Sunday, December 28, 2008

They've done it! The Detroit Lions have completed a "perfect" 0-16 season in the National Football League. This is the first time a team has lost all of its games since the league switched from a 14- to a 16-game schedule in 1978. An historical list of awful NFL teams compiled by ESPN.com (which looks to be at least a few years old, as it excludes, for example, the 2007 Miami Dolphins' 1-15 season) is available here.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

In today's Ohio State men's basketball game against West Virginia, the 'eyes didn't have it. With the Buckeyes trailing 49-40, the Mountaineers went on a 27-4 run to increase their lead to a monstrous 76-44 en route to an easy victory (second half play-by-play). Ohio State's collapse is all the more surprising, considering that the Buckeyes came in nationally ranked (No. 13) whereas West Virginia was unranked, and the Buckeyes were playing at home.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Penn State last night won the NCAA women's volleyball championship, defeating Stanford three games to none. The Nittany Lions' title run was built upon multiple layers of streaks:

*Penn State won all of its matches this season, compiling a 38-0 record.

*This is the second straight year the Nittany Lions have won the NCAA championship; they won their final 26 matches of 2007, bringing their aggregate winning streak to 64 matches.

*Heading into last Thursday's semifinal match against Nebraska, Penn State had won all of its 2008 matches (36 matches at that point) via 3-0 sweeps. In other words, the Nittany Lions had not lost a game (also known as a "set") all season, taking all 108 they had played. Penn State then won the first two games against Nebraska, only to drop the next two, setting up a dramatic fifth-game victory for the Lions.

Though Penn State didn't quite achieve a season free of any lost games -- which would have been unprecedented in NCAA women's play -- it did set a record by winning 111 straight games (in addition to the 110 straight in the 2008 season, the Nittany Lions won the fifth and final game of the 2007 championship match, after losing Game 4).

Thursday, December 18, 2008

This is probably one of the more unique streaks I've written about! Chris Paul of the NBA's New Orleans Hornets just set a new league record with a steal in 106 straight games.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

The Lakers and Pacers played a wild and streak-laden NBA game Tuesday night, with a last-second tip-in giving host Indiana a 118-117 victory. Quoting from this ESPN.com/AP article:

...when [Los Angeles] closed the third quarter with a 17-0 run to take a 101-86 lead, it seemed as if the Lakers were destined for yet another rout...

[But] when Los Angeles put together its big run at the end of the third, [Danny] Granger and [Troy] Murphy returned the favor by igniting a 10-0 spurt early in the fourth to get the Pacers within seven.

Also, Indiana made 20 of 21 free throws.