Interests + Ideas

Visit New York in early September and you'll experience the energy of the citizens returning from vacation, but you'll also have the chance to see the US Open, one of the world's premier sports events. Even so, the Open doesn't make Concierge.com's Sports Checklist—our compilation of the things around the world you simply must see before, well, passing on to the next world. (In our book, Wimbledon just edges out the Open: Heck, the Queen is there!) And you needn't be the type of fan who wears crazy face paint or sports jerseys with someone else's name on the back to get the most out of these games. They are ten grand excuses* to globe_trot, reveling in tradition, glory, defeat, and more than a few sports clichés. After all, they're the kind of spectacles that reduce grown men to tears, and bring packed stadiums to a hush and nations to their feet. So let somebody else shout at the TV. You'll be close enough to yell at the ref yourself.

* P.S. In case you're wondering, we left out events that move from place to place—the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the FIFA World Cup—since for us travel_obsessed types, the experience is as much about the destination as about the event itself.