[ESPN] 101 Events All Sports Fans Must See and 10 Events They Must Avoid

24 hours at Le Mans? Soccer in England and South America? Wife Carrying in Finland? Hockey in Canada? Auto racing in Africa? Swimming in Australia? Rugby in New Zealand? For a list by an American company whose audience is largely American, I would say international events are fairly well represented. Many Americans never leave the country, let alone travel to Finland for bizzare pseudosports.

 

what a great list. I think it's quite international, too, for a list from an American sports site.

Of course, I had to figure out which ones I've done:

Summer Olympics
World Cup
NCAA Subregional
Spring Training
Cubs @ Wrigley
MLB Opening Day
Midnight Madness
Big 5 @ The Palestra
Bay to Breakers race in SF
Little League Game

Honorable Mention: I strolled through the parking lot of the Wachovia Center a couple hours after Wing Bowl. Amazingly, the outdoor parking lot still reeked of beer.

Lots of great events on the list I'd love to get to someday!

 

I had the pleasure of seeing a Permian game in Odessa a couple of years ago. If you like Texas high school football (or football in general), there is nothing like it. Doesn't get much better than watching a west Texas sunset while sitting in Ratliff Stadium on a Friday night.

 

pales in comparison to the Sox at Fenway. not even close. the crowd i saw in chicago, during a GREAT game vs. the Giants a couple of years back could not have been less interested in the game. it was a yuppie event.

red sox at fenway is like college football games in the south....81 times a year.

 

Saw the Sox at Fenway back in 95 or 96. I don't remember the crowd being that great, but the Sox were not nearly as good then. Maybe that had something to do with it. Also they were playing the Rangers -- kind of a boring matchup.

Agree (to an extent) on Cubs fans. There were some fans really into the game (it was 1998, after all, and Sammy hit his 38th or something like that during the game), but at times it just felt like I was at an outdoor frat party with people trying to make the scene.

 

the Red Sox are so culturally engrained into that city. it's just a different atmosphere than i've seen elsewhere. as you go through the town, the red sox are the buzz. they're what people are talking about virutally everywhere you go. the sense of community around that team is remarkable to me.