Page 4 - Sports Traveler Blog

I recently traveled to Ireland and Northern Ireland to see exactly where I come from. I ended up in the little coastal town in Northern Ireland called Annalong located an hour north of Dublin, right at the base of the Mourne Mountains. 

I walked the shores of the Irish Sea on a gravel-like sand, visited the church where my great-grandfather worshipped, and hiked The Kingdom of Mourne, a place my cousin described as the ‘Center of the Universe’. Here you can see the mountains, the sea, and the green earth all in one glance. Incredible.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will feature some of the best talent the game has seen from any era.  Cooperstown, NY will be the place to be on July 26th as the Class of 2014 is inducted.

This summer the baseball community will gladly welcome in three legends of baseball.  Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas will all have their places cemented in MLB history.  All three new member of the Hall of Fame managed to do so in their first year of eligibility.  This is the first time since 1999 that we have three first ballot HOF’ers in the same year.  Any clue who those three players were?

I haven’t been to the Staples Center for a few years, so when I had a trade show to attend at the Los Angeles Convention Center I was in! The convention center is part of an area called “LA Live” that features an impressive array of hotels, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues including the Staples Center. The Staples Center is home to the LA Lakers and LA Clippers NBA teams as well as the LA Kings NHL team.

If you are heading to the area, I highly recommend staying at the JW Marriott LA Live. The hotel has large modern rooms, oversized bathrooms, and a lovely pool area with a hot tub. The views from the rooms are also fantastic. My room faced the famous Hollywood sign in the hills. Try to upgrade your room to the Executive Club level and get your breakfast, wine-time, evening appetizers and desserts served in the club’s 4^th floor. It’s well worth the upgrade cost.

It seems most everything is within walking distance to the LA Live area. The shopping district is 6 blocks away

This weekend Damian Lillard will have the opportunity to expedite his path to becoming great.  In just his second year Lillard has the chance to become the king of NBA All-Star weekend.

Damian Lillard is not your average NBA sophomore and this weekend he will be out to prove it.  Baring any last minute changes the Portland guard will be competing in almost every possible event during the NBA All-Star weekend.   The only event he will not compete in is the Sears Shooting Star competition.  A competition that is more like the celebrity game than a true challenge.  So for the purpose of this accomplishment we can just say he is competing in every All-Star event.

1, 2, 3 Go!

It will all begin with the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge.  Last year Lillard played in this game and managed 18 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals.  A nice line but not worthy of MVP.  So this year he will have another shot to make his mark against the players of his generation and possibly take home an MVP.

Twenty six cities have had the pleasure of hosting the Final Four.  But what are the three best locations?  It might seem like a hard task to try to label the top 3.  But after a little research I think that you will see that it is relatively easy to come up with the best 3.

First let us take a look at the cities who have hosted the most amount of times.

Kansas City - 10
New York City - 7
Indianapolis - 6
Louisville - 6
New Orleans - 5

Hello sports fans and welcome to the first blog of 2014! This installment will feature the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule and a preview to the upcoming race campaign.

Please note that there are a few changes from last season.  I will specifically address each change to the schedule at the bottom of the 2014 NASCAR Spring Cup schedule that you see listed below.

Everyone loves the holiday season, especially sports fans.  We see this as another opportunity to get more stuff with our favorite team's or player's names and branding.  We, as sports fans, are a little nutty when it comes to seeing the new sideline cap or new throwback jersey.  We immediately think we have to have it.

We just hope someone else is paying attention so we try to make sure potential gifters understand our wants and needs.  In some ways its subconscious but we all are looking to bolster our collection of supportive merchandise.

Here is a guide to the buyers of these very special gifts.  How can you give a sports fans what he/she wants most?  Here are a few ideas that will make up our top 10 list.

All 32 World Cup qualifiers and seeds have been finalized and the field is set for Brazil in 2014.  A scoreless tie between Uruguay and Jordan on Wednesday sealed the final entry into the World Cup field.  We are now all set for the World Cup draw on December 6, 2013.  The draw of course will be the final piece of the puzzle.  After that we will know when and where everyone is playing.

Here is a look at the all the seeds for the upcoming World Cup in Brazil.

2014 World Cup Qualifiers

College basketball has officially started so lets look ahead the 2014 NCAA Tournament & Final Four schedule.

It may be a bit early but the heavy dose of college basketball this week has me already thinking of the tournament.  We practically got a preview of the Final Four on Tuesday when 4 of the top 5 teams in the country played on the same court on the same night in Chicago.  The United Center was hoppin' with 4-5 projected lottery picks being featured in an early season showcase.  Watching made me very excited for college basketball and the potential for madness this March and April.

The madness will officially begin the week of conference tournaments but it all comes down to who's in and who's out.  The nation will find out on March 16, 2014 when the selection show is complete.  After that, the real fun begins.

Its official, the Dallas Cowboys will play a game in London during the 2014 NFL season.  It was announced by commissioner Roger Goodell on October 24th while he was actually in the city of London.

Although we don' t know that date, we do know who the opponent will be.  The Cowboys will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars next season as a part of the NFL International Series that was expanded to included 3 games in 2014.

The games will be as follows:

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Dallas Cowboys
Atlanta Falcons vs. Detroit Lions
Miami Dolphins vs. Oakland Raiders

London Jaguars?