The Perfect Game and 10 Other Sports Holy Grails

In sports there are certain feats that even make the casual fan flip through the internet (or newspaper) and say, "Wow."

We here at B/R want to acknowledge these moments. But first, we have to point out that there are different levels of the Sports Holy Grails...

There's the not so attainable HG's: ( The Dolphins undefeated season, Wilt's magical combo of 100 points in one NBA game and 20, 000, umm, conquests.)

And then there is our list. The ones where an athlete, (sometimes and all-time great, sometimes great for just a day) gets to kiss the sky.

Dallas Braden touched greatness twice this year; first by letting A-Rod know how he felt about him messing with his mound, and then by tossing a perfect game.

According to Wikipedia, a perfect game occurs once in about every 11,000 major league games.

Let's get to the rest...

Unassisted Triple Play (MLB)

This is Eric Bruntlett. He hit a home run in the World Series to help the Phillies win their first title in close to three decades.

He was also once traded for a guy named Mike Costanzo, which is kind of cool.

But Bruntlett will more likely be known in drinking establishments and trivia games for being only the fifteenth member of the Unassisted Triple Play club. Until someone else does it, remember August 23, 2009.

Making it all the more sweeter, Bruntlett ended the game with his triple play. And guess who was at bat?

Big Mike Costanzo himself. How sweet is that?

But alas, life is not that cool. I lied about the last part. Wikipedia has no idea where Mr. Costanzo is. Jeff Francoeur was actually batting.

But still, can you say you did something that has only been done fifteen times in a hundred and fifty years of pro baseball.

Hats off to Eric Bruntlett!

Quadruple Double (NBA)

When was the last time you did four things at once, and did them all really well?

David Robinson is a hall of fame, world champion basketball player. But that's not his most impressive life accomplishment, if you ask me.

He once blew a kiss to his own championship ring in front of thousands of people at a Spurs game.

He also once posted a game with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocks shots.

Making him one of only four players all time to have recorded a Quadruple Double.

Nice.

Double Hat Trick (NHL)

Everybody loves a Hat Trick.

I mean, other than losing your hat, what isn't cool about it? Your guy on your team scores three goals at a home game and everybody tosses their cap onto the ice.

Hat tricks aren't that rare, though. But double hat tricks, six goals in one game? Those are rare.

Wayne Gretzky is the greatest goal scorer of all time. He had four career five goal games. Mario Lemieux also has four five goal games in his great career. Neither of them ever scored a double hat trick.

In fact, only one player (Marian Gaborik) has accomplished even a five goal game since 1997.

So you can imagine the rarity of the double Hat Trick. Last time? 1976. Total number of players to accomplish it in almost a hundred years of hockey?

Seven.

.400 Batting Average (MLB)

Ted Williams was a Hall of Fame Baseball player. Then he retired and became a Hall of Fame fisherman.

When he wasn't fishing or hitting baseballs, he was fighting in two wars.

What have you done today?

Luckily for my self esteem, we're not here to go over Teddy Ballgame's life accomplishments. We're here to talk about batting .400 for a season.

Most stat geeks nowadays will tell you that OBP (On Base Percentage) is a better tracker of today's baseball player's worth to a team. I think we've gone to the OBP because it's pretty much agreed that the doors to the .400 club might be closed for a while.

Between 1887 and 1941 thirty-five pro baseball players hit over .400. Keeping in mind that means they went to the plate and didn't get a hit six out of every ten times, it was still a great feat.

Since Ted Williams did it in 1941, how many have followed?

None. Not Wade Boggs, Not Tony Gwynn, not Ichiro.

Holy Grail indeed.

Fastest Man On The Planet (Track and Field)

You should get a special credit card if you hold this title.

You should be able to get into whatever restaurant or night club you want to, in any country in the world.

For all I know, Usain Bolt probably can. He currently holds the 100 meters track record with a time 9.58 seconds.

Throughout the years, two titles used to mean more than all of the others: Heavyweight Champ and Fastest Man on the Planet.

But boxing isn't what it used to be.

Because of corruption and the abundance of boxing federations handing out belts, there can be as many as five pugilists claiming to be the heavyweight champ at any one time.

Track and Field is different. If you have a stop watch and a football field, you can figure out who's the fastest man alive.

And if you have seen Bolt run, you know the answer to that question.

The Perfect QB Rating (NFL)

According to NFL statistics, quarterbacks have had over 29,000 game opportunities to toss a perfect rating of 158.3.

Less than forty different QBs have accomplished it since they started calculating it in 1973.

Drew Brees was the latest to do it in his Superbowl winning season this past year, against the New England Patriots.

Here's a short and possibly inaccurate way to calculate your QBs rating, if you're scoring at home.

A = (comp. % - 30) / 20
B = (avg. gain - 3) / 4
C = TD% / 5
D = (9.5 - Int %) / 4
QB rating = ((A+B+C+D) / 6)*100

I try to rate two QBs a day, in my down time. Just to see if I still got it.

Career Grand Slam (PGA)

Jack Nicklaus has the most golf major championships of anyone who has ever picked up a club; nineteen of them.

He has won every major at least three times. Since there are four of them per year, it can be said that the "Golden Bear" has won the career grand slam three times over.

This is quite a feat, considering only five other men have done it even once.

A career slam pretty much guarantees you a ticket to golf immortality. Even all time greats such as Arnold Palmer, Raymond Floyd and Tom Watson were only able to capture three out the four.

And none of them had a cooler nickname.

Career Grand Slam (Men's Tennis)

Winning all four tennis Grand Slam titles in a career is equally as rare as in golf.

Some of the greatest players ever, including Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors weren't able to complete the career Grand Slam.

In fact, just like golf, only six men have accomplished the feat. When Andre Agassi won the French Open in 1999, thirty-five years had passed since Roy Emerson had completed his slam in 1964.

Ten years later, Roger Federer became the sixth and final member of the group (so far), when he captured the French Open title in 2009.

The 29 Foot Long Jump (Track and Field)

To long jump as far as Bob Beamon did is to leap almost the third of a basketball court.

His long jump of 29 feet and 2 1/2 inches was so far out there that it took 23 years to finally break his record in 1991.

And since then, only two men, Mike Powell and Carl Lewis, have even cracked 29 feet.

In fact, Beamon's jump is still second only to Powell's leap of 29 feet and 4 3/8 inches in the record books.

With all the great Olympic athletes that have competed through the years, this remains the Holy Grail for all aspiring jumpers.

2,000 Yard Rushers (NFL)

For all you Fantasy Footballers out there, be very wary of what I am about to tell you.

The Holy Grail for NFL running backs is the 2000 yard rushing club. No back has gotten there twice and for those that have gotten there once, none of them were ever the same.

Legendary USC football coach John McKay was famous for saying the football isn't heavy, when asked why he let his running back carry it so many times, but there must be a reason why every back on this list seemed to decline so rapidly after such a milestone season.

Nevertheless, congratulations, Chris Johnson!

It is quite an accomplishment to know you have joined the likes of Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson and OJ Simpson on such an exclusive list.

And I'm still picking you if I get the first pick.