What happened to ESPN Streak For The Cash? Life I suppose. ESPN is finally shutting the game down after 14 glorious years. The closure has been on the cards for a while. There have been significantly fewer events to pick for months and multi-event props ceased to be a while back. It was clear something was happening. Now we finally know what that is.
More Relics: GeoCities sucked, but that’s what made it great
I’ve been playing ESPN Streak For The Cash since my first year of school at Idaho in January 2009. Over the years, I have made some 13,517 picks with a fairly average record of 7703-5814 to show for my troubles. My longest streak is 17 wins and at no point was I close to winning anything. But man, did I love this game.
During the early years, I remember talking about our streaks during club soccer practice at Idaho. Anything over five was reason to brag. There was definitely some buzz around the contest that first year or so. However, ESPN Streak For The Cash somehow became this weird part of my life. An insignificant one, but also something that I took with me across the world.
Here are some of the corners of the globe where I still vividly remember popping open my laptop or, in later years, opening the app, to make my next pick:
- On the Semester At Sea ship in the Mediterranean Sea
- Outside the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul
- In front of a KFC by the Giza Pyramids
- At the Skopje train station in Macedonia
- The medina in Meknes, Morocco
- Working at a coffee shop in Copper Center, Alaska
- An Asian Champions League game in Buriram, Thailand
- A Sega Arcade in Tokyo, Japan
- The Starbucks in 101 Taipei
- During a bicycle tour of Florence
- Thursday Night Football at the Oakland Coliseum, picking props for the Raiders game
- A Shakey’s Pizza in Manila
That list is only scratching the surface of where I’ve taken ESPN Streak For The Cash in the past 14 years. The weird thing is not once did I question why I was so committed to making these picks. Nor did I care about wins or losses.
ESPN Streak For The Cash was just there. For most of the time the game has been around, sports betting wasn’t really accessible. This gave us some stakes for picking games, props and whatever else we were asked to select. That being said, times have changed and it has probably become completely unnecessary.
So, while what happened to ESPN Streak For The Cash is sad, it is totally understandable. There is no need to complain about the contest ending or demanding it come back. The game had a legendary run. We should remember it fondly for the good times.
After 14 years of making picks, I’ll still probably log into the app for a while looking to make my next selection. But like all things in life, I will eventually move on. ESPN Streak For The Cash, you are going to be missed.
Related: 4 things we’ll miss when ESPN Classic is gone
