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[SIZE=+2]Of all the major sports events, one stands out
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]07:29 PM CST on Saturday, January 19, 2008
[/SIZE]
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/img/standing/sports/columnists/mugs/mug_tcowlishaw.jpg
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It may have fallen a bit off the radar for Cowboys fans, but the best day of the NFL season is coming.
I don't mean in two weeks. I mean it's already here.
Championship Sunday blows the Super Bowl away when it comes to the passion of the home fans witnessing the completion of the mission to get to the Super Bowl.
It's one of the best days on the sports calendar, but not quite right at the top. Here are my top 10 "days" in sports:
10, BRITISH OPEN SUNDAY: I don't really like my sports early in the morning. That's why I couldn't live in California. How can you watch NFL games at 10 a.m.?
But golf's second best major, especially when it is held at St. Andrew's or one of the other ancient Scottish links courses, is great theater. And the British have it right with their four-hole playoff, which is better than sudden death and 10 times better than 18 holes on Monday. (Hear that, U.S. Open?)
9, FINAL FOUR SATURDAY: This one's at the top of a lot of sports fans' lists. Not mine. Do you ever stop to consider how many duds there are once you get to the Final Four?
I think the energy of March Madness drains out of the tournament once you don't have overlapping games. The Final Four has great potential and occasionally comes through. But not as often as you think.
8, LCS DOUBLEHEADER DAYS: OK, this isn't an official day but Major League Baseball deserves a spot on the list. Those days near the end of the League Championship Series are superior to the World Series itself.
I was in St. Louis in 2004 watching the Cardinals hold off the Astros in Game 6 in the afternoon before heading over to the grand old Missouri Bar and Grill to see the Red Sox finally put away the Yankees.
It's six hours of "every pitch counts" drama. And if the Yankees are playing the Red Sox, you get seven hours.
7, DAYTONA 500: OK, this isn't on some of your lists. I get that. Too bad. This is my list.
There's nothing wrong with one sport that stages its biggest day at the start of the season. The February Florida weather is almost always perfect, and everyone's in a good mood because they haven't been beaten up by the demands of a 36-race season. And if you get Kevin Harvick beating Mark Martin by inches while Clint Bowyer crosses the finish line in the Jack Daniel's car upside down and on fire, who can ask for more?
6, SUPER BOWL: The most watched sporting event and television show of the year produces far too many blowouts to rank higher. It's better when played one week after the championship games. Then the Super Bowl hasn't been so overhyped that we just want to get it over with.
But in 41 games, the winning margin has been 10 or more points 27 times. There have been only a handful of games that rank as legendary, and the crowds are far quieter than they are at the conference title games.
5, ROUND 3, NCAA TOURNAMENT: The Thursday and Friday night doubleheaders the second week of the men's tournament provide the best basketball. It's the first time really that a No. 1 seed has a chance to lose as they have never lost to a 16th seed and rarely lose to an 8 or 9.
The great stories of the tournament are when a George Mason gets to a Final Four. And it's how the Cinderellas get there, not watching them get killed by Florida in the Final Four, that make it memorable.
4, NEW YEAR'S DAY BOWLS: Yes, they have cluttered it up a bit in recent years but it's still the best 12-hour hangover cure that I know of. And the Rose Bowl is still the Rose Bowl, the most perfect football setting I have been fortunate enough to visit.
3, STANLEY CUP CLINCHER: OK, maybe Game 5 of Anaheim-Ottawa wasn't the greatest game ever played. As much as critics make fun of the ratings-challenged game on ice, every other sport wishes it had come up with a trophy 100 years ago that would carry the game's history with it wherever it goes.
The celebrations are far better when held in front of the home crowd, but most hockey fans stay and watch and appreciate the visitors' joyous celebrations.
2, NFL CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY: Maybe injuries and ugly weather are going to keep today's games from being close, I don't know. But the Patriots' and Packers' fans are going to be going crazy and if you get snow in either place, that's a bonus.
When the Cowboys were going to Super Bowls under Jimmy Johnson, it was those games with the 49ers that meant everything. The Buffalo games were always an anticlimax.
1, MASTERS SUNDAY: There isn't another major sporting event that delivers four hours of drama as consistently as what plays out those April Sundays in Augusta.
It's a rare thing when Tiger Woods isn't in the hunt. In fact, it may be another 10 years before he's not. Inevitably, there is bad weather early in the Masters but by Sunday, it is beautiful and the players are able to attack the course (even with the changes), and viewers' familiarity with the back nine make this the best watch in sports.
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]07:29 PM CST on Saturday, January 19, 2008
[/SIZE]
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/img/standing/sports/columnists/mugs/mug_tcowlishaw.jpg
• E-mail
It may have fallen a bit off the radar for Cowboys fans, but the best day of the NFL season is coming.
I don't mean in two weeks. I mean it's already here.
Championship Sunday blows the Super Bowl away when it comes to the passion of the home fans witnessing the completion of the mission to get to the Super Bowl.
It's one of the best days on the sports calendar, but not quite right at the top. Here are my top 10 "days" in sports:
10, BRITISH OPEN SUNDAY: I don't really like my sports early in the morning. That's why I couldn't live in California. How can you watch NFL games at 10 a.m.?
But golf's second best major, especially when it is held at St. Andrew's or one of the other ancient Scottish links courses, is great theater. And the British have it right with their four-hole playoff, which is better than sudden death and 10 times better than 18 holes on Monday. (Hear that, U.S. Open?)
9, FINAL FOUR SATURDAY: This one's at the top of a lot of sports fans' lists. Not mine. Do you ever stop to consider how many duds there are once you get to the Final Four?
I think the energy of March Madness drains out of the tournament once you don't have overlapping games. The Final Four has great potential and occasionally comes through. But not as often as you think.
8, LCS DOUBLEHEADER DAYS: OK, this isn't an official day but Major League Baseball deserves a spot on the list. Those days near the end of the League Championship Series are superior to the World Series itself.
I was in St. Louis in 2004 watching the Cardinals hold off the Astros in Game 6 in the afternoon before heading over to the grand old Missouri Bar and Grill to see the Red Sox finally put away the Yankees.
It's six hours of "every pitch counts" drama. And if the Yankees are playing the Red Sox, you get seven hours.
7, DAYTONA 500: OK, this isn't on some of your lists. I get that. Too bad. This is my list.
There's nothing wrong with one sport that stages its biggest day at the start of the season. The February Florida weather is almost always perfect, and everyone's in a good mood because they haven't been beaten up by the demands of a 36-race season. And if you get Kevin Harvick beating Mark Martin by inches while Clint Bowyer crosses the finish line in the Jack Daniel's car upside down and on fire, who can ask for more?
6, SUPER BOWL: The most watched sporting event and television show of the year produces far too many blowouts to rank higher. It's better when played one week after the championship games. Then the Super Bowl hasn't been so overhyped that we just want to get it over with.
But in 41 games, the winning margin has been 10 or more points 27 times. There have been only a handful of games that rank as legendary, and the crowds are far quieter than they are at the conference title games.
5, ROUND 3, NCAA TOURNAMENT: The Thursday and Friday night doubleheaders the second week of the men's tournament provide the best basketball. It's the first time really that a No. 1 seed has a chance to lose as they have never lost to a 16th seed and rarely lose to an 8 or 9.
The great stories of the tournament are when a George Mason gets to a Final Four. And it's how the Cinderellas get there, not watching them get killed by Florida in the Final Four, that make it memorable.
4, NEW YEAR'S DAY BOWLS: Yes, they have cluttered it up a bit in recent years but it's still the best 12-hour hangover cure that I know of. And the Rose Bowl is still the Rose Bowl, the most perfect football setting I have been fortunate enough to visit.
3, STANLEY CUP CLINCHER: OK, maybe Game 5 of Anaheim-Ottawa wasn't the greatest game ever played. As much as critics make fun of the ratings-challenged game on ice, every other sport wishes it had come up with a trophy 100 years ago that would carry the game's history with it wherever it goes.
The celebrations are far better when held in front of the home crowd, but most hockey fans stay and watch and appreciate the visitors' joyous celebrations.
2, NFL CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY: Maybe injuries and ugly weather are going to keep today's games from being close, I don't know. But the Patriots' and Packers' fans are going to be going crazy and if you get snow in either place, that's a bonus.
When the Cowboys were going to Super Bowls under Jimmy Johnson, it was those games with the 49ers that meant everything. The Buffalo games were always an anticlimax.
1, MASTERS SUNDAY: There isn't another major sporting event that delivers four hours of drama as consistently as what plays out those April Sundays in Augusta.
It's a rare thing when Tiger Woods isn't in the hunt. In fact, it may be another 10 years before he's not. Inevitably, there is bad weather early in the Masters but by Sunday, it is beautiful and the players are able to attack the course (even with the changes), and viewers' familiarity with the back nine make this the best watch in sports.
