WhoDat!656

When Drew Brees surpasses Johnny Unitas’ consecutive touchdown record in two weeks, his accomplishment will be met with a little celebration, a lot of confusion, some ambivalence, a dash of indifference and a surprising amount of derision.

One of the most admirable figures in the sports world will reach a milestone once thought unattainable, but as many people will shrug or scoff as celebrate. The line to downplay or denigrate Brees’ achievement will be at least as long as the line to pat him on the back.

Brees is certain to receive backhanded blessings for throwing a touchdown pass in his 48th consecutive game -- besting Unitas’ 47-game streak that extended from 1956-60 -- because he went down the same road just 10 months ago. Brees blew past Dan Marino’s record for single-season passing yards last year, and some experts acted like he burned down an orphanage. Brees had it easy, not like the legends of yesteryear. His new record wasn’t so much tarnished as dismissed, a non-event, the residue of modern passing promiscuity. No one puts asterisks in record books anymore, and why should we, when it is so much easier to brush off the whole concept of breaking a record as irrelevant, or even counterproductive, to the all-important task of winning


Mike Tanier on Brees vs. Unitas

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."