Coach: It's good to be great. It's great to be consistently good.

Apologies in advance for those I leave out, but let's think about Glenbrook North boys basketball, Glenbrook North volleyball, Glenbrook South hockey, Titan Poms, GBS girls and boys swimming, Loyola lacrosse teams, Loyola girls soccer, definitely Loyola football, and if you want to go beyond our boundaries a bit, New Trier boys and girls cross country and Niles Northridge Prep's underrated - but always good - boys basketball.

All of the programs listed above have been successful for a long time, at least a decade, and in some cases for as much as 30 years.

I bring this up after reading a small note in the local sports pages last week that struck a nerve. A nerve apparently somewhere in the depths of my sports anatomy.

It read like this: UConn (University of Connecticut) women's basketball team streak of 145 conference wins in a row was finally broken by Villanova, who beat them 72-69.

Wow. I had to read it twice to make sure. 145 in a row? Never a bad game? Never an off night? A streak that lasted almost a decade without ever losing a conference game? Pretty impressive.

Keep in mind the UConn women play in the always tough American Athletic Conference, and the past two years were part of the Big East Conference. Both big time Division I leagues that draw some of the top high school and top AAU players to sign on every year. So it's not like they are playing a bunch of slouches year in and year out.

And they were able to win 145 in a row. Double wow.

Now, I am no particular fan of UConn women's basketball. In fact, I have always been bothered to a minor degree by their famous head coach, Geno Auriemma. Maybe it is his slightly smug smile, maybe it's the hair gel that is way too ever present, or maybe it is just plain good, old-fashioned jealousy, but something about him always kind of bugged me.

But you have to give the man, and his program, and the players their due. Not losing a single time in rugged conference play for over 8 years? That is an amazing level of consistent, quality performance that deserves all the accolades they have received.

Which gets me to the point of this column, and the nerve hit when I read that small story.

Yes, greatness in sport is always celebrated. The amazing moments, the phenomenal one-time performances, the championship seasons all make the highlights on television. They are the ones we oft write about in this and many other newspapers or magazines, and the ones discussed on sports talk radio and podcasts. The accomplishments are certainly worthy of celebration.

But let me throw this little nugget of journalistic opinion out at you.

I think it is even more amazing, harder to achieve, and a greater accomplishment to be a good, competitive team over a long period of time than winning that one-time championship. Maybe your team or program wins a championship, or maybe not. But if you are consistently good over an extended period of time, and field a competitive team year in and year out, when even in your worst season you still find a way to a winning record? That may be the biggest accomplishment in all of sports.

Would you rather win one championship one year and then go no better than a .500 record the next 8 years? Or have strong winning records all 8 years, but never quite win the ultimate championship?

Interesting question.

One can form their own opinion on that one, but the point of this column is to point out, and give credit to, those programs that have maintained those high standards over an incredibly long time.

Besides our local high school programs mentioned at the top, some other examples of teams that have been really good for many years, but haven't won championships? How abut the St. Louis Cardinals in baseball? Always good. Never a down year. And they do it with homegrown players, not overpaid free agents. How about Gonzaga in college basketball? The small school in Spokane, Washington, has somehow put together one of the winningest programs in all of college basketball, but ... has never quite won the ultimate prize.

Taking a quantum leap down to the youth level, how about some examples of our own local programs? I could show my age and think back to the Springman Junior High boys basketball teams of the '70s, '80s and early '90s under coaches Roger Bagg and Scott Buzard that consistently won for many years; Springman girls volleyball over the past decade; or the Attea Junior High boys basketball teams of recent vintage with Bruce Leinweber and Andy Ehresman at the helm, winning year in and year out.

Northbrook Feeder Basketball has always been high-level good as long as I can remember. And we mustn't forget the every year powerhouse that is OLPH football.

All of these programs stayed competitive and sustained winning records for a number of years, and those are just a few examples of many, I am sure, in our communities.

I don't know how many championships those programs have won. A few; possibly not that many. But, again, I am arguing here that the greater accomplishment, in the long run, is to win and to be competitive year in and year out over that long period of time.

Do we put too much emphasis on the ultimate goal of winning championships? Maybe. A good example of this would be Glenbrook South football under coach Mike Noll. The Titans consistently turned out records, going 7-4, 8-3, and 9-2 on a regular basis, but there were a number of parents and Titan fans who were more bothered by the fact that those GBS teams could never beat the Maine South football powerhouse.

OK, the Titan gridiron gang never won conference championship, never quite got over the hump to go to any state championship-type games under Coach Noll, but they won a lot, and they did so every year, providing plenty of thrilling victories and happy moments for all Titan fans. But it wasn't good enough for some, who were upset the team couldn't win that one particular game every year.

"Sometimes you miss the joy of what is by constantly thinking about what could be."

So to all those teams, coaches, programs and players who have maintained a high level of excellence over an extended number of years, at least to this one particular writer, you have my unquestioned and deepest respect.

• Jon Cohn of Glenview is a coach, retired PE teacher, sports official and prep sports fan. To contact him with comments or story ideas, email jcsportsandtees@aol.com.