In honor of the Miami Heat’s 23-game winning streak I thought I’d delve into some of the other impressive winning streaks in sports history. The streak the Heat needs to beat is the 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers team who won 33 straight, which is 11 more than the Houston Rockets who are at number two on the list.
Here are a few of the best in other sports:
Football: Although he is now a Bronco, during his 2008-2009 year as an Indianapolis Colt, Peyton Manning led his team to 23 straight regular season victories.
Boxing: Between 1952 and 1956, boxer Rocky Marciano was the World Heavyweight Champion and never lost a fight. Marciano won 49 straight over those four years—44 knockouts and five by decision.
Surfing: Kelly Slater has been the biggest name in surfing for almost 20 years and has been crowned world champion 10 times over two decades. Slater’s 10 championships are a record on their own, but his five consecutive championships from 1994 to 1998 make him even more remarkable.
Tennis: Among Federer’s countless achievements is his record for the longest streak of consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances – 23. The previous record was 10.
Hockey: NHL legend Wayne Gretzky’s 13 consecutive seasons of scoring 100+ points has not been surpassed and he retired in 1999. Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman are among the players sitting way behind Gretzky’s record.
Baseball: New York Yankees legend Babe Ruth holds the record for most consecutive seasons with 40 or more home runs. He hit 40 or more home runs out of the park an impressive seven consecutive seasons between 1926 and 1932. ***In the steroid era, Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa both achieved six consecutive seasons with 40 or more home runs.
Car Racing: Richard Petty is the most decorated NASCAR driver of all time and he racked up a pretty good portion of his 200 wins in 1967. Petty won 27 races that year and 10 of them consecutively.
Not too shabby!
For all those Heat-haters out there get over yourselves. I’ve been a Heat fan since I was old enough to hold a basketball and watching this team is nothing if not exciting. Also, this blog is not going to be a jinx like being on the cover of Sports Illustrated. That is all. Go Heat!
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