Tonight’s post category was suggested by RTD’s comment last week requesting, “your 5 best non-major U.S. sports (i.e. NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) memories.” Thank you to all that provided suggestions and I will be incorporating those into future posts.
As I mentioned in the first post, the plan is for this to be an ongoing off-season series on Saturday nights in which I present to you my five favourite somethings and then you comment and tell me:
- How I’m wrong
- Your Top Five
- Suggestions for the next top five list
I have followed RTD’s definition of “Non-Major US sports” to allow for soccer games to be included. Specifically, we are excluding games from the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. Everything else is on the table.
Without further ado, I present to you my Top Five Non-Major Sports Events!
1 – Women’s World Cup at the Rose Bowl
The Sports Bra that started it all. I did not watch that game live. However, I watched a double header with Nigeria beating North Korea and Germany and Italy tying.
The atmosphere was a lot of fun and there were plenty of good-looking athletic female soccer players in attendance.
Pros:
Two games for the price of one!
Great crowd and atmosphere.
Major international event that set the stage for women’s sport success.
Cons:
The Rose Bowl DJ played the Beastie Boys’ “Girls” over the PA prior to the game. Inappropes!
It was June in Pasadena. It was hot as fuck.
2 – Men’s World Cup at the Rose Bowl
I was there for the USA-Colombia game! Yes, that game where the Colombian defender scored an own goal that led to the team’s loss and got him murdered back home after the tournament.
At least some things never change. I was truly an asshole and made the comment at that moment that he shouldn’t go back to Colombia any time soon. I, as usual, was right.
It was the biggest international sporting event on US soil to date and since. Until 2026!
Pros:
Amazing game. Crazy circumstances.
Huge crowds and a great atmosphere.
Cons:
See above. Summer in Pasadena is hot as hell.
Parking was a bitch so we took a shuttle full of sweaty and stinky people.
3 – European Championship in Belgium and Netherlands
I traveled to Europe with a group of friends in 2000 with some games mixed in, a lot of adventures, and a lot of good times.
I remember seeing games in Belgium, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. It was all very well organized and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. There is nothing quite like Group Stage games at the World Cup and the European championships. You meet people from different places. Everyone is friendly and gets along. It’s a lot of fun.
Pros:
Amazing trip.
Very friendly people
Cons:
Europe was not as advanced in air conditioning technology, so it was pretty ripe out there.
4 – NASCAR race in Fontana
Have you ever been to a sporting event where you don’t just watch and hear it but you can FEEL it in your gut? Go to a NASCAR race. It is something unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.
The experience is heightened by the fact that you can rent radios that not only protect your ears from the noise but let you listen in on any team’s communications and on broadcasters’ narration of the action. It is a level of involvement that is unseen at other major sports
Seriously, it is a bucket list item to go to a NASCAR race. Unfortunately, there may not be more races at Fontana, at least not in the current 2 mile configuration, so my experience may never be duplicated, but it is still worthwhile.
Pros:
Unique sensory experience.
Many things to focus on. Much more interesting than watching on TV.
Racing days are incredibly fun and go by super fast.
Cons:
Did I mention it was loud?
The track is in Fontucky. It’s a drive just to get there.
5 – NHRA in Pomona
Take what I wrote about the noise at a NASCAR track, multiply it by ten, and add in the fact that you will feel the noise in your guts.
That’s what you get if you go to the drag races.
It is a bucket list experience. My stomach literally felt the cars driving by. Ear protection is not optional. But the spectacle is unreal. The cars go so fast it’s really hard to comprehend.
Pros:
Once you’ve been there once, you will never forget it.
How many times can you say, “Holy shit!”?
Cons:
You need ear protection.
Hard metal seats are not the most comfortable.
***
What say you in the comments?
Had Thai food tonight. Thinking about leftovers already. That, and sports and drinking.
Okay, maybe not so much thinking, if thinking is even involved
Update: just ate leftovers. Thinking about Brick and George now.
I need to take a Benadryl, I’m Sneezy. And Dopey! And sometimes a little Grumpy, not gonna lie.
PRO TIP: After NHRA races they give away the used tires if you ask for one.
I think this is a Taylor Swift funny car:
Pomona! The Mecca!
They do! When I went, I was tempted to ask for one but I had no idea where to put it and I don’t remember having enough space in the car to carry it home.
Those things are huge!
-Hitting a grand slam off my best friend when I was 10, and next AB the bases were loaded again and I gave him the upward nod. Hit a double because the runner in front of me stopped well before the ball was in the infield, and then started again, or I might have had grand slams in back to back innings.
-Playing the opening and closing ceremonies at a baseball tournament in Cooperstown. I’ve done something in that tournament that noted alumni such as Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, and Mike Trout haven’t! In addition to “give up a grand slam” probably.
-The only time I went to a WNBA game (because I was paid to be there, and James Dolan said I did a great job on violin)
-Columbia County Fair Destruction Derby. (This will be replaced once I go to NHRL)
-Meeting the marbles (and Jelle, Dion, and Greg) at MarbleCon. The sport isn’t American, but the meetup was on American soil so it counts!
Anyone else watching AFL preseason replays?
Geelong did not do well…
1 Kids karate meets
2 Kids swim meets
3 Kids fencing meets
4 Minor league baseball in (old) El Paso
5 Polo matches
My glorious softball, flag football and running don’t make any list.
Ciao tutti.
My top 5:
5. Salt Lake Bees minor league baseball game.
4. Any random Billings Mustang game. They had Fomers. Four free beers for everyone when the Stangs hit a homer. Sadly that tradition is no more.
3. FCS Championship game in Frisco, TX. Sadly, the fighting Montana State Bobcats lost after their starting QB was disgracefully injured on the first drive.
2. NASCAR 400 at Indy. This was when they still drove the oval. The sound, just as an incredible as described. However, the size of the cars is comical. From the stands, the cars are so small you can’t see them behind the wall. For those that know, this was the race that Tony Stewart won where he was saying “Here, kitty kitty” over the radio while chasing down the leader.
1. NHRA at Pacific Raceways. Balls didn’t, and frankly can’t, overstate the visceral sensation of a Nitro car at full throttle. I usually do GA tickets and position myself in the stands around 800 feet down-track (halfway basically). Your insides literally vibrate when they step on it, and that vibration transitions across your body as they pass. I once, only once, made the mistake of leaving my drink on the stands next to me during a run. It tipped over from the vibrations. I now have tickets at the starting line, and it’s even better. Though you do need to cover your drink because it literally rains rubber during a run.
The NHRA is really amazing.
Is that the one with the incredibly smelly fuel? Gumby came home reeking of that shit. And yay for MSU! We went to a couple of games there. The gym where they play basketball has a ton of rodeo trophies, that was a new one for us.
Oh yeah, that Nitro smells terrible. There’s a reason the entire crew wears gas masks when they warm them up in the pits.
Here’s a good look into the details.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0KTGHGXqsQ
Strap a rocket to your ass!
Eh, I’m bored, I think I’ll watch SNL…
(sees KC’s Travis Kelce is hosting)
…or I’ll punch a brick wall for 90 minutes.
(phone sends notification of DFO reply)
(sees comment)
(puts Mr. Ayo’s face on brick wall, using blood already on wall as adhesive)
(resumes punches)
I support this view 110%
I respectfully dissent.
(suddenly remembers who the hell this guy was)
I respectfully withdraw my dissent.
I can’t even explain this [marijuana] but I’m watching The Waterboy. Wow.
1) My daughter converting a penalty kick in soccer, maybe like 8 years old?
2) My daughter scoring a lacrosse goal for CS Fullerton at CS Long Beach (club level but it was Division 1 to me)
3) Hitting a pick-3 at Los Alamitos Quarter Horse Racing and making about $250.
4) Watching the LA Kiss Arena Football league team play during their one and only season (naturally, the LA Kiss played in Anaheim).(also, yes, the team was owned by the band)
5) Watching ski jumpers practice on the big hill at Innsbruck. In July.
I’d say I need to get out more, but leaving the house is annoying.
The new Harrelson joint is actually a Cheers spinoff: Trisomy 21 and Up
Still pretty cool that the Palins named their son Trig after his condition.
The Story of Jeff (as told by me)
I’ve mentioned before that I did “security” at Carleton football games and the most incredible game I ever did saw live was a playoff game whereby Jeff had to punt the ball through the endzone (against Waterloo? maybe) for a rouge to win the game.
Dude was the cock of the walk that evening and I bought him a drink and we chatted for a bit. He was super cool and seemed happy to talk to me. Whatever.
A buddy of mine takes me on a tour of Toronto and says “this city is so much bigger than Ottawa, you won’t just run into people that you know”. We went to a bar for a beer-Jeff was there drinking with his buddies. We had a few together.
The next year Jeff and I end up on the same intramural basketball team. Jeff says, “kinda like deja vu, don’t you think?” I respond with, “Yup, we just keep running into each other.”
Jeff replies, “hopefully we’ll do better than that team we were on at Camp Manitou”.*
Uh……..
*We were teammates at a basketball camp when we were 16 years-old and he was aware of it the entire time and I had no fucking idea because, I’m a forgetful shithead?
Wow, I can think of so many fun sports things! In no particular order, in the town I grew up in, there were a lot of very wealthy people, and there was an annual Steeplechase event, called the Rolling Rock Races. It was a great party, like a miniature Kentucky Derby. Everyone got staggeringly drunk in the beautiful PA countryside.
I have been to several Highland Games in Scotland, as God intended. Everyone got staggeringly drunk in the beautiful Scottish countryside.
My kid kicking ass in a Tang Soo Do tourney in Jacksonville. He stuck with it for a few years, got his black belt. His instructor later was convicted for molesting his favorite students ( not my kid!)
The UK Rampage, back in the golden days of ‘ rasslin! Andre the Fucking Giant sweated all over me. It was epic.
The goalie fight at the Jacksonville Lizard Kings game. Also epic.
The Detroit Sewer Monkeys are sinking lower than the Edmundloser Fitzleadgerald.
This movie about Woody Harrelson’s character getting in touch with his humanity by coaching a bunch of reta…uh, kids with Downs syndrome to become better basketball players looks absolutely horrible.
Isn’t that anyone partnered with Bill Walton
It’s probably worse than the one where Johnny Knoxville pretended to bn special so he could compete in the Special Olympics. Moviemakers should take Robert Downey Jr’s advice in Tropic Thunder.
Do black face instead?
Yes. always appropriate and funny.
Foxwoods. I worked there. It was weird. Jewett City. I’ve been there. It was weird
5. Sword fighting, Medieval Times. You eat, you cheer, and you watch. Sure, predetermined outcome, but that doesn’t bother me
4. Silicone Valley Classic bowl game, Fresno State vs Michigan State. We didn’t win, but the boy band getting booed at halftime was damn fine.
3. Summer Slam, Compaq Center. Undertaker and Kane took on DDP and Kanyon. It was fun, but my buddy had food poisoning from the night before. Still insisted on going. He wound up in a medical room they had on site and given oxygen.
2. Fresno State vs USC, LA Coliseum, 2005. Matt Lienart, Reggie Bush and Darnell Bing, Lendale White, and all them big boys coming into the game at 10-0. Fresno State was 8-1, having one of their best seasons yet. A Pac10 referee had previously cost Fresno State a game against USC, that even the PAC10 officials said was a terrible call, fueling some fire in our belly. The game was a back and forth scoring, with USC leading. The game was not a blowout by any means. Reggie Bush went off for 513 yards. However, it was the defense that beat us. Fresno State threw 4 interceptions. From there, Fresno’s season went to crap. We laid everything out and lost all momentum for the remainder of the year. But I got to see a legendary game that day.
1. Smackdown! Eddie Guerrero’s first appearance after him winning the WWE title, Selland arena. He comes out with a lowrider, as he always did. There is no way that the TV could capture the, at least, 5 minutes of the crowd cheering and chanting Eddie’s name. You can visibly see his face and there are tears. I’m in tears. The confetti fell from the ceiling for a few minutes. There was so much of it. And balloons, but they weren’t as memorable as the confetti, that would fall from the rafters at different events at the same arena for years to come.
When you said “sword-fighting” I really thought/hoped it was gonna be a “met Buddy in the bathroom” story.
Met Brick in a LBC park restroom, along with the ghost of George Michael.
Somewhere a forlorn sax starts playing Careless Whisper…
I said LBC, not West Hollywood.
Ottawa win good again. On roll.
Just a bunch of minor league baseball.
Gah I need to get to Australia for a footy match.
Oh Chicago Wolves hockey is a good time.
Ottawa hockey play good.
Dook beat UNC. Yeah I watched it. ESPN made me feel like I didn’t have a choice.
Dook was in tourney regardless so this is best outcome
What’s the name of the woman in the featured image? She’s stunning
Are you new here? That’s Marika Fruscio.
https://www.instagram.com/marikafruscio10/
You’re wrong, Balls.
Oh, I’m supposed to tell you *how* you’re wrong?
One of Rikki’s “Big Days Out” – Cape Town Stormers vs. the Natal Sharks with a playoff berth on the line. Later that night I took ecstacy and lost track of my friends (they were kicked out of the club for “selling drugs” but actually were giving them away) and was taken home by a girl named Natasha.
https://youtu.be/0kNh2oxkVhg
Ecstacy’s mom has really got it going on, or so I hear.
Forgot to add to this like I meant to:
University of Washington vs. USC at the Coliseum. Jake Locker led a late drive for a field goal and UW got a 32-31 win as time expired.
My high school soccer team winning the state championship my sophomore year. Technically I was on the roster, so I had a great view of the action from the bench! It was actually a really great game, and we won 2-0.
1 Peterborough Lakers winning the Mann in Game 7 last summer
2 Toronto Rock playoff games. Been to a bunch
3 TFC game before they were winning or as popular. Place was rocking
4 Buffalo Bandits game 4 years ago.
5 Buffalo Bisons game the same day as the Bandits game*
*Doing it again the end of April
Went to a local race track and get what you mean about loud and you can feel it. Fun night tho
Randomly met one of the drivers at breakfast the next day as we were talking about the race and he overheard us in line and corrected us about the car classes. But not in a dickish way
The Sewer Wings have been out-scored 24-8 in their last five games. Nice playoff push, Nancy.
Deepest draft in the last hundred years, they say. Franchise players available all the way to 15, or wherever Ottawa ends up, they say. Storm comin in from the west, they say.
Herodotus turned into Ahab so slowly that nobody
noticedcared.1) NC State defeats JV Hardwood (heh) 500s (they won it! On the dunk!!) 1983 national championship. I was 9, but remember it better than yesterday.
2) My tiny kid getting the only yellow card of the season, a slide tackle in co-ed youth footy.
3) Everton defeats Men Untied in David Moyes’ return to Goodison. Not only did this complete the rarest of doubles for the season, but Moyes also got sacked in the morning.
4) Mike Tyson loses to Buster Douglas. I thought my little brother was bullshitting me, and kept playing Super Mario in my room until the final round.
5) OJ Simpson’s acquittal. FUCK YOU, IT COUNTS.
++1 as to Buster Douglas.
AND,also OJ. It counts. I was living in Albany when the verdict came down. It was like the Superb Owl between two parts of the town had ended. One part disgusted and shocked, the other honking all the horns.