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It's Opening Day - Welcome to TUSL.com!

Written by Tom Walsh on June 1st, 2010 with

Welcome to The Ultimate Sports List TM at TUSL.com!

And just what is this list, you are probably asking. Good question. A little background is probably in order.
In 1996, I was working alongside Steve Cady from Miami University and Don Schumacher from the Greater Cincinnati Sports and Events Commission to put on the NCAA Division I Hockey Championships in Cincinnati (it wasn’t even known as the Frozen Four yet).
As part of my duties, I flew to Albany, NY the week before the Championship to attend the East Regional. Although my time was pretty well occupied attending the games in the evenings, I had a little time to kill in the earlier part of the days. So the first day, I headed east into Massachusetts and visited the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. On the second day, I set off in the opposite direction to Cooperstown, NY to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
As I was driving back from Cooperstown to Albany, a thought struck me: What other great sporting events and venues are out there that I would like to see in my lifetime? It was on that drive that I began formulating my own checklist, and the seeds of The Ultimate Sports List TM had been sown. On the flight home from Albany, I began writing down the iconic sporting events that I would like to attend, and by the time we landed in Cincinnati, the list was over 50 strong.
Although I briefly contemplated making the list into a book, I quickly realized that the demands of my day job would not allow that to occur. So the list remained dormant for over ten years.
Almost three years ago, I experienced another “aha” moment. The List had never been far from my mind, and one day, while running, I thought, “The List is not a book, it’s a website.” And from that moment on, I began the process that culminates today in The Ultimate Sports List TM.
So now that you know the “why,” I’ll share a little bit about the “what.”
Sports fans are notorious road-trippers. They think nothing of spending a weekend driving hundreds of miles just to watch their favorite team or a see a famous venue. They'll make plans on a few days notice to watch their team advance through the playoffs, flying halfway around the country if necessary.
 If asked, most sports fans would admit to having a list – a checklist of the sports events and places that they would like to see sometime in their lifetime. Championships and tournaments, races and rivalries, stadiums and arenas – all would make each fan’s list in some combination or another.
So, first and foremost, The Ultimate Sports List TM is a checklist of the world’s 150 greatest sporting events. And although any such list is obviously subjective, this list was actually voted on by fans in our Voting Booth, so it is not any one person’s list. And as more fans from around the world join our website, the depth and breadth of the list will only grow. We plan on keeping the Voting Booth open every day (no 2nd Tuesday in November for us) and releasing an updated list each year.
Beyond the List, the TUSL.com is an interactive website for fans to share their experiences and opinions about the events and venues in a social media environment. Think of it as a virtual sports bar where fans come to rank and discuss the world’s greatest sporting events.
On our My Passport page, fans can check off the events they have attended and receive a rating, based on the number and rank of the events they have attended.
On our My List page, fans can create their own checklist. They can include events from The Ultimate Sports List TM and add their own. It can be a wish list, a been-there-done-that list, or something in between. And they can share their list with their friends on many of the other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Our Events Pages are where the community aspect of TUSL.com can really flourish. Although we have provided plenty of background on the events, including facts and quotes, articles and links, images and videos, the fans will provide the true content. They can post their pictures from the events. But more importantly, they can share the knowledge and experiences at those events. So the fan who wants to attend a particular event can draw on the experiences of those who have gone before him.
For more details on navigating the site, check out our User’s Guide .
Over the next two weeks, we'll be announcing The Ultimate Sports List TM in “almost” reverse order. This week, we will announce events 51-150, at 25 per day. But not necessarily in reverse order. Why?  No great reason, other than we thought it would be fun to announce all the events in a particular region together, irrespective of their rank. So you’ll notice more of a regional flavor to our releases this week.  Next week we will announce the Top 50, and it will be in reverse order, at 10 per day, starting with 41-50 on Monday, and concluding with the Top 10 on Friday.
So thanks for visiting. We hope you enjoyed your first stop, and we hope you’ll come back often.
Tags: tom walsh
Tom Walsh TJDubs

TUSL.com Founder

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