Fun, Weird and True Sports Facts

Second day of June greetings, everyone! It's a new month, so the Iron Guy thought he'd get back to his resolution of telling you about more sports books. And I've got a couple of doozies today! These are great fun and you can read them quickly. (they're what I call Good Quick Reads) Both of them are about weird and funny facts from sports and many of them will either make you laugh or shake your head and say, "No! Not possible! Nooo! Noooooo!!!" Or maybe you'll do both.

The first one is from the famous Dan Gutman, who has not only written the My Weird School series but is also a big sports fan. And here he combines both in one book. It's My Weird School Fast Facts: Sports. In this one, A. J. and Andrea tell us amazing but absolutely true brief stories and facts from baseball, football, basketball, hockey and other sports. For example, you could find out:

• Which sport was played on the moon?
• Why do NASCAR drivers lose 10-15 pounds during each race?
• What country trained bears to play hockey?
• Who was the shortest NBA player ever? (hint--he used to play for the Charlotte Hornets!)

If you like My Weird School (and what guy doesn't?), like to learn new things (and what guy doesn't?) and have a lot of fun (ditto), then you need to find this book!

Then we have the National Geographic Kids Weird but True Sports: 300 Wacky Facts About Awesome Athletes book. It has a much simpler format--pages with eye-catching graphics or photos and on or three odd and fun sports facts on each page. And what wacky facts you'll learn!

• "You can watch ostrich races in South Africa"
• "Runner Fauja Singh completed a marathon at the age of 101"
• "U.S. Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush were all former cheerleaders" (you'll also learn that all cheerleaders used to be guys!)

And wait until you see the photo of the guy riding a unicycle on the Great Wall of China!
So, guys, check these out, have a few chuckles and find out some things you never knew before!

PS--there is one inacuracy. The National Geographic book says that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. That story is an often-repeated myth. The truth is that 15-year Michael was only 5'10" and too short to make the varsity team, so he went on the JV team. The next year, however, he had a 4-inch growth spurt and make the varsity team. And after that, of course, went on to make basketball history. So if you don't believe something in one of these books, go and do the research. That's what MANLY MEN do!