Sports Records

What started as a small gift from a pair of agents to their well-known client has taken off in an unexpected direction. The yellow "X" cap that Lakers Coach Phil Jackson donned a few minutes after the Lakers won the NBA championship on Sunday in Orlando, Fla., spawned a deluge of phone calls to the office of Jackson's father-and-son agent team of Todd and Brian Musburger.

On a damp evening in September at Denver's Coors Field, Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball's career home run leader, hit No. 762 into the seats in left-center field. If he never hits another, that ball could be worth $1 million, according to memorabilia experts. Once it turns up. No one has seen the historic ball since the unidentified fan who got it disappeared into the night.

Alain Bernard broke the 100-meter freestyle record for the second time in as many days Saturday, clocking 47.50 seconds at the European swimming championships at Eindhoven, Netherlands, to win his first major title. In Friday's semifinals, the Frenchman swam 47.60 to shatter the world record that Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband set at the 2000 Sydney Games.

His "100th" birthday party last year was covered by the BBC and his run in the London Marathon on Sunday is being touted by one of the country's best-known public relations firms. Pierre "Buster" Martin and his backers say that if he completes the race, he will be the oldest person to ever finish a marathon. The only problem: He may be no older than 94.

In a blink of an eye, the long-standing dynamic of track and field's glamour event at the upcoming Olympics has changed. Since last September, the 100 meters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics shaped up as a classic mano a mano -- Asafa Powell of Jamaica against Tyson Gay of the United States. That story had enough subtexts to be intriguing in its complexity.

Maybe it pains Bobby Thigpen that Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels is on pace to shatter his single-season major league saves record. Or maybe the former Chicago White Sox closer, now 45, is too busy managing the Bristol (Va.) Sox of the Appalachian League, a rookie-level affiliate of the White Sox, to squeeze in a few minutes to reminisce about his signature season. Or maybe he's just a grump.

It was 1/100th of a second for the ages. Michael Phelps won his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Games today in heart-stopping fashion, out-touching Serbia's Milorad Cavic in the 100-meter butterfly to equal Mark Spitz's legendary 36-year-old record. Phelps, 23, can break the record for most gold medals in a single Olympics on Sunday morning (tonight Pacific time) if he and three teammates prevail in the 400-meter medley relay. Phelps set an Olympic record, going 50.58 seconds to Cavic's 50.

As others debate his legacy, Bob Knight strode into history Monday, setting a record no one's opinion of his behavior can erase. The 880th victory of Knight's 41-year career came after New Mexico missed a three-point shot at the buzzer to allow Texas Tech to escape with a 70-68 victory in a game it once led by 20 points. With that, Knight, 66, broke the record for victories by a Division I men's basketball coach he had shared with former North Carolina coach Dean Smith.

There was an unthinkable time -- long, long ago -- when Roger Federer struggled at Indian Wells. He remembered losing in the first round of qualifying in 1999, and four years later on center court, watched his carefully crafted game plan, hatched with his coach, backfire spectacularly against Gustavo Kuerten in the second round. "We knew Gustavo really enjoyed serving to the backhand," Federer said recently on a conference call. "The first 15 serves went to my forehand, so I wasn't ready."

No sooner had Kate Ziegler touched the wall in the 1,500-meter freestyle that a text message went speeding off from U.S. head coach Mark Schubert to a legendary swimmer. "You're still the greatest," Schubert wrote. Janet Evans could rest easy after Ziegler's inspired run on Tuesday at Evans' famous world record of 15 minutes 52.10 seconds, set in 1988. Ziegler, 18, was under world-record pace for 1,100 meters before finishing in 15:53.05, the third-fastest time in history.