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The World Series, the Super Bowl, and college basketball’s March Madness are three of the biggest events in sports. They’re all so popular, that it’s hard to imagine ‘em being called anything else. Each term is now a part of the average American’s vocabulary, but who deserves the credit?

According to various sources across the Web, the Spalding Guide, a magazine put out by the sporting goods company, was responsible for coming up with the name “World Series.” Why the word “World,” when the first baseball teams were American? According to a blog from Road Side Photos, the National League’s Chicago squad and the American Association’s St. Louis team could both be considered champs back in 1887. So, “a more grandiose name was required to describe the postseason showdown” between the two leagues. The name “World Series” stuck.

The Super Bowl has an even more interesting history. A blog entry from Doc’s Sports explains that it was Lamar Hunt, one-time owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, who coined the phrase. Mr. Hunt came up with the “unofficial nickname” for the NFL-AFL World Championship Game after watching his daughter play with a “Super Ball” toy. After a few years, the name Super Bowl officially replaced the more formal “World Championship Game.”

And what of March Madness? Slate.com hosts an excellent article on how the name came to exist (and all the legal battles that would later ensue). Back in 1939, a chap named Henry Porter wrote an article called “March Madness” for the Illinois High School Association. Slate explains that “the phrase was confined to Illinois high-school ball until 1982, when CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during his network’s NCAA tournament coverage.” The phrase “Final Four,” meanwhile, was coined by Ed Chay, a sportswriter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

On a somewhat related note, I’d like to pose a question to you guys–how did an Academy Award get to be named an Oscar? Got any ideas? Please leave a comment and link below.

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Hey Guys,

Halloween is upon us, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll want to watch a few scary movies to help celebrate. This year, I wanted to have a kind of theme to the spooky madness, so I decided to watch movies that have at least one thing in common–the Wilhelm scream.

The Wilhelm scream is an iconic sound effect that’s been used in dozens of films that have little else in common. It was originally used in a film called “Distant Drums” starring the late, great Gary Cooper. The “scream” can be heard when a character is torn to pieces by an alligator. There’s nothing particularly amazing about the scream, and it might have languished in obscurity had it not been for Star Wars sound wizard Ben Burtt.

Hollywood Lost and Found offers up an interesting blog post on Burtt’s fascination with the scream. Burtt had been hired to create the sound effects for Star Wars (the original). While at Warner Bros. Studios hunting for different effects, “he found the original “Distant Drums” scream.” Burtt called it the Wilhelm scream in honor of the character that bellowed the scream in another movie called “Charge at Feather River.”

In the years since Burtt first inserted the scream into Star Wars (you can hear it when Luke Skywalker shoots a Storm Trooper in the Death Star), the sound designer has put it in a slew of other films, including the Star Wars sequels, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” But Burtt isn’t the only audio expert to slip it into films. Other sound designers have used it in films ranging from “Batman Returns” to “There’s Something About Mary” to “Aladdin.” Indeed, the Wilhelm Scream has become one of Hollywood’s ultimate “in-jokes.” Or maybe it’s just a cliche. Either way, you can watch a compilation of many of the screams here.

So, what Wilhelm films will I be watching on Halloween? Surprisingly, not that many of ‘em are horror flicks. However, “Poltergeist” definitely hits the mark. And, if I get desperate, I can always watch “Howard the Duck.” That one’s about as scary as they get.

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I’ve had the same keyboard here at work for nearly ten years. It’s now pretty (OK, very) disgusting due to the fact that I eat lunch at my desk. However, it still works perfectly. Well, almost. The “T” key is a bit finicky and the “numbers lock” key responds only when it wants to. And that got me thinking–why are keyboards laid out the way they are? Why is the “Q” key way up in the upper left-hand side? Who decided all this?

The story of the keyboard’s layout may seem like the dullest topic in the world, but it’s actually pretty interesting. Commonly referred to as the “QWERTY” keyboard, this landmark creation was first used in 1875 by Christopher Sholes.

One might think that the keys are arranged in this way to make typing as efficient as possible. I was always told that the letters you use the most are the ones nearest to the center. But I was misinformed. It turns out this layout was used because it is actually quite inefficient.

Back in 1875, people used typewriters with keyboards laid out in ABC order. Because folks typed so quickly, jamming was a common problem. Mr. Sholes couldn’t improve the mechanical aspects of the typewriter, so he would have to do the next best thing–get people to slow down. His solution was to arrange the letters in such a way so that the type bars wouldn’t get crossed up. Amazingly, it worked.

According to Idea Finder, the change reduced typewriter jamming drastically. Over time, the QWERTY became the standard. Inventors have since introduced alternatives, but nothing has caught on with the mainstream. One of the best known is the Dvorak Layout. HowStuffWorks breaks down the pros and cons.

What would it take to get you to switch to a new keyboard layout? Would you ever consider it? I might, provided the “T” key worked more than 50% of the time.

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Baseball is a game of superstitions. Players won’t talk to a pitcher while he’s throwing a no-hitter for fear of jinxing it. Some big leaguers will refuse to shave after winning a post-season game (a trend borrowed from the burley NHL). One of the most commonly believed superstitions is that teams go on streaks.

Of course, teams win or lose several games in a row all the time. The idea of a streak runs deeper than that. When a team is on a hot streak, it’s almost as if some other force is at work. And the opposite can be true as well. When a team is in a slump, players will try just about anything to get rid of the perceived bad luck.

I looked up some of baseball’s longest streaks, both good and bad. No reason, other than to see if the good streaks outweighed the bad or vice versa. The longest winning streak in baseball belongs to the 1916 New York Giants, who won (or tied) 26 games in a row. In 2002, the Oakland A’s won 20 games in a row, an American League record.

And what of the losers? They may be on going to their second World Series in a row, but back in 1961, the Philadelphia Phillies were woefully awful. According to the stat maniacs at Baseball Reference, the Phillies dropped 23 games in a row that season, finishing 47-107. Needless to say, they didn’t win any championships that year.

What are some other impressive streaks in pro sports? And what do you think of superstitions in baseball? Do you believe in ‘em or are they just a bunch of hooey? Throw some salt over your shoulder and leave me a comment below.

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Hey Guys,

Watch enough sci-fi movies and you’re sure to notice that if a character takes off his or her helmet in outer space, that person’s head will explode (think: “Total Recall”). It’s a rock-solid certainty in cinema, but is it true in real life? Not having access to a rocket and helmet-less volunteer, I perused the Web for the straight scoop.

I thought I might be one of the first people to ponder this admittedly morbid question. How wrong I was. There are a slew of sites dedicated to the fates of skulls in space. However, only a few have the air of authority.

The aptly named site Damn Interesting seems to know its stuff. Writer Alan Bellows explains that over the past several decades a number of live organisms have been exposed to the vacuum of space. What happens obviously isn’t a good thing, but rest assured, the head does not explode like a pumpkin.

So, what does happen? An excellent article from NASA explains that “to experience the vacuum is to die, but not quite in the grisly manner portrayed in the movies.” Instead of the head blowing up or the eyes popping out of the head,” death arises from the response of the free gasses trapped within the tissues.”

Fortunately, the death isn’t instantaneous. Again, according to NASA, a person can survive “for about 80 seconds if a pressure higher than about 47 mm mercury is then reestablished.” If not, “you turn into freeze-dried dead meat on a stick.” Fair warning to space tourists.

So, not surprisingly, Hollywood has taken considerable artistic license when it comes to ill-fated explorers in space. Can you think of any other cinematic clichés that might not be 100% realistic? Sound off in the comments below.

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