The Streak — Is Over

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

When we think of the word “streak,” most often it’s in relation to sports (i.e., a team or player on a winning/losing streak). I would imagine many of us have watched a game where a broadcast announcer draws attention to a particular streak and we think, “You just jinxed ’em,” and right on cue, the player misses a shot, strikes out, or misses a kick (wide right), and just like that, the streak is over. But as we all know, there are streaks — and then there are streaks. For example, on Sept. 20, 1998, Cal Ripken Jr., infielder for the Baltimore Orioles, ended Major League Baseball’s longest consecutive games played streak at 2,632, smashing Lou Gehrig’s record by some 500 games. But what made the ending of this streak different from most is, it was done by choice. Ripken wasn’t injured when he asked to be left out of the lineup that day. He just knew it was time, and thus ended one of the greatest streaks in the history of sports, and one not likely to be broken — ever.