's 60,235) and playoff shutouts (22 to Roy's 23).