ESPN has officially decided to shove the UConn Womens Basketball's 89 game win streak into our collective conciousness. Yes, it breaks the record set by UCLA...in men's sports. Not to denigrate the talents of UConn's players, but its just not the same. The level of talent between UConn and the rest of the the Women's College Basketball field is huge, whereas UCLA played a lot more quality opponents (and had 14 more single digit wins-it wasn't always easy). So yes, it's impressive for them, but its not really a record breaker- its just a number. Its apples and oranges. They broke the record previously set by their own school at 70 games- that's what mattered. 89 is a number that means nothing, except that UConn is very, very good. There's no comparison besides those two teams being really good.
The most interesting thing I heard was during ESPN's forced "roundtable" discussion (Zzz) about the streak with former UConn players. Rebecca Lobo said it was "ridiculous" to say that this streak was "bad for women's basketball". She said that the streak got the sport more attention than ever- and that was good. But what she doesn't realize is that the streak has probably turned viewers away. People watch sports, and especially dominant teams, to see something that they don't expect, to see something amazing. They want the better team to be challenged. The Patriots in '07 were popular because they didn't blow everyone out- the streak they had was in jeopardy a lot of the times they stepped on the field- that's how good the quality of NFL teams are. The same cannot be said about UConn. Except against a couple of teams, it is a foregone conclusion that they will win every time- there is no challenge. This is boring to the average sports fan. No one wants to see the same thing every time; and that's what we have with UConn. Until they start getting challenged, or actually lose, the interest will remain minimal. Sure, they're a great team, but its so predictable, why watch?
Carolina at Pittsburgh (-14.5)
Even without Troy Polamalu, the Steelers defense is too good to be bested by Carolina QB Jimmy Clausen. Pittsburgh is coming off a tough loss to the Jets and will be looking to keep their division lead over the Ravens, so I see them being motivated enough to not even let this one stay close. Pittsburgh wins and covers. And nice job scheduling this game, NFL Network! My god they really screwed the pooch this week.
Dallas (-6.5) at Arizona
This would be a great matchup...last season. Now it's a battle of backup (or backup backups) on Christmas Day. Bleak for everyone involved. Arizona is officially out of it in the NFC West, so they don't have much to play for. Dallas also has nothing to play for but pride; they have more talent and more pride, so I expect them to cover and win.
No comments:
Post a Comment