TRADITIONAL SPORTS!

Hello ladies and gents this is the viking telling you that today we are talking about

AMERICAN TRADITIONAL SPORTS

Little League World Series

There may be nothing more American in sports than baseball - particularly with children taking part in the country’s pastime.

Every summer, Little Leaguers are given the chance to live out some of their baseball diamond dreams in Williamsport, Pa.  Since 1947, the sleepy Pennsylvania town has hosted the Little League World Series every year, quickly earning its place among American sports traditions. Just six years after its inception, the event was nationally televised, and announced by Howard Cosell on the radio.

While the event itself took an international turn in 1957, when Mexico became the first foreign team to win (now the final always pits the US champion against the international champion), the event still remains a shining beacon of pure Americana, both for those playing and for those just watching on the hill.

Rose Bowl

"The Granddaddy of Them All" first took place in 1902, and became an annual event in 1916.  Nearly 100 years later, it has emerged as an American tradition, and a refreshing bit of history in a world of EagleBank and San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia bowls.

As part of the Tournament of Roses, or "America's New Year Celebration," which also includes the New Year’s Day Rose Parade, the game was originally called the "Tournament East-West Football Game," and featured Michigan beating Stanford so badly that the inaugural game was halted in the third quarter with the Indians down, 49-0.

In 1916, the game returned, and beginning in 1947, the conferences now known as the Big Ten and Pac-10 agreed for their respective champions to meet in the Rose Bowl. It remains the longest-running bowl alliance, and it's mostly preserved even after the Rose Bowl joined the BCS in 1998. The game has been contested in Pasadena annually, with the exception in 1942 when it was held in Durham, N.C. after the attack on Pearl Harbor

U.S. Open Tennis Championships

It is appropriate that the American representative of tennis' Grand Slam takes place in the city that most defines our varied national community, Gotham, during that most "American" season - summer. The U.S. Open is a jostling subway car, strangers elbow to elbow and everybody's all “You talkin’ to me?”  It’s Jimmy Connors bent at the knees and shouting, Andre Agassi slugging returns deep into the night, chair umpires futilely asking the crowd for quiet, the Williams sisters becoming legends on their own terms.

It has been the site where America's most celebrated tennis stars have had their most stirring successes -- Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Arthur Ashe, Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Agassi all recorded their most glorious moments in the outer borough. The Open, in wonderfully typical American fashion, has also been a forum for political and other issues to be played out; be it transsexual Renee Richards' debut as a participant in the women's draw, to the Open being the first Grand Slam event to award prize money equally to men and women, to the introduction of instant replay at a Grand Slam event.

Boston Marathon

As the oldest annual marathon in the world, and inspired by the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Olympics, it’s tough to find a race with more tradition than the Boston Marathon. Held annually on Patriots’ Day, a civic holiday that marks the beginning of the Revolutionary War, it’s hard to find an event more American.

The only major American marathon that requires a qualifying time, Boston, run every year since 1897, is perhaps the most widely known race in the world.  From Heartbreak Hill to the “scream tunnel” to Rosie Ruiz to the roughly half-million spectators it draws each year (making it New England’s most-viewed sporting event), there is no shortage of memories, both good and bad, and, of course, tradition.

Indianapolis 500

The Indianapolis 500 takes place on Memorial Day weekend and is nearly as old as the holiday itself. Held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indy 500 began in 1911 -- it is so old that the winner of the first race outfitted his car with the original rear-view mirror.

Many traditions have become attached to the race over the years. In 1936, they began handing out the Borg-Warner Trophy, complete with the face of each year’s winner sculpted on it. In 2004, they had to make a larger version of the trophy in order to fit everyone. Starting in 1946, it became an annual tradition for “Indiana” to be sung on the morning of the race.

But perhaps the most iconic moment of the 500 is the winner’s victorious post-race milk drinking, also introduced in 1936. A dairy executive saw a picture of the winner, Louis Meyer, drinking milk, and vowed that it would continue – and a tradition was born.

And of course, the Indy 500 is home to four of the most famous words in sports: “Gentlemen, start your engines!” (And in recent years, ladies, too.)

The Masters Tournament

“A tradition unlike any other”

While it is not the oldest American golf tournament, the Masters is just what it says it is: a tradition.  It is a herald, a sign that warmer weather will indeed come, better days are just around the corner.  It offers the comfort of the familiar, the idea that in a changing world, some things do remain the same: the hushed tones, the green jackets, the accumulated memories of 75 years on the same vernal stage.

As the only golf major to take place annually at the same course, Augusta National Golf Club, the Masters has been held every year since 1934, taking three years off for World War II (to assist with the war effort, Augusta was used to raise cattle and turkeys – now, that's American).  It is also home to the Green Jacket, perhaps the most famous symbol in all of golf, which can only be removed from Augusta by the reigning champion.

The Masters isn’t a national championship: it’s an invitational run by an extremely private club that can do pretty much whatever it likes.  Its status as one of golf’s majors is the product of press hype that centered on the legend of Bobby Jones, co-founder of the club and co-designer of the course.  Three-quarters of a century later, hype has become history – and you can’t get more American than that.

Penn Relays

The Penn Relays officially began in 1895, but the idea was formed two years earlier. The University of Pennsylvania had held intramural relays before, but in 1893, UPenn decided to invite Princeton to compete in a one-mile relay race.  That quickly expanded to a meet of four high schools and four colleges, taking part in nine relay events. Now, the men’s division alone has nearly 30 events.

One factor that contributed to the growth of the Penn Relays was another historic American sporting event. In 1899, the annual Army-Navy game was held at Franklin Field, the site of the Relays, and bleachers were built to fit the crowd, which doubled as even more seating for those attending the track events.

The Penn Relays left its imprint not just on the American landscape, but also on track and field itself, paving the way it is run today. In 1910, they introduced a 20-foot passing zone for runners to tag their teammates for the next leg of the race -- it was then adopted in the 1912 Olympics. It also was a precursor to the NCAA National Championship Track Meet, which began in 1921.

The the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, the Penn Relays welcomed over 40 men's and women's teams earlier this year for its 114th running.

Kentucky Derby

The American Saga of the 19th century is a story of westward expansion made possible by the relationship between man and horse.  The Kentucky Derby celebrates this bond, while also adding the equally American spectacle of rich people blowing large wads of money on their inconsequential hobbies.  Its two symbols are the most American of flowers (the Roses they Run For) and the quintessential American spirit (bourbon, sweetened to unrecognizability with sugar and mint).

The Kentucky Derby raised the bar for horseracing in the United States.  Kentucky became the top breeding ground for thoroughbreds, and the Derby the most well-known race.  It is the one chase a general sports fan will pay any attention to, for the simple reason that whoever wins it becomes the only horse that can win the elusive Triple Crown.

Grab a Mint Julep and enjoy the historic Kentucky Derby -- the most exciting two minutes in sports.

World Series

What “World?”  The teams eligible to compete in the Fall Classic barely extend to Canada.  Putting the name “World Series” on a matchup of the American and National League champs is pure American exceptionalism: If your team is the best in America, it must be the best in the world.  Granted, not a lot of the world cares about baseball, but even in the first half of the 20th century the game had taken hold north and south of the U.S. borders, as well as in Japan.

The World Series smells like the American fall: the crisp air of evenings turning cool and then cold; the crackling leaves turning color in a blaze of dying glory.  How do we know that baseball is the most American of games?  Because Walt Whitman (“it's our game … has the snap, go fling, of the American atmosphere — belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly, as our constitutions, laws: is just as important in the sum total of our historic life”) and Jacques Barzun (“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had best learn baseball”) told us so.

Army-Navy Game

Sure, there are better rivalry game in terms of rankings. But in terms of history, or what it means to those enrolled in the academies and the alumni, there is simply no bigger rivalry in college football than Army-Navy.

It began in 1890, when Navy challenged the newly-formed Army team to a game. Navy won that opening contest, 24-0, and leads the all-time series with 53 wins, 49 losses, and seven ties.

The game has been held annually since then, with only a few exceptions: After the 1893 game, in which Navy won 6-4, that almost led to a duel between a Rear Admiral and a Brigadier General, the two schools weren’t allowed to travel to play and the rivalry took a five-year hiatus. It has also been canceled after the death of an Army cadet, two times during WWI and twice when the teams couldn’t agree to player eligibility standards.

But it’s what happens after the game that is probably the most impressive part -- both teams meeting at midfield, go over to the losing team’s side and sing their alma mater, then they turn around, head to the winning team’s side and sing their alma mater. We can’t quite see Michigan and Ohio State doing that.

I hope you liked this post and as always have a chilled day from the viking.