This Thursday, the Ohio volleyball team will take to the floor in The Convo looking to defend its 37-match home winning streak, which is the longest current run in the nation. But where does it stand in comparison to some of sports' greatest streaks? Here's my list of the top 10 streaks in sports.
10. Prairie View A&M's 80-game losing streak in football. The lone dubious mark on this list, the Panthers lost 80 consecutive games from 1989 to 1998. Langston is the team that ended the streak, losing 14-12 to Prairie View. The most impressive part of the Panthers' run of futility is that it was humanly possible to lose 80 straight games ' the next-longest streak is Columbia's 44.
9. The Atlanta Braves win 15 consecutive division titles. This streak met its demise this season as the New York Mets won the National League East. At least Braves fans got to enjoy their team's dominance in the regular season, even though their team failed to perform in the postseason ' the Braves won only one World Series over that stretch.
8. Cal Ripken plays in 2,632 consecutive games. In a day when players sit out games after being on the computer too much ' see Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano ' it is nice to look back on Ripken's iron-man streak. Ripken may not have put up the most eye-opening statistics, but at least he made the effort to be on the field to help his team every day.
7. The Los Angeles Lakers' 33-game winning streak. The Lakers had won five championships in Minneapolis prior to the move to Los Angeles, but this streak at the beginning of the 1971-72 NBA season helped the team win its first title in La La Land. The streak began on Nov. 5, 1971, and did not end until Jan. 9, 1972.
6. Oklahoma's 47-game winning streak in football. The Sooners dominated college football from 1953 to 1957, winning 47 straight until a 7-0 loss to Notre Dame. Surprisingly, during this stretch, Oklahoma won just two national championships. Maryland won the national title in 1953, and Ohio State and UCLA split the title in 1954, leading me to believe that the process of snubbing championship-worthy teams did not start with the BCS after all.
5. UCLA's dominance of college basketball in the late 1960s and early 1970s. UCLA had two notable streaks during this time period, so I found it appropriate to lump them into one. For one, the Bruins won seven consecutive national championships from 1967 to 1973. During the latter part of that streak, the team rattled off 88 consecutive victories before Austin Carr and Notre Dame G
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Jason Fazzone
