60 free Crazy Sports trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Crazy sports trivia is the good stuff: not who won, but the night a baseball team blew up disco records and had to forfeit, the ten-cent beer promotion that ended in a riot, the 3-foot-7 pinch hitter who walked on four pitches, and the Olympic marathon 'winner' who had done part of the course in a car. This quiz collects 54 of the strangest true stories in sports history and turns each into a multiple-choice question. You will meet the Zamboni driver who won an NHL game, the octopus that predicted the World Cup, the soccer team that scored on itself on purpose, a wrestling bout that lasted eleven hours, a rower who stopped for ducks, and the kicker whose Super Bowl pass went straight up in the air. Baseball, American football, soccer, hockey, boxing, tennis, golf, horse racing, cricket and the early Olympics all get their turn, and the difficulty runs from stories everyone half-remembers to ones almost nobody knows. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, usually the encyclopaedia entry for the game or athlete, and the source is shown after each question. If a story sounds too crazy to be real, that is exactly why it made the cut.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In 1979 the Chicago White Sox had to forfeit a game after a promotion in which what was blown up on the field between games of a doubleheader?
A crate of disco records
Thousands of fans stormed the field after the explosion and the turf was wrecked. The Detroit Tigers were awarded the second game.
Q 02Cleveland forfeited a 1974 game to Texas after a riot during a promotion selling cups of beer for how much?
10 cents
Fans streamed onto the field in the ninth inning with the score tied. The umpire decided order would not be restored and awarded the game to Texas.
Q 03How tall was Eddie Gaedel, who batted once for the Browns in 1951 as a Bill Veeck stunt?
3 feet 7 inches
He wore the number 1/8 and was told not to swing. The American League voided his contract the next day.
Q 04What did a Randy Johnson fastball hit and kill during a 2001 spring training game?
A dove
The bird flew across the plate at the wrong moment and exploded in a puff of feathers. The pitch was ruled no pitch, neither a ball nor a strike.
Q 05In 1993 a fly ball bounced off which outfielder's head and over the wall for a home run?
José Canseco
Three days later he talked his manager into letting him pitch an inning of a blowout, hurt his elbow, and missed the rest of the season after Tommy John surgery.
Q 06On 'Grandstand Managers Night' in 1951, how did St. Louis Browns fans make the team's decisions?
Holding up YES and NO placards
More than a thousand fans voted on strategy. The Browns, who lost 102 games that year, won 5–3.
Q 07Who was the first woman to play in an NHL game, in goal for Tampa Bay in 1992 preseason?
Manon Rhéaume
She was also the first woman to play in any of the major North American pro leagues. She later played minor-league hockey and won two Olympic silver medals with Canada.
Q 08In the 1988 Bears–Eagles 'Fog Bowl', visibility on the field dropped to roughly how far?
15 to 20 yards
The fog rolled in off Lake Michigan just before halftime. Chicago won 20–12 and neither team scored a touchdown in the second half.
Q 09In 1968 NBC cut away from a Jets–Raiders game with a minute left to show which film?
Heidi
The Raiders won 43–32. The outcry led the NFL to demand that games be shown to their conclusion in the visiting team's market.
Q 10Who cleared a spot for the Patriots' winning kick in the 1982 'Snowplow Game' against Miami?
A convict on work release driving a tractor
Coach Ron Meyer waved equipment operator Mark Henderson onto the field. Don Shula was furious, and the NFL later banned the tactic.
Q 11Which rule change followed the Raiders' 1978 'Holy Roller' fumble-and-bat touchdown against the Chargers?
Only the fumbling player may advance a fumble late in a half or on fourth down
Ken Stabler fumbled, Pete Banaszak pitched it forward and Dave Casper fell on it in the end zone with no time left.
Q 12How did Greg Chappell order his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball to New Zealand in a 1981 ODI?
Underarm, along the ground
It was legal at the time and outraged both countries. New Zealand's prime minister called it the most disgusting incident he could recall in cricket.
Q 13Wrestler Antonio Inoki spent most of his 1976 Tokyo bout with Muhammad Ali doing what?
Q 211976 Rookie of the Year Mark 'The Bird' Fidrych was famous for doing what on the mound?
Talking to the baseball
He also got down on his knees to smooth the dirt by hand and strutted after every out. His nickname came from his resemblance to Big Bird.
Q 22After his field goal was blocked in Super Bowl VII, kicker Garo Yepremian picked up the ball and did what?
Tried to throw a pass, which went straight up
He then batted the ball back into the air, and Washington's Mike Bass caught it and ran it back for a touchdown, the only points Miami allowed all game.
Q 23In 1964 Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall recovered a fumble and ran 66 yards to where?
Lying on his back kicking Ali's legs
Inoki landed more than a hundred kicks. The fight was scored a draw and Ali left with blood clots in his legs.
Q 14The 1900 Paris Olympics remain the only Games at which animals were deliberately killed. In which event?
Live pigeon shooting
Nearly 300 birds died. Belgium's Léon de Lunden won the main event with 21 pigeons.
Q 15Why was Dorando Pietri disqualified after finishing first in the 1908 Olympic marathon?
Officials helped him up when he collapsed repeatedly
He fell five times in the stadium. Queen Alexandra gave him a gilded silver cup as consolation, and the finish made him world famous.
Q 16How did Eric 'the Eel' Moussambani win his 100 m freestyle heat at Sydney 2000 in 1:52.72?
The other two swimmers were disqualified for false starts
He had learned to swim eight months earlier in a lake and a 12-metre hotel pool, and had never seen a 50 m pool before the Games.
Q 17What happened on the last corner to hand Steven Bradbury 2002 Olympic short-track gold?
All four skaters ahead of him crashed
He was about 15 metres back with 50 to go. It was the first Winter Olympic gold for any Southern Hemisphere country, and 'doing a Bradbury' entered Australian slang.
Q 18What was the record of the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, the worst in Major League history?
20–134
The owners moved the good players to their other club in St. Louis. Fans and opponents stopped coming, so the Spiders played 112 of their games on the road.
Q 19What did Cubs outfielder Rick Monday grab from two protesters at Dodger Stadium in 1976?
An American flag they were about to set on fire
He was in centre field when the pair knelt to light it. He handed the flag to a Dodgers pitcher, and the crowd broke into 'God Bless America'.
Q 20George Brett's 1983 go-ahead home run against the Yankees was briefly nullified because of what?
Too much pine tar on his bat
He charged out of the dugout in a rage. The league president overturned the umpires and the game was finished 25 days later with the Royals winning 5–4.
His own end zone
He tossed the ball away in celebration, which made it a safety for the 49ers. Minnesota still won the game.
Q 24'The Play' ending the 1982 Cal–Stanford game finished with Kevin Moen scoring through what obstacle?
The opposing marching band, which had wandered onto the field
The band thought the game was over. Moen flattened a trombone player in the end zone and Cal won 25–20.
Q 25Which NBA rule change was prompted by Darryl Dawkins shattering two backboards with dunks in 1979?
Breakaway rims
Dawkins claimed to come from the planet Lovetron and gave his dunks names. The league decided rims that snapped back were cheaper than new glass.
Q 26Why did Barbados deliberately score an own goal against Grenada late in a 1994 Caribbean Cup qualifier?
To force extra time, where a golden goal counted double
Barbados needed to win by two. Grenada then tried to score in either net while Barbados defended both, and Barbados won 4–2 in extra time.
Q 27Where had Rosie Ruiz joined the course when she 'won' the 1980 Boston Marathon?
About half a mile from the finish
Two Harvard students saw her burst out of the crowd on Commonwealth Avenue. She had reportedly ridden the subway during the New York Marathon that qualified her.
Q 28What did Alan Shepard use as a golf club to hit two balls on the Moon during Apollo 14 in 1971?
A six-iron head on a lunar sample scoop handle
Bulky gloves forced him to swing one-handed. He joked the second shot went 'miles and miles'; analysis put it at about 40 yards.
Q 29The 1993 Grand National was declared void, the only time in its history. What went wrong?
A false start that most jockeys did not notice
Thirty of the 39 runners kept racing and seven finished, with 50/1 shot Esha Ness first past the post in a race that officially never happened.
Q 30How did Devon Loch, the Queen Mother's horse under Dick Francis, lose the 1956 National?
He inexplicably jumped into the air and belly-flopped 40 yards from the finish
He was five lengths clear at the time. Nobody has ever fully explained it, and 'to do a Devon Loch' became British shorthand for a late collapse.