I love sport. I love travel.
Combine the two and its happy days!
Nothing beats a sporting pilgrimage across the globe to follow a team or maybe even tick off a lifetime ambition to see a particular event.
This brings me to sporting bucket lists - i'm sure all of us have a certain number of sporting events they wish to see in their lives, some may be pipe dreams, some more achievable. Some might me mainstream, some might be weird and wonderful.
So here we are, a thread to post your top 5 sporting bucket lists, ticked off or not.
Personally ive ticked off a few of mine, but have a few more left. A few that i thought were big ticket items turned out to be underwhelming... which i guess begs the question, do we hype things in our mind so much that they will end up being a disappointment in the end? is it best to leave a few unticked and just out of reach - to keep a bit of magic in our minds?
anyhow.. here goes, my top 5.
1- Follow Australia in a football world cup campaign - ticked
Ideally this would read, be at a world cup final with Australia but ill be realistic. I follwed Australia to 2 world cups, south africa and the dream run in Germany. When i look back now, that month in Germany was the pinnacle month of my life - pure perfection, right age, right country, right climate, right food, right beer, right mates, winning team run. Was perfect time and definatley lived up to the bucket list status.
2- Visit Augusta for the US open golf - unticked
Ive often thought about st andrews as a pilgrimage but i think augusta tops it, they cap numbers so its pretty intimate. The place drips with history, nothing id love more than to park on amen corner for 4 days and watch the drama unfold.
3- Be on the alp d'uez for the last hill stage of the tour de france - unticked
France is a great country to visit, le tour snakes across its villages and towns, most people floock to see the peleton whizz by in 10 seconds then move on to the next. Others would love to be on the champs elysse to see them all come home, but for me the ideal stage would be to sit high up on the alp d'uez, while the thing is still alive and competitive, at the top of a gruelling hill when the riders snail by, not whizz by, you can see every grimace, every muscle - all while eating cheese and drinking wine a meter to the side. ...and no tickets, FREE!
4- Be at an AFL grand final to watch Essendon win - Ticked (maybe)
Been lucky enough to see 2 winning gfs, 93 and 00 - but to be fair i didnt appreciate them enough - the next one will be THE one... but i know i wont be able to get a ticket to it.. so im torn on this list item, i call it ticked but deep down it didnt fill my expectations like another one would. Its still a big aim.
5- Follow Australia on a tour of the west indies - unticked
I always thought seeing the ashes at lords would be my list item, but once there i was underwhelmed - it was not much different to watching cricket here. This goes back to my childhood, when the windies were a force, with that heaving atmosphere - id have loved to follow us on a tour thru that - maybe now its India? altough having been there - its a bit of a head f**k - the west indies is still a strong list item, i just hope their cricket team can grow a leg and make it worth while.
im not much of a car head so f1's dont mean much to me, not a basketballer guy, ditto - Olympics, nahh corrupt, tennis? i enjoyed wimbledon but its not top list worthy - one other weird one floats my boat
be at the winter olympics, high up in the mountains, rugged up drinking mulled wine and ringing a cow bell at the ski jumping while they fly thru the sky.
so top 5 sporting bucket list?
what you got on it?
Combine the two and its happy days!
Nothing beats a sporting pilgrimage across the globe to follow a team or maybe even tick off a lifetime ambition to see a particular event.
This brings me to sporting bucket lists - i'm sure all of us have a certain number of sporting events they wish to see in their lives, some may be pipe dreams, some more achievable. Some might me mainstream, some might be weird and wonderful.
So here we are, a thread to post your top 5 sporting bucket lists, ticked off or not.
Personally ive ticked off a few of mine, but have a few more left. A few that i thought were big ticket items turned out to be underwhelming... which i guess begs the question, do we hype things in our mind so much that they will end up being a disappointment in the end? is it best to leave a few unticked and just out of reach - to keep a bit of magic in our minds?
anyhow.. here goes, my top 5.
1- Follow Australia in a football world cup campaign - ticked
Ideally this would read, be at a world cup final with Australia but ill be realistic. I follwed Australia to 2 world cups, south africa and the dream run in Germany. When i look back now, that month in Germany was the pinnacle month of my life - pure perfection, right age, right country, right climate, right food, right beer, right mates, winning team run. Was perfect time and definatley lived up to the bucket list status.
2- Visit Augusta for the US open golf - unticked
Ive often thought about st andrews as a pilgrimage but i think augusta tops it, they cap numbers so its pretty intimate. The place drips with history, nothing id love more than to park on amen corner for 4 days and watch the drama unfold.
3- Be on the alp d'uez for the last hill stage of the tour de france - unticked
France is a great country to visit, le tour snakes across its villages and towns, most people floock to see the peleton whizz by in 10 seconds then move on to the next. Others would love to be on the champs elysse to see them all come home, but for me the ideal stage would be to sit high up on the alp d'uez, while the thing is still alive and competitive, at the top of a gruelling hill when the riders snail by, not whizz by, you can see every grimace, every muscle - all while eating cheese and drinking wine a meter to the side. ...and no tickets, FREE!
4- Be at an AFL grand final to watch Essendon win - Ticked (maybe)
Been lucky enough to see 2 winning gfs, 93 and 00 - but to be fair i didnt appreciate them enough - the next one will be THE one... but i know i wont be able to get a ticket to it.. so im torn on this list item, i call it ticked but deep down it didnt fill my expectations like another one would. Its still a big aim.
5- Follow Australia on a tour of the west indies - unticked
I always thought seeing the ashes at lords would be my list item, but once there i was underwhelmed - it was not much different to watching cricket here. This goes back to my childhood, when the windies were a force, with that heaving atmosphere - id have loved to follow us on a tour thru that - maybe now its India? altough having been there - its a bit of a head f**k - the west indies is still a strong list item, i just hope their cricket team can grow a leg and make it worth while.
im not much of a car head so f1's dont mean much to me, not a basketballer guy, ditto - Olympics, nahh corrupt, tennis? i enjoyed wimbledon but its not top list worthy - one other weird one floats my boat
be at the winter olympics, high up in the mountains, rugged up drinking mulled wine and ringing a cow bell at the ski jumping while they fly thru the sky.
so top 5 sporting bucket list?
what you got on it?
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Intersperse the test matches with short trips both within the UK and Europe