Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

We told you last year that former Stinger’s stripper Mark Consuelo was producing a documentary about the Brandon High School wrestling team’s 34 year old winning streak. “The Streak” began in 1973, and the Eagles piled up 459 consecutive victories and went 468 matches without a defeat. Both of those numbers are national records for a high school team in any sport. Of course, the same year this movie is made, the Brandon Eagles finally lost a match.

At any rate, “The Streak” premieres on ESPN2 tonight at 9pm (2 hours), and ESPN.com’s Joe Tessitore previews the film:

It’s every bit as improbable as the Miracle on Ice, without the dramatic play-by-play call. It exudes greatness along the lines of Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, but there’s no oversized commemorative coffee table book. It’s numbers-driven like Joe DiMaggio’s 56 straight games with a hit, but this streak always has been about the process, not the result.

“It is an achievement as extraordinary as anything ever seen in American sports,” filmmaker Jon Hock says.

Hyperbole, you say? As extraordinary as anything ever seen in American sports?

Well, you can dismiss this as just another sports story drowning in predictable exaggeration. I almost did. But then you open your eyes, look past the tall talk, and find what first connected you to sports long ago.

Hooray for the Brandon High School Eagles for creating and maintaining such an incredible story. Hooray to Mark Consuelos and ESPN for recognizing the accomplishment, and recording it on film. Watch tonight on ESPN2.