View from the Cheap Seats is kind of an extension of the newsroom. Whenever our three regular reporters, Calvin Daniels, Thom Barker and Randy Brenzen are in the building together, it is frequently a site of heated debate. This week: What is the greatest sports tournament in the world?
From India with Cricket
So often, Cheap Seats topics become a matter of defining terms.
This week there are two such terms, ‘tournaments’ and ‘greatest.’ Tournaments go by many different names. Just for example, The Brier is a tournament, although traditionally in curling we would call it a bonspiel.
If one wanted to get really loose with the term, an argument could be made that a league’s entire season is a tournament. Teams play each other until an annual champion is determined. We tend to think of tournaments as more discrete kind of events, however. In the case of a league, say the NHL, it might be more apropos to think of the playoffs as the tournament. A number of teams qualify during the regular season then play down until only one team stands triumphant.
This becomes important later. In most of the rest of the world, i.e., outside North America, ‘playoffs’ are handled a little bit differently or at least the terminology is a bit different. For example, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League is a tournament made up of qualifying teams from European Club Leagues.
The second term, ‘greatest’ is even more troublesome. On its own, it means the best and implies some kind of empirical criteria.But both ‘greatest’ and ‘best’ require further definition in this context. If objective criteria were imposed—things like viewership, amount of money involved—the greatest tournament in the world would be a no-brainer. It would be the Men’s World Cup of Soccer. I rule out the Olympics, because it is more like a collection of tournaments.
But this is the Cheap Seats. Establishing objective means to argue the point is beside the point. Greatest in this column usually comes down to individual columnists’ preferences. This topic was inspired by the ongoing NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament. I love March Madness, but I am even more partial to the Canadian version, which, by the way, my alma mater won this year for the sixth consecutive time and 12th time out of the last 14 years.
I also love the Little League World Seriesof baseball. Attending that event in person is a bucket list item for me. But above the LLWS, the CIS Final Eight and March Madness is the Open Championship at St. Andrews, home of golf. That is only number three, however.
If I had to pick just one tournament, the choice is pretty simple.Cricket has excited me more than any other sport over the last six years. It has some great tournaments to choose from, not the least of which is the World Cup (which, by the way, is the fourth biggest and fourth most watched sporting event in the world). That would be number two.
My top pick is the Indian Premier League. There is an allure about that tournament that transcends anything else in sport for me.
-Thom Barker
Olympic hockey wins out
Apparently there is some college basketball thing going on in the United States right now which had my compatriots suggesting we Cheap Seat our favourite sport tournament.
Initially, I thought this would be an easy one, but it is actually one where several draw my attention.
There is the World Junior Hockey Championships. They are fun over the holiday season each December, and intriguing to watch the reaction of Canadians to how the team does.
Then there is the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships, which Canada won last year, not that most are likely aware of that. It’s only our National summer game so Canadian sports networks ignored it in favour of Seattle playing Tampa Bay in baseball, or some such thing.
Too bad, I watched a number of games via YouTube increasingly the place I go for sports action.
I did find myself watching a lot of games at the most recent Rugby World Cup held in Britain last year. Canada did not fare well, not winning in four games, but they should have gotten a couple. However, I followed the entire event and watched New Zealand win its second title. There is little better in sports that Rugby 15s at the top level, and with Canada involved it drew me in completely.
The new Disc Golf World Tour might not officially be a tournament, but I’ll toss it in here too as SpinTV will be doing live online coverage of all five events.
And that brings me to the top two, a virtual tie in my mind.
The first is the World Baseball Classic.
I love the idea of the best players in the world representing their countries going head-to-head.
Yes there are flaws with some players opting out, and forced pitch counts, but it is the greatest showcase of baseball on a world scale, and I love it.
And for the same general reasons men’s hockey at the Olympics. It is the best of a game dearest to most Canadians hearts, and the games create a sense of national unity rarely seen these days. As long as the reigning clown prince in the National Hockey League Gary Bettman doesn’t ruin it, and he is working on it with his cartoon classic this fall, an event that holds zero interest for me. Who needs it? The Olympics is already as good a sport tournament as there is.
-Calvin Daniels
March Madness
Every year there are tons of sports tournaments that could compete for the title of Best Sports Tournament.
From Wimbledon, to The Masters, to the Champions League, the world is not void of high quality tournaments.
However, there are two tournaments that come to mind as the greatest sports tournaments in the world. The first one that springs to mind is the one that is taking place right now: March Madness.
The NCAA Division I Men’s National Basketball tournament – better known as March Madness – is an American university/college basketball tournament that pits the winners of the 32 NCAA D-I conferences against 36 at-large teams in a seven round single elimination tournament with the winner taking home the NCAA National Champion title.
Nearly everyone – from a basketball enthusiast to someone that doesn’t care about the sport – fills out a bracket or at least pays attention to the tournament. Heck, every year the President of the United States fills out his bracket on national television. That proves it’s a big deal.
The second tournament is one that, at least in North America, doesn’t get any recognition. It’s known as Summer Koshien, which is the Japanese High School Baseball Championship tournament. A total of 49 teams representing 47 different regions of Japan (two teams each from Hokkaido and Tokyo) compete against one another in single elimination, nine inning games until one team is crowned champion. It’s an exhilarating baseball tournament that showcases the best high school baseball players in Japan; many of whom find themselves playing professional baseball in Japan (Nippon Professional Baseball) or America (Major League Baseball).
-Randy Brenzen
