Summer sports not left in the dark

6/27/01

I know a guy who once told me that the summer is the dark time of sports. He seems to think that there are no good sports to watch between the end of the hocky playoffs to the beginning of football season. Of course this is the same guy who tells me how much he dislikes the NBA, but then watches the NBA draft. So naturally my first instinct would be to just ignore what this guys says, however his comments got me thinking. There are no good sports to watch in the summer? No way! Here is a list:

Baseball - okay, maybe not the most exciting sport in the world, but what kid doen't have memories of going to the ball game with his (or her) dad and rooting for their team! And what's more is that other sports cost a fortune to attend, and are often sold out. You can just decide one night that you want to go to a football game, you need to plan and get tickets months in advance. Some places you cannot get tickets for no matter how far in advance you try to get tickets. And even if your team doesn't win, it is always fun to go to the ballpark for an evening!
Football - no, the other football--or as we Americans like to call it, soccer. Every four years is the biggest sporting event in the world; the FIFA world cup. But why should you have to travel to different country to see good soccer? The U.S. has a great soccer league, the MLS. Sure it might not be as good as some of the premier leagues in Europe, but it is still good soccer none-the-less. And like baseball there ticket prices are relatively cheap, and the games do not generally sell out, making MLS an good choice for a spontaneous trip.
Tennis - The two biggest tennis tournaments take place in the summer. Wimbledon and the U.S. open. If there is ever a chance to see some exciting tennis this is it.
Golf - Now I am not the biggest golf fan in the world, but I do believe that the biggest golf tournaments take place in the summer. After all it is kind of tough to play golf in the winter when you are under 3 feet of snow (imagine using a white ball then.

For a so-called dark times of sports, there sure does seem to be a lot. One just has to be willing to look outside of the mainstream. And I am willing to bet that every one of these sports is just as exciting as football, and hockey, you won't have to take out a mortgage on your house in order to attend.

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Summer sports left in the dark
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