Ridiculous Sports Myths People Actually Believe

From Greek and Roman Gods, to stories of shootouts in the Wild West, there are many stories that have been carried through the ages passed off as truth, when in fact they are just myths and legends. However, this doesn’t stop many people from believing them. Myths hold a special place between fairy tales and conspiracy theories, but somehow people continue to pass these stories along. In this vein, here are 5 ridiculous sports myths that people actually believe.

Babe Ruth Ate Hotdogs During Games

While the positive stories of the legend that was Babe Ruth are plentiful, for some reason people got it into their heads that he was in fact fat and lazy and ate hotdogs and drank beer during games. In reality, Babe Ruth was not overweight at all and he was actually one of the few baseball players who trained year round to play, as many of his teammates worked full-time jobs during offseason. Ruth did weight training, which most athletes during this time did not do, and his muscles were most likely mistaken for flab.

Bobby Riggs Threw the Battle of the Sexes

In 1973, retired tennis star Bobby Riggs shot his mouth off about how terrible women’s tennis was and that even in his old age he could beat its biggest star – Billie Jean King. After a year of planning, the match was finally set up between the two, with Riggs as the heavy favourite. It came as a shock to many when Billie Jean King won the match and rumours abounded that Riggs threw the match. We cannot conceive as to why he would do such a thing, especially considering that her winning only made him look bad. Sounds intense though – rather stick to pokies New Zealand!

The Rudy Ruettiger Story

Rudy Ruettiger, simply known as ‘Rudy’ in the film starring Sean Astin, is an inspiration to many in the sports world as he overcame his small stature and dyslexia to play football at the distinguished Notre Dame. However, the problem is: his achievements are greatly embellished by the film and by Rudy himself. The only thing that kept Rudy from playing football was his size and he in fact only played briefly in his senior season – three plays in all – and only recorded a sack late in the game.

Jimmy Hoffa is Buried Under Giants Stadium

Labour union leader Jimmy Hoffa went missing in July 1975 at the age of 62 and he was last seen alive meeting with known organised criminals. However, even though the obvious conclusion is that he was bumped off by the mob, for some reason the location of his body has become the stuff of legend. One of many proposed locations of his burial is under the Giant’s Stadium and no one can explain exactly where this rumour started, or why.

A Soccer Game Started a War

A war between El Salvador and Honduras – which last 4 days – broke out in July 1969 and it has since been dubbed “The Football War”. The war earned this nickname owing to the fact that it allegedly started after a heated 1970 World Cup qualifier between the two countries which Honduras won 1-0, but the El Salvadorians were outraged, claiming that the game was rigged. In reality, the conflict started because hundreds of thousands of El Salvadorians were pouring into Honduras, searching for a better life and the Honduran government was pressured into forcing out the El Salvadorians by majority land-owning American fruit companies.