Well Hello, Ladies

The University of Connecticut Lady Huskies won their 89th consecutive game yesterday, solidifying their spot in the record books for what is likely to be eternity. They have eclipsed the men's record set by the UCLA Bruins in the 1970s under legendary coach, John Wooden. The women of UConn deserve immense congratulations, but the question that plagued the double rainbow remains; what does it mean?

The media has written the story of UConn surpassing UCLA for the record of most consecutive college basketball victories, so comparisons must be drawn. To me, the only comparison is that they play basketball. And because of that, it is fair to say UConn holds that record. They have played their heart out for 89 games against the best that D1 NCAAW has to offer. They have not just won all of these games, they have dominated, destroying the average teams and easily beating most of the title contenders.

You can't really compare much after that because you can't even compare the men's game today to John Wooden Era. The Bruins then, like the Lady Huskies now, were stratospheres above everyone else. They were both led by coaches that can seemingly lead any team to the promised land. Now, most men's teams will be great for a couple of years, then drop off while trying to recruit the next best player. The best coaches, Coach K, Roy Williams, Jim Boeheim, etc., are able to recruit the better players, thus they are able to stay near the top on most years. Wooden was able to do that as is Geno Auriemma for UConn.

One big difference between the teams of yesteryear, and today is parity. Just as the New York Yanks and the Boston Celtics dominated; the Bruins dominated and now the Lady Huskies are dominating. It seems every sport goes through a stage of lone dominance, followed by parity. The Bruins won seven straight titles, and now it seems a team can't win two in a row, (though Duke seems like a possible candidate this year). The Yankees won five in a row, and now need to buy baseball just to compete.

Dominance, rivalries, and underdogs are what keeps a sport moving. The dominance of UConn has a formidable rivalry in Tennessee and a growing one in Baylor. UConn will be beaten at some point and while some disagree, I think their streak is fantastic for women's basketball. The streak is great for two reasons. It made women's basketball a headline on ESPN and other news outlets for probably the only time other than to announce national champions. And secondly, their streak has other teams' level of play improving just to match UConn's.

You can't compare yesterday to today. The "old school" athletes may have been more talented, and had more passion, but today's athletes are bigger, stronger, faster, and better. Instead of selling furniture in the offseason, baseball players now play in winter leagues. WNBA players play year round in European Leagues. The training is intensified and thus making the athletes better. Coaches now have learned upon the mistakes of the coaches in the past and due to that, I would take the 2007 Patriots over the 1972 Dolphins. Give me the 2010 Lakers over the Bill Russell Celtics. Sure, Bill Russell would dominate Pau Gasol, but the Lakers still have the Zen Master and the Black Mamba.

If you can't compare a sport to itself, how can you compare records of one sport to another? Men's basketball is different than women's basketball, just like baseball is different than softball and football is different than lingerie football. There is no need to compare until women can match man in height, speed, strength, etc. Men are different than women. Women's basketball is a perimeter game, with skill shooters, while most of the men's game is decided inside the paint. The UConn ladies keep winning because they shut down the opponents' shooting percentage.

As far as records are concerned, they are in the eye of the beholder. You can choose to believe the women's game is meaningless and only consider the Bruins as having consecutive winning streak. You can choose to believe Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds hold the all-time home run title when really it's Sadaharu Oh. There will always be discussion and asterisks because we, the people, can never agree on anything. One year we elect Obama, the Democrat, and two years later, we change our minds and elect a bunch of Republicans in the Senate. No matter what you believe, the University of Connecticut Lady Huskies are amazing. So amazing that they may be saving the game of women's basketball from a possible dismantling due to the NBA's troubles.