Favre? Ripken? Gehrig? Streaks Are Selfish and Stupid

News item: Favre’s streak ends at 297 straight starts

There’s no “I” in “team.” There’s a big one in “Ironman.”

Everyone wants to talk about what a stud Brett Favre is for having started 297 consecutive games, a streak that ended Monday night when he was inactive for the Vikings’ game against the Giants in Detroit. No one wants to talk about how Favre’s streak is the most selfish feat in football history. We haven’t seen anything like it since Cal Ripken covered 2 inches of range at shortstop for the Orioles some days but kept limping out there just so he could say he did.

Streaks in team sports are not team accomplishments, so they are meaningless.

But if we must talk about them, let’s at least not take them so seriously. It’s been pointed out that both Favre’s and Lou Gehrig’s streaks ended in Detroit. That’s a fun fact. What are the odds?

Another twist: The streak was ended on a day Favre was to play the Giants, the team that was presumed to have ended the streak a few years ago in the NFC Championship Game:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IuPdj5-1ts&feature=related

As for Ripken, even Derek Jeter couldn’t talk sense into him:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkJOBP16ij8

Then there was the day when Lou Gehrig finally sat down, not in the happiest of circumstances:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qefvMnqmUBU