I was lucky enough to get a free ticket to Friday night’s Sweet 16 games in Syracuse. It was by far the most important and exciting sporting event I’ve ever attended and the seats were great.
I was sitting eight rows back, about 10 feet to the right of midcourt. My seat was among the Southern Illinois season ticket holders because that’s who I went with. It feels like you’re a part of the game when you’re that close and you can really see everything that’s going on.
There is one other big perk about being courtside for the games. The TV timeouts go by a lot faster when you’re watching cheerleaders than when you’re watching commercials.
Now that I’ve been to an NCAA Tournament game, I can cross that off the list of things I need to do before I die. However, there are still several sporting events I want to attend. Here’s my top five:
World Series
I would love to go to any World Series game, but I especially want to see a seventh game at some point. There is nothing in sports more exciting than the seventh game of a championship series, and baseball’s game sevens are the best.
If my first World Series game happened to be a game seven that was won by the Red Sox, I think I would die of happiness.
I suppose first I’d like to go to a major-league playoff game of any sort and then work my way up.
Olympics
I can’t think of many better vacations than a two-week trip to the Olympics, wherever they’re being held that year.
I would eventually like to be able to attend both the Summer and Winter Games, but if I had to choose one, I would go in the winter. The Winter Games feature sports that are more unusual, more dangerous and more exciting.
Because our expectations are so much lower in the winter then in the summer, success over the winter is met with greater fanfare thats warm weather cousin.
World Cup Soccer
Soccer has never really gotten popular in this country, especially among men. However, it is a highly entertaining sport and other countries are lucky to have such die-hard fans.
I would not, however, want to attend a World Cup game in an American stadium. Like I said, soccer’s a great game, but Americans don’t appreciate it.
MLB Hall of Fame induction
No Hall of Fame is more enthralling than baseball’s. The town of Cooperstown just feels like a baseball place and all of the numbers and names inside the Hall of Fame have a magical quality to them.
The induction ceremonies are great because they give you a chance to see a former legend make a speech, and you can also usually see many other former players sitting amongst the fans.
College Bowl game
A trip to the national championship game certainly wouldn’t be bad, but I’d rather go to the Rose Bowl in a year when it’s not hosting the title game.
The Rose Bowl is a classic battle of conference, locations and rivalries that wil only get weaker the more it is held without either a Big Ten or Pac-10 team.
Honorable mention
The MLB All-Star game, NBA Finals, NHL Finals and the Super Bowl are all events I’d definitely go to if given the chance, but don’t rank as high as some of the other sporting events.
Jacobs can be reached at bjacobs@campustimes.org.
