In honor of the Wimbledon match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, which was suspended again after they played all day today, with the match tied 59-59 in the fifth set, here are a list of some of the longest contests, matches and battles in other sports.
The Games Without End ...
- Baseball. The Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings, from the Triple-A International League, played the longest game in professional baseball history on Saturday, April 18, 1981. Well, and Sunday 19th, for the match finished at 4:07 A.M., after 32 innings. There were 19 fans left by the end, who all got free season tickets. Pawtucket won, 3-2.
Basketball. The longest game in NBA history took place on Jan. 6, 1951, and was between the Indianapolis Olympians and the Rochester Royals. The Olympians won, 75-73, in six overtimes. In the NCAA, there was a seven-overtime contest in 1981 Division I play, between Cincinnati and Bradley, with the former winning, 75-73. Obviously, these were both before the introduction of the shot-clock.
- Boxing. In New Orleans on April 6, 1893, Andy Bowen and Jack Burke fought for the vacant lightweight title - to decide who was really champion, the match stipulated it was to be fought to a finish. Over seven hours later, neither fighter could come out for the 111th round, the final decision being a "no contest." Burke never fought again; Bowen had just one more match.
- Chess. The longest tournament chess game, measured by moves, was a 1989 draw between Ivan Nikolic and Goran Arsovic, in Belgrade. It lasted 269 moves and took 20 hours and 15 minutes to complete. At the time, chess rules allowed 100 moves without a piece being captured before a draw can be claimed, rather than the current fifty-move limit.
- Cricket. The sport has a reputation for length, with five days being the standard length for certain matches. However, some have gone even longer. A 1939 contest in Durban, between South Africa and England, started on the morning March 3rd, and ended on the evening of March 14th, after nine days of actual play. The contest was only ended because the England team had to catch their boat home.
- Football. The longest NFL game was the Christmas Day 1971 playoff contest between Miami and Kansas City. The game went 7:40 into the second overtime, before a 37-yard Garo Yepremian field goal sent Miami on with a 27-24 victory. In college football, games can go longer, as it isn't "first to score wins." For instance, in 2003, Arkansas beat Kentucky, 71-63, in the seventh overtime period.
- Hockey. The longest NHL game in history dates back to March 24, 1936, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons, 1-0. The marvelously-nicknamed Modere "Mud" Bruneteau scored the winning goal in the sixth period of overtime, just a couple of weeks after being called up by the Red Wings. There was a total of 116 minutes, 30 seconds of overtime required.
- Wrestling. In the last round of the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Martin Klein of Russia faced off against Finland's Alfred Asikainen. The match lasted 11 hours and forty minutes: Klein eventually won, but was too tired to compete in the final. The gold therefore went by default to Claes Johansson of Sweden - who had lost to Asikainen in one of the preliminary rounds, during the double-elimination stage.
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