I saw someone post a list of random crazy things to do and it reminded me of this list I saw on ESPN a few years ago. I saved the list and I consider it my bucket list of sporting events that I'd love to attend before I die. They are in no particular order and the ones in red are the ones I've already attended.
1. Summer Olympics
2. World Cup (every four years in a different country).
3. Winter Olympics
4. The World Series
5. NCAA Basketball subregional
6. Spring training
7. NFL conference championship
8. The Masters
9. Wimbledon
10. Tour de France
11. Premier League Soccer game.
12. Rose Bowl
13. NBA Finals
14. College World Series
15. Red Sox-Yankees game
16. Baseball Hall of Fame induction (July, Cooperstown, N.Y.)
17. Michigan-Ohio State football game
18. The F.A. Cup (fall-spring, England)
19. Duke-North Carolina basketball game
20. The Stanley Cup playoffs
21. British Open (July, Great Britain)
22. Cubs game in Wrigley bleachers
23. A football game at Notre Dame
24. ACC basketball tournament
25. A soccer game at Maracana Stadium (various dates, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
27. Tailgating in the SEC
30. U.S. Open tennis (late August, New York)
31. Bayou Classic (November, New Orleans).
32. Kentucky Derby (May, Churchill Downs, Ky.).
33. The Indy 500 (Memorial Day weekend, Indianapolis).
34. The All-Africa Amputee Football Tournament (Sierra Leone). The first tournament featured African war victims, six one-legged players and a single one-armed goalkeeper to a side. If you need any more information than that to pique your interest, you might as well hand in your human race membership card.
35. MLB Opening Day (April, various cities).
36. Boston Marathon (April, Boston).
37. Frozen Four (April, various cities).
38. Auburn-Alabama football game (November, Tuscaloosa or Auburn, Ala.).
40. Town ball in Minnesota (summer, towns throughout Minnesota). Town ball (baseball played by amateurs for their local town teams) is the last pure sport in America. You know the diamond in "Field of Dreams"? There are at least a dozen such fields in Minnesota where the local teams play a couple of nights a week each summer.
41. The Iditarod (February, Anchorage to Nome, Alaska). Think it's tough playing football in Green Bay in December? Try this 1,150-mile race, held each year to commemorate a dogsled run to bring diphtheria medicine to a snowbound village. Temperatures have plunged to 130 degrees below zero (with the wind chill) and the dogs frequently need coats and booties. Before it's done, you'll need the diphtheria medicine.
43. Baseball All-Star Game (July, rotating cities).
44. Il Palio horse race (July and August, Siena, Italy). Picture what the Kentucky Derby would look like if it were held at Mardi Gras during the Renaissance and you get a small idea of what this race is like. Just be sure to bring sunscreen and plenty of liquids.
45. Play Pebble Beach (year-round, Pebble Beach, Calif.).
46. Daytona 500 (February, Daytona, Fla.).
47. Running of the Bulls (July, Pamplona, Spain).
48. Triple Crown Surfing (November-December North Shore, Oahu). Incredible athletes braving 25-foot waves, sun and sand, gorgeous, tanned people in swimsuits, vans selling shrimp lunches … geez, why isn't this event higher on the list?
49. Lady Vols game (winter, Knoxville, Tenn.).
52. Indiana high school basketball tournament (March, Indiana).
53. Golden Gloves tournament (regional).
54. Green Bay Packers game in the snow (December, Green Bay).
56. All Blacks rugby game (various dates, New Zealand).
57. World Figure Skating Championships (annual, around the world).
58. Dubai World Cup (late March in Dubai). The world's richest horse race ($6 million top prize and total purse of more than $20 million in a place where gambling is illegal) is a big draw, as are the well-lubricated ex-pats competing for the best-dressed prize.
60. National Veterans Wheelchair Games (summer, Milwaukee). Tired of athletes who are insulted by $30 million contracts? Then get inspired by these veterans still competing despite their paralyzing wounds.
61. Maui Invitational (November, Maui, Hawaii).
62. Midnight Madness (October, all over the country).
63. A Big 5 Game at the Palestra (winter, Philadelphia). The site of the first Final Four, this 80-year-old gym is the Wrigley Field of college hoops.
70. Prefontaine Classic (June, Eugene, Ore.). Held in American track's version of Fenway Park, the Pre is a delicious honor to the legendary runner and Eugene much deserves its distinction as Track Town, USA.
71. The USTA boys tennis championship (August, Kalamazoo, Mich.).
74. Field of Dreams Ghost Sundays (select days in summer, Dyersville, Iowa). If they hold it, you should come, because the only thing missing from these games at the "Field of Dreams" site is Kevin Costner's hair.
76. Beach volleyball (summer, various cities).
77. Swimming championships in Australia (various dates, Australia).
78. The Dakar Rally (January, southern Europe and North Africa). You know those ridiculous SUV commercials that show people driving their vehicles under ridiculous scenarios? Well, those vehicles actually make sense in this race over thousands of miles under the harshest desert conditions.
79. Rickwood Classic (summer, Birmingham, Ala.). Birmingham proved that if you save it, they will come as well. When the minor league Barons moved out, the city carefully preserved the historic field where Willie Mays got his start in the Negro Leagues. The Barons play once a year here in the annual Rickwood Classic, and if you squint, you can practically see Mays running down a fly ball.
81. Henley Regatta (July, Oxfordshire, England). You want history? They've been holding this crew race since 1839, when Queen Victoria had been on the throne less than two years and readers were eagerly awaiting the next chapter in Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist."
85. A Raiders game in the Black Hole (fall, Oakland, Calif.).
86. Iowa-Iowa State wrestling match (winter, Iowa).
87. The Ironman (June, Hawaii).
88. "Monday Night Football" (September-December, various NFL cities).
89. Women's College World Series (June, Oklahoma City).
91. Little League game (spring, early summer, everywhere).
92. A Permian High School football game (fall, Odessa, Texas).
93. Pakistan-India cricket (occasional meetings).
94. Hot dog eating championship (July 4, Coney Island).
99. The Baja 500 (June, Baja Peninsula).
100. A Harlem Globetrotters game (many dates, many cities).
101. Driving the Ring (daily, western Germany). There is no speed limit on Germany's autobahn and there is nothing quite like doing 100 mph only to have a family in a station wagon honking at you to pull over and let them pass. But if the autobahn isn't fast enough for you, try out the 14-mile, 170-turn Nurburgring. The former Grand Prix course was closed to Formula One racing for decades before returning this year (too dangerous) but it's open to the public to drive at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. Just promise one thing: That you won't attempt this until you've accomplished the previous 100.
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