Once upon a time, an athlete had an Iron Man streak that was in serious danger of ending, but not the one you’re thinking of.
Some fellow named Cal Ripken had played 444 consecutive games when he injured his ankle in April of 1985 and was forced to sit out the next game. True story. The good news for Ripken: Baltimore’s next game was an exhibition at the U.S. Naval Academy, which Ripken watched from the bench. The next day, when Baltimore was back to playing real games, he suited up with a taped ankle.
Years later in 1993, Ripken was about to have his second child. OK, his wife was doing the hard work, but Ripken had that whole streak to worry about. And yet, he told the media, witnessing the birth of his son would take precedence over the death of his streak. But Ryan Ripken had the good sense to be born on an off-day, and in 1995, Chris Berman had something to scream about.
The moral of the story? Sometimes an Iron Man needs to be a Lucky Man, too.
Which brings us to Brett Favre of those playoff-bound Packers. He had nine days to recover from the elbow injury he suffered against Dallas. Just enough time to get ready for a 250th straight start. Lucky, because if he only had the normal six days between games, Favre almost certainly doesn’t play. Then you’re not just reading about Green Bay winning the NFC North, but newspapers are also printing timelines detailing the streak that was.
What exactly would those timelines include? Probably a little something about this amazing tidbit from the San Jose Mercury News: Four hundred different quarterbacks have started games for other teams since Favre’s streak began in 1992. Wow.
That’s just one reason why it’s harder to find a sportswriter with a supermodel than to find one with a bad thing to say about Favre.
He’s got next
You already felt better about Aaron Rodgers, thanks to his performance against Dallas. This note from Peter King (scroll to item No. 8) should keep the warm fuzzies coming.
“He now has total confidence running the system there,” King wrote. “Plus, the Rodgers-Favre relationship has improved dramatically – to the point where now Rodgers has gone to Favre’s house for dinner.”
Dinner, eh? Pretty good. Can a cameo in one of Favre’s Wrangler commercials be very far behind?
Quote of note
From the $10 million-sure-can-change-a-guy’s-mind department…
“I don’t want to be here if we’re just going to play kids and rebuild. Yeah, I put my name on a contract, and I respect that. But the Dodgers’ logo was on top of that contract – not the Milwaukee Brewers or the Las Vegas 51s.”
– Eric Gagne, upset about the fortunes of his former team, to the Orange County Register in 2005.
The good folks at brewcrewball.com, an excellent Web site dedicated to the Milwaukee Brewers, dug up the quote from baseballprospectus.com. Just don’t expect to see it in Milwaukee’s media guide.
What rhymes with Gagne?
No need to schedule those Derrick Turnbow group therapy meetings. Assuming, of course, that Doug Melvin’s $10 million gamble on Gagne doesn’t end with the words “elbow surgery.”
It will be interesting to see how things work out with Gagne, once the best closer in baseball before that elbow stopped working in 2005. Will he be the “Texas” Gagne, who posted a 2.16 ERA while saving 16 games for the Rangers in the first half of 2007? Or will he be the “Boston” Gagne, who gagged to a 6.75 ERA in 20 games with the Red Sox after a midseason trade?
The good news is, the Brewers have spent the offseason collecting Brewers like a 9-year-old who just discovered Pokemon. So even if Gagne struggles, Milwaukee can turn to David Riske or Salomon Torres or, yes, even Turnbow.
Counting the Bucks
In case you missed it, Forbes magazine reports the Milwaukee Bucks are the second-least valuable team in the NBA. They rank 29th out of 30 teams, propped up only by the Portland Trailblazers. And that was before the Bucks started imitating the Washington Generals. Sunday’s overtime loss – to those very Trailblazers– was Milwaukee’s seventh defeat in eight games.
But before you start sending care packages to owner Herb Kohl, who still deserves thanks for keeping the Bucks in Milwaukee, know that the $19 million investment he made in 1985 is worth $264 million today. That’s almost a 14-fold increase, which isn’t bad for second-worst.
And finally…
If point guard extraordinaire Jason Kidd really does want to be dealt away from New Jersey, ESPN.com’s trade machine says the Bucks can get him for Bobby Simmons and Charlie Villanueva.
I’d tell Larry Harris to pick up the phone, but New Jersey’s GM isn’t named Isiah Thomas.
Had fun being a guest on WUWM’s Lake Effect on Friday. And don’t miss our Bar Time column.
