In the quarterfinals at Wimbledon tomorrow, I would like to see David Ferrer defeat Andy Murray. For two very good reasons.

1. I like David Ferrer. He is the Energizer Bunny of the men’s tour, forever chasing down balls, keeping rallies alive. He is not big, and he doesn’t have a monster serve, and almost all his tournament victories are on clay, where effort and conditioning mean most. Basically, he was not created to win on grass, yet here he is in the quarters of Wimbledon for the first time.

(Also, I had a one-on-one chat with him back in December, and he revealed that he reads … books. I love athletes who read books.)

2. I also love long losing streaks. One of the greatest concepts in sports. The streak of futility that reaches some really big number. In this case, it would be the 76 years since a British male (and Andy Murray is one) won at Wimbledon. And, well, 76 years since a British male won any of the Grand Slam events. (Go back and read that sentence again, make sure you let that sink in.)

Let’s consider some other great losing streaks.

–Chicago Cubs. The Cubbies haven’t won a World Series in 104 years. Not since 1908. Isn’t that a great stat? They have been playing more than a century without winning a World Series, and for about 50 years of that they were one of only 16 teams in the majors.

–Chicago Cubs II. Oh, and the Cubs haven’t even played in a World Series since 1945. That’s 57 years ago, for those of you math-impaired. And includes the famous Curse of the Billy Goat, in 1945, as they contrived to lose the World Series. This also brings to mind the Steve Bartman Incident, which makes it even more fun.

–Houston Astros. These guys have never won a World Series. And they have been around since 1962. That’s 50 years. (I know this stuff without even looking it up. That’s the power of losing streaks.)

–Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills. Neither has won a Super Bowl. Each has played in four of them and lost them all. Isn’t that fun?

We can further emphasize how great long, long losing streaks are by reviewing what we lost when the Boston Red Sox won a World Series in 2004 and the Chicago White Sox won one in 2005.

If the former case, the Curse of the Bambino became inoperative, and that was just such a wonderful curse. In short, the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees after the 1919 season. In 1918 they had won a World Series, their fifth in a competition that wasn’t even 20 years old. Then they sold the greatest player in the history of baseball for $100,000 so the owner could bankroll a musical, “No, No, Nanette.” The Yankees became the greatest franchise in ball, Ruth built a “house” named Yankee Stadium and the Red Sox won nothing for 86 years.

And the White Sox? They threw the 1919 World Series and became the Black Sox. The biggest scandal in the history of American sports. And they seemed to get the punishment they deserved, never champions for the 87 years after 1917 … until 2005 when they won a Fall Classic and ruined another great streak.

And now we have one one of the great country/sport losing streaks ever. It’s not like England doesn’t play tennis — they have the greatest event in the sport, Wimbledon, to inspire homegrown players. And they used to win quite often. Fred Perry won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1936.

British males have not won since. None of the four majors. Various guys have played for a title, and the public is always looking around for the Next Great Hope.

But for 76 years, zero slam victories, and that is a great, great stat. And if Andy Murray defeats David Ferrer today and then doesn’t have to play Rafael Nadal (because Rafa lost in the second round) and wins Wimbledon on Sunday … that wonderful stat, 76 years in the making, goes away.

Nothing personal, Andy. Really. It’s just that I like David Ferrer better … and I love, love, love that British losing streak.