My final list for sporting 'events' or 'days.'  Enjoy.

5.) NHL Skills Competition- Now, we haven't seen this in 2 years and we won't see it this year because of the Olympics, but anyone who's seen it during the NHL all-star game can agree it is quite a spectacle.  It's not like the home run derby or slam dunk contest in terms of hype, which is why it finds itself in the underrated category.  Whats unique about the NHL skills competition is that there are things you really need to be talented to do at any level.  You can always lower a hoop and do dunks or hit homers over close fences, but can you really take out those targets in the goals or skate faster than the other NHL players?  This doesn't mean i like it more than the slam dunk contest or home run derby, it's just underrated.

4.) Arena Football Championship- If I did a list of most underrated sports, Arena Football would be near the top.  It's fast-paced, and high scoring, and gets little hype.  It's starting to gain more popularity with its owners (Elway, Bon Jovi) and having games on NBC, but it's still overlooked and therefore underrated. The championship is guaranteed to be high-scoring and reflect the rest of the season.  A game is never over until the clock hits zero in this sport becuase teams can score so quickly on the small field.  Not to mention the boards along the sides to add exciting hits and the crowd noise throughout the game.  Oh yea, and if a ball goes into the stands, you can keep it!

3.) World Cup- In America, at least.  Soccer is obviously the most popular sport in the world but gets little hype in America and for good reason- we rarely have a good team, not to mention soccer is a boring sport.  However, if the USA team is good this year I suggest watching the World Cup and I think it is very underrated in terms of sporting events.  Knowing the game really means something since it's your country is against the world and the amount of amazing players on the field adds to the intensity.   Now I think soccer is very boring, but during the US's amazing 2002 run I woke up at 6am to watch the game against Germany and I was at the edge of my seat.  Will I watch the MLS? Of course not.  But if the USA makes another run this year I'll be watching.

2.) Winter Olympics- Does anyone really know that the Opening Ceremonies are Friday night? These Olympics have gotten little to no coverage and that's sad.  I did an Olympic report for my school paper and realized how little I know about each sport and the athletes involved.  Talk about sports that iinclude unique talents--snowboarding, speed skating, these aren't your 'run around the track' or basketball that you can watch or do any day, this is a once every 4 years that these sports get the spotlight.  The sports are exciting, different, and the US is pretty good, but this event is very underrated.

1.) A common theme in my blogs is my love for college sports, and my #1 underrated sporting event are those small conference tournaments at the end of the year.  You know, when teams like Bucknell or Florida Atlantic are playing for conference championships in conferences you didn';t even know existed.  I think those games are more fun to watch than the Big East or ACC tournaments.  In these conferences, the teams all play for one thing-the one NCAA berth given to their conference.  (I highly recommend reading The Last Amateurs by John Feinstein about the Patriot League and life in small D-1 conferences).  The spirit and passion shown in these games is inspiring and who doesn't love to see that little school you've ner heard of get the oppurtunity to make the big dance--even if it is as a 16 seed, it is still exciting.