11/05/24
April 29, 2008
10 spectacles of sport to see before you die.: Including the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Grand Sumo Tournaments, and the Kentucky Derby.
It's a pretty good list. Mine would be a bit different, but these are pretty good.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:09 AM on April 29, 2008
My wife did Bay to Breakers a few years back and raves about the experience. As does an old roomate who, along with three of his friends, dressed up as a giant sperm and ran as the "fallopian swim team." I plan on getting down there to watch it in the next few years.
posted by tahoemoj at 11:35 AM on April 29, 2008
I made it to two Sumo "hon basho", and a couple of the local tournaments, during my years in Japan. We were able to get tickets through Special Services on the military base where I worked. At the time, Kaiketsu, a Sekitori from Iwakuni (in western Japan where the Marine Corps Air Station at which I worked was located) was active. We had a "fan club" on the base, and several of us went to a couple of "Bashos". After Kaiketsu's first "Yuu-sho" (tournament win), the city of Iwakuni held a parade. I owned one of the few convertibles in the area, so I had the honor of driving some of the dignitaries. A day at a hon basho can actually involve a whole day. The lower divisions start early in the day, and the more skilled rikishiki come on later. The top division usually kicks off about 4:30 PM. All 6 of the hon basho each year are televised, and of course, each match is replayed so the commentators can analyze it. We were in the Staff NCO club at Iwakuni one afternoon during a basho, and the TV was on. We began placing small wagers on each bout. After a while, one of our group had had a few too many, and began betting on the instant replays. He couldn't understand why he lost all the time.
posted by Howard_T at 11:40 AM on April 29, 2008
I'll never understand why folks who put these sorts of lists together feel they must eschew things that your average, everyday sports fan would actually want to attend. And, frankly, it's beyond me why anyone feels competent to tell me what I "must see" before I die. I'd like to visit Sydney, but the blurb says it all -- you don't really need a reason, so if you're going to go, why not go on this day (assuming you don't mind spending thousands of dollars and 30+ hours round trip flight time to be packed like a sardine)? I'd also do the Iditarod, but that's only because I think Alaska is way cool. The rest of those I couldn't care less about (two of them aren't even sports). Where's the World Series, the Superbowl, the Indy 500, the Stanley Cup finals, etc., etc.? Even the World Cup (which is a lot coming from someone who can't stand soccer)?! Or are those just so obvious that there's no point in including them (and, if that's the case, why not say so)?
posted by zddoodah at 03:46 PM on April 29, 2008
zddoodah, I've posted quite a few "top 10" lists since I joined SportsFilter. (Okay more like half a dozen). But this one is structured differently than those in the past. 1. It doesn't seem to have any ranking system, meaning it's not a Top 10 (with something being described as #1), it's just a list. I liked that. 2. If it included the Super Bowl, World Series, Indy 500, and Stanley Cup, then it would be a North American-centric list. I tried to stay away from doing that (again) and tried to find an article that had a more global compass. It seems all sports lists that narrow it's subject down to 10 is always open to debate, you say you wouldn't attend some of these events and that's ok, but I'm an average ,everyday sports fan and I would love to attend any of these. Finally, reading a story like Howard_T's is what makes debatable "list" threads completely worth posting. Thanks for the laugh, Mr. T.
posted by BoKnows at 04:04 PM on April 29, 2008
The X Games? Really? I would replace that with the 24 hours of Le Mans. The after party looks like the greatest event of mankind. I would also add this must see: A Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Oh, wait, I've been to one of those. /pats self on back
posted by NoMich at 04:23 PM on April 29, 2008
The Super Bowl would be very near the top of any list I made on this topic. It is nice that this list isn't US-centric but I'm baffled by the exclusion of the Super Bowl.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:24 PM on April 29, 2008
I'd replace the 24 hours of Le Mans with the 24 hours of Aspen, which makes Le Mans (and nearly everything else) look like baby stuff. I would exclude the Super Bowl -- also the World Series. Reason: IMO, they've become so heavily larded with marketing and fun-factoried into media spectacles that they've lost a certain degree of authentic sporting-event-ness. That's also why I'd exclude the Kentucky Derby.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:37 PM on April 29, 2008
lbb, a couple on the list...Wimbledon and the Masters...are also such media heavy events that lump them in with the Super Bowl. I do think the Indy 500 would be a worthy event. US oriented for sure, however, it is quite the event. I've been to a Super Bowl, and two complete World Series, and the Indy beats them both for atmosphere. I've not been to Le Mans, so that might work as well. While I haven't been to the finals of the Winter X games, I did catch an event that lead up to the finals...I'll pass. Great event to watch on TV, however, there is a lot of dead time between events, and like the Olympics, events are occuring at the same time at different parts of the resort.
posted by dviking at 08:54 PM on April 29, 2008
lbb, It seems the 24 hours of Aspen is no longer, and was replaced with this race. The new race actually makes it harder than the original. Still, after reading through the few rules in the articles, I think I'd need to see that race to fully understand the difficulty. Sounds grueling.
posted by BoKnows at 10:51 PM on April 29, 2008
If I had the choice to attend any event in the world, it would have to be a World Cup. It lasts a month, has folks from all over the globe, is a terrific party and there's a different game on nearly every day. While it's also a marketing/ corporate glutton-fest, there are enough fans who've hitched and begged and mortgaged their homes to get there to overcome that.
posted by owlhouse at 12:28 AM on April 30, 2008
There are always going to be the "but what about X sport" in these lists. That's part of the fun, imo, seeing what one person would include and another would exclude. That being said, most of those on the list look like they'd be worth a trip. I'd include the Super Bowl too though, and I'm not even American.
posted by Fence at 04:08 AM on April 30, 2008
dviking: While I haven't been to the finals of the Winter X games, I did catch an event that lead up to the finals...I'll pass. Great event to watch on TV, however, there is a lot of dead time between events, and like the Olympics, events are occuring at the same time at different parts of the resort. I think, though, that that's just the nature of real live sports: there's a fair amount of hurry-up-and-wait, delays for this and that, and venues that just aren't all that convenient. Even sports that have reliable venues and fairly reliable start times can run into this: think of a baseball game with a two-hour rain delay, or a game where the play just goes very slowly. It's a pain in the ass sometimes, but the inconvenience is something that a real fan accepts, and that even has a sort of perverse attraction to it. BoKnows: lbb, It seems the 24 hours of Aspen is no longer, and was replaced with this race. The new race actually makes it harder than the original. Still, after reading through the few rules in the articles, I think I'd need to see that race to fully understand the difficulty. Sounds grueling. Yeah, I knew they weren't running the 24 Hours any more...not surprising really. Somebody was gonna get killed if they kept that shit up. 24 Hours of Sunlight is definitely harder physically, but also a lot less dangerous.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 07:38 AM on April 30, 2008
This wouldn't have originally been on my list, but after watching Costas Now last night, I feel I can add one thing off my list. A mass media fool looking like a lunatic, and a blogger as the composed rational mind.
posted by kentjc at 12:10 PM on April 30, 2008
I thought some of the photography was great. Plus, there's information on how to attend the events. I'm 0 for 10, but some are possible. I'd like to hear more about these if any that you have attended.