OCTOBER 25th - The Captain Obvious of Competitions



On this day in 1910 (the video date is incorrect), Barney Oldfield defeated Jack Johnson. In two five-mile car races. Which would make sense because Barney Oldfield was a racecar driver and Jack Johnson was a boxer. So in what has to be the most unsurprising outcome to a competitive endeavor ever, the racecar driver beat the boxer in a car race. Amazing, right? 'Twas the Captain Obvious of competitions. I wonder if Michael Jordan would have beaten Barry Bonds in a one-on-one basketball game when they were both in their primes? Even if Barry was juicing--not much of a contest. Would Tom Brady beat Bryce Harper in Home Run Derby? I wonder if J.J. Watt could outskate Tara Lipinski? See what I’m getting at here? Barney Oldfield, a racecar driver, beat a Jack Johnson, a boxer, in a car race. What does that prove? It’s like a bad episode of Shaq Vs. Remember that show (the idea for which Shaq may or may not have stolen from Steve Nash)? But there was no handicap. Of course the sad reality was that Johnson could not find anyone to compete against him in his own sport because of his skin color, so he challenged Oldfield to a car race. To his credit, Oldfield lost his racing license to compete in the race, but he did do a little hot-dogging on the second heat. I wonder how much showboating Barney would have done had he been in a ring with the Champ instead of on a track. But you can be forever grateful that this day in 1910 finally, definitively proved that race car drivers are better at racing cars than boxers are at racing cars. Load off my mind. Now if someone would just tell me if swimmers are better at swimming than marathon runners are at swimming?

This Day has been Marked.

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