MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – This upcoming weekend is one of the most exciting in all of sports, the NFL conference championship weekend. Many times these games are much more exciting than the Super Bowl itself. Some players and even teams seem to lose their focus once they have made it to the Super Bowl. Some guys, like Stanley Wilson in 1989, party so hard leading up to the Super Bowl that they never make it to the game. That is how big Super Bowl mania can be. It can be such a distraction that even the players get caught up in it.
On the other end of the spectrum, some sporting events are barely noticed by their sport’s fans. Hell, some entire sporting leagues are barely on the radar of even the most hardcore of sports fans. Here is a list of things that get little to no respect in the sports world:
Australian Open – This is the Jan Brady of tennis events. How many of you sports fans reading this post actually realize the 2012 Australian Open has already started? No one can miss when Wimbledon (aka The Championships) is going on because there are non stop photos of Bucktooth British Royals all over the tabloids. I’d much rather be partying with Jan, Alice and Sam The Butcher in the land down under, thank you very much.
IRL – The idiocy of the Indy Racing League is that there is only one event in it’s schedule that anyone cares about and that is the Indianapolis 500. In fact, the whole league is named after the Indianapolis race car. Who cares about Indy cars that are raced in Newton, Iowa? Their season is basically 161 spring training games and one game seven of the World Series.
IBF – Back in 1983 the United States Boxing Association (USBA) was bought up by some shady characters and became the International Boxing Federation. This name certainly came to one of the founders while he was coked out of his mind watching Star Trek reruns at 3 a.m. The WBA was the real deal championship followed by the WBC’s belt. Owning a IBF championship is roughly the same as owning a Kennedy Fried Chicken and claiming your product is finger lickin’ good. A WBO belt on the other hand is like selling chicken wings out of a dumpster.
WNBA – What is worse than a WNBA game being televised? The televising of the WNBA Draft. I was unlucky to catch this event live as I was channel surfing one evening last spring. I thought I had stumbled upon an episode of The Ellen Degeneres Show where she runs down her matches from eHarmony.
The Preakness – Almost every casual sports fan gets excited for the Kentucky Derby. Conversely, the Preakness is really for hardcore horse followers. If a horse wins both the Derby and the Preakness then all the casual fans again get excited for the Belmont. In over 137 opportunities, only 32 horses have been able to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. This comes as no big surprise. I mean after shagging Kim Kardashian it is kinda tough to get it up for Khloe Kardashian the next time you’re rolling in the hay.
Stay tuned tomorrow for a man who has no respect for the Kardashians, Angry Ward.
