THE MAG.COM PRESENTS:
ALL WORLD POWER RANKINGS

by Ted Bauer

Getty Images

Still waiting for their debut.

WHEN IT COMES TO THE MOST BUTT-KICKING OF MOMENTS, WE'LL TAKE VY IN THE ROSE BOWL

[Ed's note: Not sure what All-World Power Rankings is? Please click here.]

Today is National Kick Butt Day, so it seemed logical to rank some examples of that through sports history. We're not talking about teams pasting other teams 82-0 or anything. Rather, we're dedicating it to absolutely unreal individual performances. Should be fun, although we'll undoubtedly miss a few. (Holler at us in the comments if you want.) Side note: it's also Paddington Bear's 50th birthday. Think he's the coolest bear in literature history? We do.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (1)	JUNE 21, 1937: TENNIS	The Brits were the first to put sports on TV, with a broadcast nearly two years before the U.S.'s first. Here, a Wimbledon match between George Rogers and Bunny Austin was so exciting cameras apparently left the action to film the Queen entering the stadium. Ouch. Either way, first is first.
	2 (35)	MAY 17, 1939: BASEBALL	The first televised sport in the U.S. was the Columbia vs Princeton baseball game at Baker Field on 218th Street in the Bronx. Four hundred TV sets tuned in for the debut of the new "technology" which allowed a single camera angle behind the third baseline. Sweet action! Princeton won 2-1 in extra innings.
	3 (62)	JUNE 1, 1939: BOXING	The first televised boxing match was a heavyweight title match in which Max Baer lost to Lou Nova at Yankee Stadium. That you can now watch it on YouTube is a sign that the TV is pretty much extinct. (Sorry, Bristol!).
	4 (9)	SEP 30, 1939: FOOTBALL	The birth of televised football occurred between Fordham and Waynesburg College in, guess where, New York. It was Triboro Stadium on Randalls Island where the game was broadcast to about 500 people. Fordham won 34-7 and Waynesburg College football was forever doomed to TV anonymity. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
	5 (42)	FEB 25th - 28th, 1940: HOCKEY, BASKETBALL, HANG TIME	The first TV hockey occurred between the Rangers and Canadiens at Madison Garden. It must have been popular; three days later the first televised basketball game premiered, between Pitt and Fordham, at the same place (still the home of the Big East tourney). This was nine years prior to the formation of the NBA and 55 years before we were graced with Hang Time.

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	82 (139)	AUG 26, 1939: MLB	The first televised MLB game was the front-end of a doubleheader between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds at Ebbets field. Announcer Red Granger called it … without a monitor.
	103 (1,870)	JUNE 24- JULY 1, 1995: X GAMES	The Extreme Games (later, the X Games) debuted. Sports including bungy jumping, street-luge, in-line skating (later referred to almost exclusively as fruit booting, brah), and something called "Eco-Challege" were all shown on TV.