Records: Made to be Broken?

Let's look at MSN's recent list of Sports Records That Will Never Be Broken:

Rivera - saves - 602
Rose - career hits – 4256…what about Ichiro?

DiMaggio - hitting streak - 56
Cy Young - Career wins – 511…unbreakable
Ripken - Consecutive games played - 2632
Derrick Thomas - Sacks in a game – 7…breakable?
Jerry Rice - Receiving Yards - 22895
OJ Simpson - avg yds rushing per game (season) - 143.1…breakable?
Gretzky - goals in a season - 92
Gretzky - assists in a season - 163
Chamberlain - points in a game – 100

Jordan - points per gm (season) - 30.12…breakable?
Byron Nelson - PGA tour wins in a year – 18…unbreakable

Lance Armstrong - consecutive Tour de France wins 7…he cheated!
Usain Bolt - fastest 100 meters - 9.58…breakable?
Isner - longest tennis match 11 hr 5 min…breakable?

Three records I would add to the list…

1. Greg Maddux won at least 15 games for 17 straight years. Even Cy Young didn’t do that. This year is Sabathia’s 5th straight 15 win season. Twelve more, CC. He’ll be 43 then.

2. The Jazz and Braves runs of consecutive division championships are another hard to break feat.

3. 868. Sadaharu Oh’s all-time home run record.

Breaking Rose’s record requires 203 hits a year for 21 straight years. Ichiro has averaged 225 for the past 11 years, though it’s doubtful he’ll reach 200 this year (he’s currently 22 short). Adding his Japan League numbers, Ichiro has exactly 3700 hits in 20 years. He’ll have to average 186 hits for the next three years to “break” the record. The competition may be lower in Japan, but the seasons are shorter: there Ichiro only averaged 142 hits a season.

Cy Young’s all-time wins record is the most unbreakable record of all. Even if you win 25 games a year for 20 years, you’re still eleven wins short. These days experts wonder if there will ever be another 300 game winner. CC Sabathia is 31 and has 176 wins, an average of 17 per year over eleven seasons. If he keeps up that pace for SEVEN more years, he is still five wins short. You wonder if his huge body will hold up (though he doesn’t seem to exert much effort).

If Venters averages 40 saves a year for the next 14 years, he can break Rivera’s record. Much more doable than equaling Cy Young.

I never thought Gretzky’s records would even be challenged, but some (Lemieux?) have knocked at the door.

Only one or two receivers in NFL history have even half as many yards as Rice (or touchdowns). As a pro, Herschel has more combined yards than Rice (in college as well).

Will ARod break the Bonds/Aaron home run record? He has slowed down in the past couple of years. Injuries are the key. In this age of big salaries, fewer all-time records will be broken because of lack of motivation.