ESPN’s Page 2 has a great article up right now about the top 25 individual seasons of all time across all sports (or sports popular in the US). There’s a couple facts which I find particularly ridiculous because they put everyone else’s career totals to shame or seem to just rub it in…

  • Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State Cowboys, 1988 - “Sanders had four 300-plus rushing games that season — more than anyone else has had in a career.”
  • Martina Navratilova, 1984 - 74 straight wins, 13 straight singles titles, 3 major championships. “To top it off, Navratilova and doubles partner Pam Shriver won all four majors and did not lose a match all year.”
  • Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins, 1992-93 - “Lemieux finished the season with 160 points (69 goals, 91 assists) and won the Art Ross Trophy despite missing 24 games” and coming back from cancer!
  • Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia Warriors, 1961-62 - “Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds. [...] To put all this in perspective, take Tim Duncan’s best scoring and rebounding season — then double it.” and “He set the NBA record with 4,029 points — Michael Jordan is the only other player in league history to crack even 3,000. Chamberlain scored 50-plus points 45 times. Just how impressive is that? Michael Jordan cracked 50 points 37 times in his entire career.”