Top Five Sporting Events I Want To Attend

Here are the rules: You have free tickets to any five sporting events that take place in North America. The events must be annual (i.e. the Olympics or World Cup wouldn't count) and you cannot select the event conditional upon certain teams making it in (i.e. you can't choose an MLB playoff game if the Red Sox were to make it in).

1. MLB All-Star Game
This game is the only place where you can see all the top talent in Major League Baseball (plus the obligatory selections from the Devil Rays and Royals) playing together. Notwithstanding the gratuitous substitutions, it is the only professional all-star game that counts for something and actually resembles the real thing.

2. Rose Bowl
Ideally, I'd like to catch this game during a year that features the traditional Big Ten-Pac 10 matchup, but even if tradition is sacrificed in the name of a more coherent BCS (yes, the words coherent and BCS appeared in the same sentence), there is no denying that the Grandaddy of Them All is an incredible college football spectacle.

3. Talladega 500
In a previous post, I mentioned that my inner redneck yearned for a trip to a NASCAR race. If I'm going to attend one race, I want to see the largest and fastest track, with the best chance for a major accident, and among the best party scenes. Obviously, I'll be watching from atop an RV in the infield with a can of Bud Light in either hand.

4. Men's NCAA Basketball: North Carolina at Duke
The ultimate rivalry in college basketball at the home of the most intense fans in college basketball. It's an opportunity I cannot pass up.

5. The Masters
I've never been to a golf event, so I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm intrigued at the chance to mingle with Hootie and the Bluebloods and figure out exactly why The Masters is a tradition unlike any other. I'd imagine it'll become clear once I'm actually there.

Honorable Mention: NBA All-Star Game
The complete lack of defense makes it into a bit of a farce, but for sheer concentration of star-power, you can't beat this game. With no mandatory selection requirements, the NBA can put its best players on the court together, let them loose, and put on one heck of a show.