Media clichés are a favorite theme of Gelf, which has chronicled the cockroach-like survival of "coming soon to an X near you" and "quite frankly." Last week, as Phillies second baseman Chase Utley extended his hitting streak to 35 games, several sportswriters insisted on calling it a "skein." That word—rarely used in conversation and especially unlikely to be overheard in a sports bar—is a favorite of journalists tired of repeatedly using the word "streak" or other common equivalents.

"Skein" has the added benefit of being sort of literary, because it means "a loosely coiled length of yarn" (Webster.com) so using it for a hitting streak would have been imaginative, before this word entered cliché status.

Here are some recent instances of "skein," about Utley and other sports stories:

Sportsnet.ca
As DiMaggio's string lengthened, the days of another Yankee immortal, Lou Gehrig, grew fewer. The Iron Horse, who had set another sort of consecutive streak by appearing in 2,130 games, died on June 2, as DiMaggio's skein reached 19.

MSNBC
[headline] Even if Phillies' Utley falls short, 56-game hitting skein won't last forever
The link above is to the Google-cache version, because some enlightened MSNBC editor replaced the word "skein" with "mark" in the headline.

Staten Island Advance
[headline] Baby Bombers, down 5-0, rally to snap three-game loss skein

San Francisco Chronicle
Will [the Giants] mimic the Dodgers and rise from the ashes of an extended losing skein to launch a take-no-prisoners run?