Feburary 11, 2012


Greg's Top Ten Favorite Sports Milestones/Records:

1. Joe Dimaggio's 56 Consecutive Game Hitting Streak: The record was set in 1941 and although most every sports fan agrees that it's an unbreakable milestone, someone every baseball season gets on a roll and starts their own hitting streak hoping to best Joltin' Joe's mark. For some reason I always get sucked into to the remote possibility that someone could actually challenge DiMaggio's incredible feat. ESPN usually doesn't start making a fuss over a player's hitting streak gets to about 30 games and that's still over a month's worth of games away from a person actually matching the record of 56.

2. Jerry Rice's 22,895 Career Receiving Yards: Most people would take issue with an athlete not named Muhammad Ali calling themselves the "Greatest of All Time" during their career. Nobody would dare question that statement with Rice, who is without any doubt the single greatest pass-catcher in the history of pro football. The owner of virtually every receiving mark in NFL history, his 22,895 career receiving yards mark is the one that impresses me the most. The player with the second most receiving yards in NFL history is Terrell Owens who trails Rice by nearly 7,000 yards. Even in this age of increased passing numbers I doubt any player will ever sniff Rice's record.

3. Cal Ripken Jr's 2,632 Consecutive Games Played: Anyone out there who thinks this record isn't a big deal because he played baseball should be forced to watch every game Ripken played during the streak to see how wrong they are. Playing shortstop, Ripken's natural position, is incredibly hard on the body. From 1982 to 1995, Ripken never once missed a game and broke what was formerly thought of as an unbreakable record - 2,130 consecutive games played by Lou Gehrig. 13 years ago The Spice Girls were relevant and Donovan McNabb was a rookie quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. That might give you a little perspective on just how long Ripken's streak lasted.

4. Wayne Gretzky's 51 Consecutive Game Point Streak: There are so many Gretzky records that I could place on this list. Hell, I could do a top ten for just Gretzky-related records. This one blows my mind the most. Those of you that watch the S.J. Sharks know how hard it is for a player to score a goal in a single game. Now try doing that 51 games in a row. It's unfathomable. Only one other player in NHL history has a streak of over 30 games (Mario Lemieux, 46). It goes to show you just how absolutely dominant "The Great One" truly was during his player career.

5. Michael Phelps' 8 Gold Medals in 1 Olympics: When my wife and I were watching the Winter Games four years ago we were dumbfounded that a person could be that elite. Remember, the Olympic Games feature only the very best of the best of the best. There aren't any hacks swimming alongside Phelps. Every single guy out there has been deemed the very top percentile of athletes in the world and Phelps went a perfect 8-8 in every event he swam in. One can only wonder what more he'll be able to accomplish when the next Winter Games come back around. Most of the records on this list are long-term marks set over a period of time. Even though Phelps won the medals in a span of just several days, it took a lifetime of incredible dedication to bring home the gold.

6. Wilt Chamberlain's 50.4 Points Per Game Average: I thought about placing his famous 100 point game on this list, but the 50.4 ppg average in 1961-62 is far more impressive. He was a total freak of nature and absolutely dominated the basketball scene during his prime. We all know how great Michael Jordan was when he played, right? He was the undisputed greatest player of our lifetime. For perspective, Jordan's greatest single season was 1986-87 when he averaged 37.09 points. Yeah, The Stilt averaged 13 points more per game than Jordan did at his very best.

7. Boston Celtics 8 Straight NBA Titles: It's the dynasty to end all greatest dynasty conversations in pro sports and it's not like the Celtics just walked all over everyone. There were some incredibly talented teams playing in the NBA during the Celtics title reign from 1959-1966. Can you imagine something like this happening in today's era of pro sports? Imagine if the Yankees won 8 straight World Series titles or if the Lakers won the NBA finals 8 straight times. That kind of dominance will likely never be seen again at the professional level and it's probably for the best. One reason why pro sports are so interesting is because of the parity involved - every year the odds of a team winning it all are vastly different due to free agency, salary caps and contract disputes among other reasons.

8. Johnny Unitas' 47 Consecutive Games with a Touchdown Pass: When I first heard that this was the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown, I didn't really think much of it until I considered how tough it would be to throw at least one TD for three straight season's worth of games. It simply can't be done. Brett Favre was the player who nearly challenged the mark but his streak ended 11 games shy of Unitas' record. Even the greatest quarterbacks of the modern era like Dan Marino, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have their off days. It happens. For whatever reason, even the greatest players have a day where either their skills aren't as sharp or their team doesn't score passing touchdowns.

9. Rickey Henderson's 1,406 Career Stolen Bases: Holy crap, I forgot just how insane Rickey Henderson was during his playing career. Slight tangent here: when Rickey Henderson was up for the Hall of Fame voting he wasn't voted in unanimously which means some fucktard actually didn't think Henderson was worthy of Cooperstown. Yeah, that guy should be forced to write "Rickey Henderson is a first ballot Hall of Famer" 1,406 times on a chalkboard a la Bart Simpson. Juan Pierre is the MLBs active stolen base leader with 554 steals. Let that settle in for a minute. The games' best base stealer today is still nearly 900 steals shy of approaching Henderson's mark.

10. Cy Young's 511 Career Wins: I understand that the game was different when he played and how pitching rotations were smaller, blah, blah, blah. Regardless, Cy Young passing the 500 win milestone is sickening. The closest player behind Young is Walter Johnson with 417 wins - nearly 100 wins less than Young. Today we consider 300 career wins to be an astounding accomplishment for a pitcher. Young reached 300 wins in just his 12th major league season and wasn't even close to being finished.