Streaks: Are The Girls Better Than The Boys

Streaks:  Are Girls Better Than Boys

      Maybe sometimes records are meant to be broken.  Maybe sometimes things aren't meant to be dominant.  Maybe sometimes the favorite will be beaten.  And maybe sometimes, the girls are better than the boys.

     Last night the UConn Women's Basketball team won it's 89

^th

consecutive game surpassing the record held by John Wooden's UCLA Bruins who won 88 straight from 1971-1974. It seems impossible to think of a team, actually 3 different teams, being able to put together a string of that many wins. 

     Each year players graduate, leave the team, get injured or just flat out don't play well.  The last time UConn lost was in the Women's Final Four in April, 2008.  In April 2008, George W. Bush was still president,  Kansas beat Memphis in the Men's NCAA Final in OT, “Touch My Body” by Mariah Carey was #1 song in the country and “21” was the #1 movie at the box office.

      Obviously a lot has changed, except for UConn's dominance.  Of the 89 wins, only 2 have been less than double digits.  The average win has been by 25 or more. And over 20 wins have come against ranked opponents.  All this dominance leads me to another  question?  Is this the best sports streak ever?

     Now before you start throwing out the “it's girls basketball” excuse let me explain.  In today's  sports world the athletes are bigger, stronger, faster.  Athletes, men and women, train all year round for their respective sports and are the best around.  Certainly back in the 60's with the Celtic's, or 70's with UCLA it was easier to assemble talent and make it work.  One dominating player (Bill Russell-Celtics, Lou Alcindor-UCLA) could win you a championship, and many many games throughout their careers. 

     Joe Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak is still something to marvel at but the best streak ever?  I'm  not impressed.  Iowa State's Cael Sanderson won 159 straight wrestling matches in his career.  I am impressed but at the same time, it's one man doing his thing.  He didn't rely on 4 other people to get his W's.  Lance Armstrong won 7 straight Tour De France's.  This is pretty high up for me as it is a team event and it was after his battle with cancer, but again still unimpressed with the lack of dominance overall and Lance was kind of the 1 man show.  Brett Favre's streak of 297 games played, Cal Ripken's 2,632  games played, Wayne Gretzky's 51 game point streak and Martina Navratilova's 6 straight Wimbledon's are all great within their context but none were on a full team level.

     In all honesty the closest to compare would be another women's team.  The Penn State Women's Volleyball team from September, 2007 to September, 2010 won 109 straight volleyball matches.  This is again a collective team coming together over years to put a streak together.  This impresses me for many reasons beyond sport.  These are 18, 19, 20, 21 year old kids who in between games worry about Facebook, Twitter, and what happened on Jersey Shore.  To keep the focus and dedication that these two women's teams have shown within the streaks is simply remarkable. 

     All this leads me to ask the ultimate question, are  the girls better than the guys??

Joseph Larsen

Community Contributor