8 (number) - in Sports and Other Games

In Sports and Other Games

• Eight-ball pocket billiards is played with a cue ball and 15 numbered balls, the black ball numbered 8 being the middle and most important one, as the winner is the player or side that legally pockets it after first pocketing its numerical group of 7 object balls (for other meanings see Eight ball (disambiguation)).
• Balklines divide a billiards table into eight outside compartments or divisions called balks. In balkline billiards the table also has eight anchor spaces.
• In the 2008 Games of the XXIX Olympiad, the official opening was on 08/08/08 at 8:08:08 p.m. local time in Beijing, China.
• In football, the number 8 has historically been the number of the Central Midfielder.
• in baseball scorekeeping, the center fielder is designated as number 8.
• In rugby union, the only position without a proper name is the Number 8, a forward position.
• In most rugby league competitions (though not the European Super League, which uses static squad numbering), one of the two starting props wears the number 8.
• In rowing an "eight" refers to a sweep-oar racing boat with a crew of eight rowers plus a coxswain.
• In chess, each side has eight pawns and the board is made of 64 squares arranged in an eight by eight lattice. The eight queens puzzle is a challenge to arrange eight queens on the board so that none can capture any of the others.
• In the game of eights or Crazy Eights, each successive player must play a card either of the same suit or of the same rank as that played by the preceding player, or may play an eight and call for any suit. The object is to get rid of all one's cards first.
• In poker, a "dead man's hand" contains two pairs; aces and eights.
• The throw of eight in craps is called (in rhyming slang) an eighter from Decatur.
• While racing for DEI, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. raced in the #8 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series .
• Ralph Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s grandfather drove #8 in the NASCAR Sportsman Division and NASCAR Grand National Series
• In Israeli Football Premiere league, Maccabi Tel Aviv legendary star- Avi Nimni wore the number 8 and it retired with him.
• In Nintendo's Mario Kart series, a maximum of eight racers can participate in each race.
• The jersey number 8 has been retired by several North American sports teams in honor of past playing greats or other key figures:
  • In Major League Baseball:
    • The Baltimore Orioles, for Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr.
    • The Boston Red Sox, for Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski.
    • The Cincinnati Reds, for Hall of Famer Joe Morgan.
    • The Montreal Expos, for Hall of Famer Gary Carter. The franchise continues to honor the number in its current incarnation as the Washington Nationals (although it initially planned to reissue all of the Expos' retired numbers).
    • The New York Yankees, for Hall of Famers Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey.
    • The Pittsburgh Pirates, for Hall of Famer Willie Stargell.
  • In the NFL:
    • The St. Louis Cardinals, for Hall of Famer Larry Wilson. The franchise, now the Arizona Cardinals, continues to honor the number.
    • The San Francisco 49ers, for Hall of Famer Steve Young.
    • The Dallas Cowboys have a policy of not retiring numbers. However, they have not issued #8 since the retirement of Hall of Famer Troy Aikman after the 2000 season.
    • The New Orleans Saints have never formally retired the number, but have not reissued #8 since Archie Manning left the team during the 1982 season.
  • In the NHL:
    • The Boston Bruins, for Hall of Famer Cam Neely.
    • The Minnesota North Stars, for Bill Goldsworthy. The franchise, now the Dallas Stars, continues to honor the number.
    • The Ottawa Senators, for Frank Finnigan, the final surviving player from the original Senators team that won the 1927 Stanley Cup, and an ambassador for the group that returned the NHL to Ottawa.
    • The St. Louis Blues, for Barclay Plager.
    • The Quebec Nordiques retired the number for Marc Tardif. However, the team moved to Denver as the Colorado Avalanche after the 1994–95 season, and the Avalanche placed all of the Nordiques' retired numbers back into circulation.
  • The number has yet to be retired in the NBA.