New Cincy-based website has some unusual picks for top sporting events and venues in the world.
Tyler Nicole Shoff, of Akron crosses the finish line, winning the Stock Division championship at the 70th annual All-American Soap Box Derby on Saturday, July 21, 2007, in Akron. The All-American Soapbox Derby has been named one of the top sporting events in Ohio by one website.
Cleveland, Ohio -- Do what Starting Blocks did:
Upon hearing of www.tusl.com - Tom Walsh's site devoted to the sports fan's passion for lists - and its quest to figure out the top 150 sporting events and venues IN THE WORLD, we tried to figure out Ohio's role and what we would include.
Venues? Easy. The Horseshoe in Columbus, right? Progressive Field or Cleveland Browns Stadium for sure.
Nope. Wrong. Nyet.
Try again with events: Ohio State vs. Michigan? Massillon vs. McKinley? Ohio high school wrestling finals?
Au contraire, mon frere. As a matter of fact, you're not even close.
The venue -- and apparently there is only one venue in the state of Ohio that makes the list Walsh has been doling out 25 items at a time since his website debuted yesterday -- is the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
The three Ohio events on the list are the Soap Box Derby, a Browns vs. Steelers game and ... the Cincinnati-Xavier crosstown rivalry basketball game.
Well, 'scuse us, but Starting Blocks would have more interest in a St. Ignatius vs. St. Ed's chess tournament than something in Cincinnati, so we got to wondering what the heck was in the water being drunk by the 20,000 voters who reportedly chose these places and events.
So, being diligent, professional journalists, we closely read the release announcing the creation of tusl.com one more time. And that's when we saw it:
"The Ultimate Sports List, developed by Cincinnati entrepreneur Tom Walsh, provides a number of interactive, social elements for sports fans to engage with their favorite sporting events, venues and teams."
Aha! "Developed by CINCINNATI entrepreneur Tom Walsh.''
The idea is still not a bad one; keeping in mind that the sports travel business is a $44.5 billion a year industry (at least according to CINCINNATI entrepreneur Tom Walsh), the plan is to use the site to create a sort of bucket list for sports fans.
It's a good plan, a fun idea. Even if the inclusion of Cincinnati vs. Xavier does smack of running with the bull in the Queen City.