Sports Tag

As the Augusta National finished hosting the Women’s amateur tournament this past weekend, my thoughts are about the continuing growth of women’s sports and women's golf, and also about the women that have lead the sport throughout history.

I remember seeing the name Patty Berg for the first time on the clubs in my mother’s golf bag. From her first clubs when she was a teen, all the way through her adulthood, my mom's clubs were Patty Berg’s woods and irons. I started golfing when I was 3 years old and even before I was big enough, I was obsessed with those Patty Berg’s! I was convinced my little kid clubs were holding back my game.

In the summertime, I golfed every week with grandparents and recall being told numerous times by them that Patty Berg was the greatest female golfer in history. She was a founding member of the LPGA, and from 1937 to 1961, she dominated the game with 57 LPGA and WPGA tournament wins. She won 15 majors during her career

I want to express my gratitude to all our guests who have entrusted my team with planning their sports travel adventures over the years.

In this blog I'm sharing many of our memories (in no particular order) as we celebrate this business milestone. I invite all our past guests to share your special Sports Traveler trip memories and experiences by posting below, on Twitter using #SportsTraveler15 or on our Facebook page.

Here’s to another 15+ years!

Cheers!
Anbritt

#1: 2003 Eagles at Dolphins. The tour was successful for our guests, but what many people don’t know is what happened during our opening night reception. I choose a large dock for our groups evening meal overlooking the intercostal waterway. At some point during the event, one of our guests fell or jumped off the dock and onto the deck of one of the super yachts parked below. He was found alive by the crew, remarkably uninjured, and eating a pork chop in the galley. They returned him to us and I somehow convinced the captain of the boat to not call the police. The rest of the weekend went great, but to this day I have never done any of our receptions on a dock!

#2: Cubs Fan Tours 2002-2007. My family raised me a Cubs fan and in the mid-2000's I started a second company to focus on travel to Chicago to see Wrigley Field. We still offer similar Cubs tours every year at Sports Traveler and I’ll always be a Cubs fan no matter what my southsider friends say.

#3: Sports Traveler Chicago - Book Launch. Lydia Rypcinski and I wrote this book together and it won best non-fiction awards both in Illinois and National competitions! Our book launch party is still remembered fondly by those who attended. It was at Harry Caray’s, featured several sports mascots, and our guest of honor was the now late Minnie Minoso.

#4: STR: Sports Traveler Radio. For some reason in the early days all the college kids from my university’s radio station ended up working for my company. We launched our own podcast and had opinions about sports travel for 6+ awesome years on iTunes.

#5: Cowboys vs Redskins 2014. Our first marriage proposal! We were standing on the field at AT&T Stadium when he got down on his knee and she said yes! So sweet.

Before we get into the heart of this month’s travel blog I feel it would be best to introduce myself to you all. My name is Jake Alleruzzo, the newest addition to the Sports Traveler staff. I myself have a very deep passion for sports travel and thought writing our latest blog entry would be a great way to share my experiences with you fellow sports travelers.

About a month ago I took a trip to Missouri to a beautiful region called Lake of the Ozarks, located just a few miles south of Kansas City. Being in the far western edge of Missouri is quite a unique experience, considering the mixed fandom between Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals fans. While we were in the western tip of Missouri I could have sworn I was in the heart of Kansas City as I drove through town and saw Royals flags hanging about. This goes to show you that you never know what kind of fans you can find as you travel through any given town.

Now going through this town you would figure there is not much to do besides

Are you a soccer fan?  Well I guess most soccer fans around the world refer to it as football but to save confusion I'll just stick with calling it soccer.  Besides, its pretty clear that there is only one sport of football in this country.  Anyways, if you are a soccer fan then you should know all about the Gold Cup.  If you don't know about the Gold Cup then you might need to re-commit your fan-hood and get with the program.  The Gold Cup is a very popular event and crucial in determining the best team in North America.

It seems like just last week we were anxiously waiting for the Belmont Stakes in hopes that I'll Have Another could complete the first Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.  As fate would have it the Triple Crown was not meant to be and I'll Have Another was pulled from the race with an injury.  Now we embark on a new journey.  Tomorrow will mark the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY.  Louisville has already had the pleasure of crowning a national champion in college basketballand just 1 month later the city finds itself amidst intense excitement once again.

The Kentucky Derby has long been one of the most exciting events in sports and this year will be no different.  The field appears to be wide open with a the usual group favorites.  I have provided our readers with odds and post position for each of the Derby contestants.

Whoa!  The sports world is going crazy right now!  So much going on and it is all too exciting to miss.  To catch up with the sports world I have harnessed all the major news/results from the recent events.  I am going to briefly hit on each sport and give a few predictions for the Masters, MLB, NBA, and NHL.  Ready?  Lets go!

NHL

Seems like the season just started but it will shortly be coming to an end.  But I guess that's what happens when you are in a shortened and compressed 46 game season.  Thanks lockout.  The story early on in the season was the winning streak by the Chicago Blackhawks and then both the Anaheim Ducks and Pittsburgh Penguins went on their own winning streaks.  Although no one has matched a start like the Blackhawks, it seemed for a while like the Penguins might be the best team.  Now that Crosby is out the battle for best appears to be between the Ducks and Blackhawks.

San Francisco 49ers vs. Baltimore Ravens
Jim vs. John
Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh
Brother vs. Brother
Brah vs. Brah

Unless you have been living under a rock, you should be quite aware that this year's Super Bowl will feature a showdown between brothers Jim and John Harbaugh.  Twitter peeps have been going hastag crazy with orginials such as #superbaugh, #harbowl, and#superbraugh.  One fan even tried to go as far as trademarking "Harbowl" but the NFL has discouraged him from continuing his efforts.  I think for the first time in Super Bowl history the coaches might be more of a story than the 2 teams.   The circumstances are incredibly unique and I think this is great for the league.  I hoped for this last year and we all got lucky to have the opportunity again this year.  Amazingly I got my wish and we have an all-Harbaugh Super Bowl.  So in spirits of the Harbowl I would like to offer a tale of the tape for these two brothers as they head into the game of their life.  Think of all the times these two have competed.  Whether its a card game, board game, a romantic interest, or even the love of their parents.... I wonder if there is a favorite in this long history of competition?  The brothers seem so similar but is there a historical advantage in this match-up?  Either way I think the loser of this game will face an uphill battle in trying to deal with defeat.

We have all waited, including Tony Romo, 7 long months but the wait is over.  Its back baby and there might not be anyone happier than Romo.  At this exact moment everyone has the same chance to make it to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII.  Now we all know that some teams clearly have little to no shot of making the playoffs but on day 1 the records indicate that there is equal opportunity for each team to make their mark on the league.

The anticipation of the 2012 NFL season continues to grow as we move towards kick off for tonight's season opener between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.  Some fans, like myself, can hardly wait to see professional football again.  As a Cubs fan I can tell you that football season can never come soon enough.  Although we claim baseball as our nation's pastime, it is obvious that the most popular sport in this country is football.  We live it, we wear it, we strive for it, and we sometimes want to die because of it.

There are only 2 weeks left in the NFL regular season and the playoff picture is beginning to fill out.  So far this season has been full of great story lines that generate lots of excitement for some and loads of disappointment for others.

On the historical side of things the Green Bay Packers started off the season 13-0 on their way to possibly being the first repeat champion since the Patriots ('04, '05).  Unfortunately the team hit an unexpected road block this past Sunday on their way to perfection.  Their first loss of the season came to the 5-8 Kansas City Chiefs who were just coming off a week where they fired their head coach Todd Haley.  Go figure.  Although the season is far from over, the 2011 Packers loose out on football immortality by coming up short in their quest for 19-0.  Either way the goal for any NFL is to win the Super Bowl.  If you go undefeated while doing so its a bonus, but no one cares what their record is after the Super Bowl champion has been crowned.