Sorry to be morbid, but eventually the game clock of every sports fan hits zero. Time is up, and the score is final. The only official scorer that matters beckons you to the ultimate skybox seats, whether you were a die-hard fan of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or the New Jersey Devils.
Sports fandom is fun, frustrating, and frantic, but finite. That’s why I believe in a Sports Bucket List — what you hope to experience before you expire. The Sports Bucket List really breaks down into three subcategories: occurrences and accomplishments you want to witness (like the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series or a baseball player hitting .400), sporting events you wish to attend (the Super Bowl or the Final Four), and venues and destinations you desire to visit. Like any good sports debate, these lists are subjective.
Dr. Seuss should have written the book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’’ about sportswriters. I’ve been extremely fortunate during my time at the Globe to cross numerous entries off my Sports Bucket List, places and edifices edition. (Don’t let that baby face peering back from the paper or glowing screen fool you.) But quite a few remain.
I’ve ventured to Lambeau Field, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, Cameron Indoor Stadium, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Camp Nou, the home of soccer super team FC Barcelona. I’ve watched English Premier League soccer at Stamford Bridge, a Triple Crown race at Belmont Park, and the Little League World Series at Lamade Stadium. I’ve gone agape with wonder at the milieu between the hedges at Georgia’s Sanford Stadium for college football; marveled at Jerry Jones’s monument of excess, AT&T Stadium; and gotten goosebumps for a hockey game at the Bell Centre.
However, I’m still devastated that the Montreal Canadiens bid adieu to the Forum before I could visit.
We’re fortunate here in Boston to have been graced by some iconic sports venues. Fenway Park, baseball’s verdant grand dame, is still going strong, and I’m lucky enough to say I attended games at the Boston Garden (rest in peace old friend).
I’m grateful that I made it to the old Yankee Stadium before it was demolished to watch the Yankees get demolished, 14-4, by the then-Tampa Bay Devil Rays on July 20, 2007.
The artist formerly known as B.J. Upton slugged a pair of home runs, including a Dave Winfield-esque two-run shot off Mike Mussina that reached the upper deck in left field.
The Yankees trailed, 9-0, after five innings. By any name, the now-Tampa Bay Rays and Mr. Melvin Upton Jr. gave me a schadenfreude-laced thrill.
The other resident Red Sox fan in the group that night happened to be former Boston University hockey captain and ex-NHL forward Carl Corazzini. Our high-fives were flowing like bottle service champagne. We needled our inveterate Yankee fan friend about how much we were enjoying the aura and majesty of The Stadium, a sobriquet as haughty and condescending as the fan base bearing witness to this Bronx beatdown.
With that glorious introduction out of the way, here, in no particular order, are the top places left on my bucket list:
Madison Square Garden
The World’s Most Famous Arena is basketball mecca. It’s the ultimate stage for putting a round ball through a round basket. Since the current Madison Square Garden, the fourth building to bear the name since 1879, opened in 1968, all of the greats have played there. New York’s Garden is full of history and the stuff of legend. It has housed great performances and memorable moments in both the professional and college ranks, from Willis Reed to Reggie Miller to Pearl Washington to Michael Jordan. I want to experience MSG, even if it means I have to watch Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks.
Notre Dame Stadium
One of the most iconic and recognizable venues in all of American sports, it’s the palace for college football royalty. The revered stadium is as much a part of the lore of Notre Dame football as Knute Rockne, the Four Horsemen, the famed fight song, and those gilded helmets. What other stadium has “Touchdown Jesus’’ — the famous mural of the Savior seemingly signaling a TD — serving as its backdrop? It’s officially known as “The Word of Life’’ mural and depicted on the Hesburgh Library. It might be too late to see Notre Dame Stadium in its golden glory. The stadium is getting a dubious — and possibly hideous — $400 million facelift that includes attaching two academic buildings and a student center to its exterior. The renovations should be completed by 2017.
Daytona International Speedway
It’s stock car racing’s most famous venue and home to its premier race. Daytona has been the site of the Daytona 500, the Great American Race, since 1959. There are some who think auto racing is just a bunch of left turns and high-speed advertising. I was lucky enough to cover a NASCAR race in 2006. It’s a fascinating sport to watch live, and it tickles the senses. There’s the clangor of the engines and the kaleidoscope of colors zooming by you all at once. It has the passion, pageantry, and suspense of a college football game with an injection of horsepower, which might be why both NASCAR and college football are regarded as spiritual experiences south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Augusta National Golf Club
My golf skills are somewhere between Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley. But I would want to visit this place even if golf wasn’t played there. It’s Xanadu with tee boxes and sweet tea. The star of the Masters every year is this course. The tableaux provided on television look like they were lifted from a botanical garden tour book. The elitism of Augusta’s membership is antediluvian and off-putting, but it contributes to the course’s mystique. The azaleas in bloom, Amen Corner, Rae’s Creek, it’s the perfect marriage of man and manicured grounds, sport and setting.
Churchill Downs
If it’s good enough for Tom Brady, then it’s good enough for me. The home of the Kentucky Derby, it’s the most famous horse racing track in America. It opened in 1875, but the signature twin spires weren’t installed until 1895. Horse racing’s star has dimmed in the American sports landscape, but this track remains iconic, a bastion of thundering hooves and ostentatious hats. It’s a place people want to see and a place at which they want to be seen.
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
As my all-time favorite tennis player, Andre Agassi, once said in an advertising campaign, “Image is everything.’’ The image of the All England Club, the home of Wimbledon, is a regal one, from the royal family members attending the matches to the splendid white attire of the participants in the oldest tennis tournament in the world. The grass courts are both the pinnacle and crucible of tennis.
The Rose Bowl
I can practically hear the dulcet tones of Keith Jackson just thinking about this Pasadena, Calif., gem. It’s an instantly recognizable venue with palm trees and the views of the San Gabriel Mountains. Home to the famous college football bowl game that gave the stadium its name, the Rose Bowl is both quintessentially Southern California and college football. Completed in 1922, it has been designated a national historic landmark. Although it’s most famous for college football, the Rose Bowl has hosted five Super Bowls, the 1994 World Cup final, and Olympic events in both the 1932 and 1984 Summer Games. It’s also where former President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, had their first date.
Phog Allen Fieldhouse
The first University of Kansas basketball head coach was a man by the name of James Naismith, better known as the inventor of basketball. The second coach was Forrest Clare “Phog’’ Allen. This college basketball treasure is named after him. The Kansas Jayhawks are one of the blue bloods of college basketball. They’re old money, and Allen Fieldhouse is their estate. Opened in 1955, it’s where Wilt Chamberlain, Jo Jo White, and Paul Pierce played their college basketball home games. This building puts the rock in the “Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, KU’’ chant as fans provide a raucous soundtrack to the action and can actually make the place shake.
Tiger Stadium/Death Valley
Louisiana State University’s home field is both foreboding for opponents and enticing for out-of-town fans. No place serves up the cocktail of passion, pageantry, and pride that makes college football so special better than the folks in Baton Rouge, La., and rest assured there are plenty of actual cocktails imbibed before those famous evening kickoffs. Tiger Stadium is known as one of the most intimidating and ear-splitting venues in all of college football. LSU fans have recorded decibel readings equal to a jet engine, and once made so much racket that it registered on the Richter Scale. Bayou bengal backers know how to have a good time, and they’re usually cheering for a good team.
St. Andrews
Simply, this Scottish gem is the Home of Golf. For more than 600 years the game has been played on this majestic course, which looks like it could host a battle scene in “Game of Thrones.’’ It’s not only the home of golf, it feels like the soul of the game. Storied St. Andrews has hosted The Open Championship, known on this side of the pond as the British Open, a record 29 times. The history, scenery, topography, and creativity required by links golf on this iconic course collaborate to form a sui generis stage for the game in the land of its birth.
Old Trafford
Home of the New York Yankees of English soccer and the world’s most famous football (international version) club, Manchester United, Old Trafford is known by the sobriquet “The Theatre of Dreams’’ and dates to 1910. It has served as the home for all but one of Man U’s record 20 English top-flight league championships. It also sustained damage from German bombing raids during World War II. The great historic rivalry in English soccer is between Manchester United and Liverpool, winners of 18 English league titles. (Liverpool is owned by John Henry, also the owner of the Globe.) Count me in for a trip to Liverpool’s famed Kop at historic Anfield, Liverpool’s home grounds since 1892, as well.
I won’t be turning down invitations to Butler University’s Hinkle Fieldhouse; San Siro, home of AC Milan and Inter Milan; and Pebble Beach any time either.
Now, excuse me. I have to go check Priceline.com and marshal my Marriott points. The play clock is running.
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cgasper@globe.com.
